Mar 10 2011

Nahariya – The North coast!

After finishing visting Akko, I thought I would get back on the train, and head north one more stop.

Israel’s north bound railway comes to an end at this station.   There are a couple more towns above before you get to Lebanon.

A little worrying that this buffer stop looks not really adequate for the job, and on closer inspection appears to be leaning back a bit as it looks like its bumped at least once by a train.   Behind is a simple chain link fence and a main road.   Could do with a sand bank or something maybe.

There is as well, left behind pieces of track across the road that continue further north, as it once went all the way to Beirut, once upon a time.

In the centre of town, this big billboard shows “The resort for fun lovers” The blue and yellow pattern looks like a reverse Ukrainian flag, wonder if its influenced from immigrants from the ex-Soviet states.

From what I read, this city was found in the 1935 during the British Mandate period and became a city in 1961.

This river that flows out from the middle of the city to the Mediterranean is carrying a lot less water than it ought to, showing the urgency of the drought problem here.

A tank rotating gun section in the front of the garden of this hotel, upon closer look, there is a plaque in Hebrew which appears to be there in memorial or a young soldier who died in battle.   An unusual shrine maybe.

Nahariya has a pleasant selection of different shops and nice beaches, but it is quite touristy, there wasn’t much history I could find there.  I walked a couple of miles north up the beach toward a tall hill, as I wanted to find the ski lifts that go up and down some cliffs towards the Lebanese border, but I couldn’t see them, the hills ahead were probably a good 6/7 miles further ahead, so I decided to call it a day and get the train back to Netanya.  Discovered that I am going to those cliff tops with a short break with work in a month or so. 🙂

Haifa and mount Carmel next!

Mar 9 2011

Jerusalem roof top exploring

I have always wondered if its possible to go on the roofs of the apartments here.  Most of the time the hatch on the top floor is locked.

Whilst I was watching some films at a friends house, they told me theirs wasn’t.

Curiosity meant I had to check it out and get some pictures…

Yes those are solar panels, almost every block in Israel has them as they run the white cylinder things which run your hot water.  There’s some garden rubbish up here, which is odd seeing its got to be tricky to carry things up the ladder.  I guess it might of been from someone who trimmed a tall tree.

I would like to be Jason Bourne and run along roof tops, that scene from that film set in Morocco has some houses that quite similar to here.

Years ago, some extra footnotes in a bible I had mentioned that people during the time of Jesus dried flax on their roofs or used it for guests to sleep on.  Not sure if there is stuff in the scriptures to prove it, or if there is evidence in archaeology.  Where I live in this area in East Talpiyot part of Jerusalem the flats were built between the 80s and the 90s.

View from here over a school and a small allotment where some residents have some vegetables.

You see a lot from up here!  my house is about 1.5Km away in about the middle in the distance….

Mar 8 2011

Akko – Just Islam here?

Akko is a very Islamic city, its not near any of the Palestinian territories, however Akko was run by the Eastern Empire (also known as Byzantine)  in 395AD, about 900 years before Islam came about.

The bible only mentions it once in Judges 1 : 30-32.

Here you can see the familiar upright pencil shaped minarets the accompany mosque and buildings that are under Islamic authority.

From a distance its noticeable that this tall thin tower is a tiny bit lop sided.  This ought to be concern, seeing as one ancient one fell over in Morocco recently, resulting in about 75 people dead.

As other parts of the city are needing extensive work done on them like this below building is crumbling.  This court yard is called Khan al-Umdan and was built by the Ottoman Turks in 1784.

Whilst editing this I have just found the bit of nougat I forgot I had which was 10 shekels off the young chap who took this photo for me, he had all kinds of other nut cake and halva and Turkish delight on a stand here.

I set out to see if there was any part of Christianity here, and if there are Arab believers today.  There were of course, Crusades here, which is a regrettable part of history, from people calling themselves Christians acting in no way Christians should be.

There are symbols of a Jewish community in the old city as you can see below, and I went in a synagogue which was a few metres away from a mosque.

Unlike Jerusalem’s old city which has more defined quarters for the different communities with in the walls, here its more tricky to find where Jews and Christians live.  Are things peaceful between Arabs and Jews here?  Well I guess for most part, I do remember seeing on the news about some problems in the past sometimes.

Left: Seems to be a church here, in a cellar type building.  Right: Small synagogue tucked away.

