Today’s post begins with our “dry run” last night to see if we could fit six people and all of our luggage into the “mini van” we rented from Budget.
The guys work on it —
And yay! We don’t have to drive all the way to Tel Aviv airport and try to trade our “mini van” which is really not one for something bigger.
Resting easy on our last night at the Jerusalem YMCA Three Arches hotel (which was so great it deserves a post all its own …), we ate breakfast and hit the road by 8 a.m. Our ultimate destination was Ein Gev holiday resort on the shores of Galilee, but on the way we made several stops at Israeli national parks. The first was Ashkelon, (and will somebody please tell Patty we waved in the direction of her former apartment?)
Sea shells and ruins, a wild Mediterranean beach, and plenty of sunshine were in Ashkelon. Also pieces of pottery just littering the beach! We did take some, but not the big piece Jim is holding below —
Leaving Ashkelon, we headed north to Caesarea. The ruins are spectacular here, as is the beach. Unfortunately, we are driving a rental car with “Budget” plastered on the side, and today it was packed to the gills with all of our belongings so Tim gallantly decided to stay in the parking lot and guard our stuff while the rest of us ate lunch and explored. (Thanks, Tim!)
Roman ruins everywhere…stately columns…and we could walk right up to them!
After Caesarea, we drove to Mount Carmel and talked about Elijah and the prophets of Baal. But, when we got to the top of the mountain, we could not find the park. So we continued on to Meggido, passing Haifa on the way. This is the view of Haifa as we came down the mountain.
Megiddo/Armageddon Park was just closed as we arrived, so we weren’t able to explore that one either. By this time we were getting pretty tired of sitting in the car for hours and hours, and Dave was getting pretty tired of driving us, so we made a quick stop at Yardenit (the baptismal area on the Jordan river), took pictures and got our feet wet before heading out for our destination — Ein Gev.
Our rooms are lake front, each with a patio area and BBQ. Tonight we chose the “meat” restaurant down the road over the “fish” restaurant, and oh my. Our waiter recommended that we order the “meat platter for six” because it was a sampling of all the meats this restaurant cooks, so we said “sure!” and then wondered if we were going to be shocked at the price. Heh. The platter came heaped with about 12 pounds of tasty meat, from steaks to sausage to chicken to lamb chops. Needless to say, we did not make much of a dent in the mound of meat but consoled ourselves with the thought of eating it for dinner again tomorrow! The waiter did call us “weak”…but we laughed it off.
Okie dokie, time for sleeping. Tomorrow we have a cruise on Galilee with “Daniel the Worship Boat” …and a whole lot of leftover meat for dinner.