I didn’t find any churches that were open for casual visits whilst I was there.  This one was an attractive looking building but it was locked.  Of course its hard to tell if some churches are actual operating places of worship or just dusty bits of history.

The other little known faith that is here I have read about is the Baha’i faith, which has origins from Iran, and has a unusual temple with big gardens up in Haifa, but also has a place here.  I don’t know much about this though or get time to see it.

Its only when I got back home, I have found on the web Evangelist Baptism Church Akko, which has a mixture of Arab and Jewish believers in Jesus.  Check out their site here.

Mar 7 2011

Akko – sad day

Lunch time I sat at a typical street side fast food place and got a Chicken Schnitzel sandwich. This was a bit cheaper than in Jerusalem, although bottle of Coke I got with it, was not proper Coca Cola but a cheap substitute made in Turkey.

When I had almost finished this, I saw two boys carrying a wreath of flowers.   A short while later there was a large group over people walking down the street, with two coffins being carried down.

I was walking this way anyway, so I walked along from a safe distance.   The man in the place where I had my lunch told me an Arab youth had been killed in accident.

After stopping at a cemetery just outside of the old city walls of Akko, there was a grave waiting.  I noticed all the people on the walk with the casket were entirely men.  I don’t know much about Islamic funeral practices but I did wonder where the mother and women of this family go to grieve, I noticed that one of the caskets was open with the lid askew.  I am not sure if there were two people to be buried or if one of them contained artifacts for the funeral.  I did notice when the body was laid in the grave, a series of concrete slabs was laid over the top before the earth was replaced.

I don’t know for certain, but I am sure this death was the result of a car accident.   An Arab friend recently showed me a picture of a wrecked Fiat car driven by a teenager who was killed after a head on crash on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.  If there is one practical thing that could be done between the Israeli government and Palestinian authority they could work together on improving road safety here.  I would like to see penalties for bad driving, people using phones at the wheel and other things which seem common here.   The fines could be invested back into improving roads and cutting accidents.

Road accidents kill more Israelis than terrorism and wars, so anything that can be done to make travel safer is good.  I took some time to discreetly pray for the family of the young lad who was buried today.

Mar 6 2011

Akko – out and about

This beautiful arcade is what people imagine some of the most romantic parts of the Near East should looks like.

Sadly its off limits as they are mending the floor!  I would love too see these arches when bustling with people and with brightly coloured drapes hanging up and old Arab men sitting around chatting, drinking strong coffee and playing Sheshbash (Back Gammon)

Canaries are a very popular pet among Arab people and the cages are often outside in a shop or above seating in outside cafe.

Hello sir, can I help you?  My name is Mustafa, I am just filling in today as the canaries are on holiday.  Can I interest you some mint tea?

This little chap was one of the friendliest Cockatiels I have seen in a while, greeting me with song as a I walked past this shop.

This shop is run by Arabs and Jews together raising money to help disabled people.  The mottos on the Tshirts appear to be a bit suggestive but they are promoting using braille.

I like the interesting character of what things people keep in their yard.   Just like Jerusalem you see all kinds of things, this is a shop selling statues.

But this is just someone’s idea of a non conventional outdoor lounge it seems, complete with barber’s chair

The juice stand with a bit of a twist.

I am not sure if this is someone’s idea for a joke or a novel way to get a spare bedroom for guests to stay, but I saw this lifeboat (or is it a submarine?) complete with winch system ontop of a house!

Next, some sad events in Akko….

Mar 5 2011

Akko – getting there

Oops, this was actually meant to be part one of Akko, not to worry…

The trains here in Israel are pretty good actually.  Cheap, comfortable and on time.

Many of the carriages here are double decker, similar to the ones I saw in the Netherlands quite some years ago where I went from Amsterdam to Utrecht.  Something impossible to operate in the UK given countless bridges and tunnels not having enough height.

Two changes are required, one at Haifa and one at a small town I don’t recall the name of.

After maybe a mile and half of walking from the station, I was coming near the beach…

Akko has been through many different owners, Arabs, Crusaders, French, Turkish, Egyptians, Romans and Greeks.

The Templar tunnels, not that long but worth the small 10 Shekel fee to visit.  Headroom gets a bit narrower as you go further…

Fans of the video game “Assassin’s Creed”‘ may like to know that this city was used as the location for the game.

Here Acre has a fun collection of passageways and alleys that are fun to explore.  Check out official site at www.akkanet.net (More Muslim slanted, Arabic only)  translation here

This link from Jerusalem Post has a good run down on Akko:- www.jpost.com/Travel/TravelNews/Article.aspx?id=176791

Mar 4 2011

Akko – arriving at the old city

I took a trip to Akko, as this place is very rich in history, its just a brief train ride from Netanya too.   When leaving the station it looks fairly unremarkable apart from a sign on a hill and some palm trees, to get to the coast required about a mile and half of walking.

There was signs of bad weather in Netanya, here it seems the sea has been pretty fierce indeed.

Only a few miles down the road is Caesarea which part of the ancient Roman city walls are under the sea now, it seems its easy to underestimate the power of the Mediterranean!

Islamic worship places meets a fishing community.


Fishing is a big part of Akko, and the array of fish and shellfish was quite amazing.  I was quite tempted to get some prawns as I have not had any in a long time, they are strictly not kosher, so you won’t find them for sale in a Jewish city.   Take a closer look at what’s on this trader’s table…

Next I will show some interesting discoveries, treasures and sad events I experienced in this city.

Mar 3 2011

Giving frequent flier miles away & special Libya deals

Before I left the UK, I went through boxes of old stuff and threw some things out.   Something I found was a letter from Delta airlines from 2001 (Yes I flew couple of weeks after 9/11 – to LA)  about some frequent flier miles I had earned.

I usually find seem to get a cheaper deal with an airline I had not flown before, so loyalty doesn’t really come into it, and burying this letter in a cupboard somewhere, those point expired in 2004.

I have some miles with BMI, British Midland I earned in 2009 which combined with a credit card I used to have will get me a European flight but still needing to pay the taxes.

I have some points with Airberlin, which I am unlikely to use.  Is there a way that these unwanted points could be pooled together and given to a Christian organisations that have volunteers working overseas?    Of course, you would need to study the terms and conditions, something I quite can’t be bothered to do right now…

Here is a amusing email from (2/2/2011) I got only weeks ago, a bit before various different Arab nations have been taking it in turns to get a bit cross with their government, BMI have asked me if I want to try out their new route, to Tripoli, capital of Libya!!

Erm, I will think about it!!

Feb 26 2011

Viva Netanya

I returned back to this city to stay in a holiday apartment I have been kindly loaned again for free for a few days.

A like the varied styles of architecture of the apartment blocks in Netanya.  The one on the left seems to be a bit Art Deco influenced with some pastel colours and geometric shapes, and others have some air of kitsch to them with these gold rims the window balconies.  There is a lot of construction work going on with blocks of flats being refurbished with the windows and balcony fronts being ripped out showing a hollow shell of the apartments inside, presumably to have a new facade put on to freshen them up to holiday makers or those seeking permenantly dwell here.  Right: I quite like this sort of foot shaped new apartment block.

The local estate agents have ads up for property listed in Russian and French for new immigrants coming in from these nations.

This city is a world apart from Jerusalem, with wide and long boulevards which are a grid fashion like an average US city, as I wrote before when I came here, the coast line with gardens and cliffs looks like UK city of Bournemouth, which funnily enough, the two cities are twinned.

This house appears to be some sort of famous historical place, but I didn’t see any signs in English of who it belonged to.

This local chap was out with his pets, there was two of these identical dogs, as well as a parrot enjoying the nice weather which is getting warmer.

Netanya’s own Shuk (outdoor market) is fairly similar to Jerusalem’s but has less English speakers, so its a little more challenging buying stuff.   I got some oats and raisins for breakfast, a kilo of bananas, some almonds.  Some huge squash fruit here.

These cliffs have some erosion, but doesn’t look like the sand thats exposed is causing any kind of threat to people’s houses.

Out on the beach, you can tell its been stormy recently.

The concrete foundations of these lifeguard’s huts have moved considerably.  There was three of these damaged, mostly the back wall sections have broken off.

Oops the Khazi would be out of action then 🙂

Jelly fish!  Maybe just half a one, after prodded the sand around it I couldn’t see any of its legs. 🙂

I really like Netanya, its only existed since 1929, so there is not a lot of historical places but it makes a good base point to stay whilst exploring the north of Israel, its much cheaper than Tel Aviv and traffic seems quite reasonable.   There is lots of shops and a good beach.

For me there was a good place to relax and read and take a break from work, and gave me time to pray and think about plans for the future for a bit.