Duncan and Joe

We had done very little research before heading to Israel. This was the case in most places, but after laying out all the things we wanted to see, it was clear how much we wanted to cover in the few days we had. Having a car seemed like the best way of getting around, so we went to a few different places in the morning and found a good deal at Enterprise. When they offered us an automatic Fiat 500, it seemed like the perfect car for what we wanted. 

In reality, though, the car was a piece of shit. It got the job done, but it was really a manually with some sketchy automatic system rigged up internally. The car made a grinding sound in first gear and we asked the car rental guy about it – “Oh that’s just the Fiat!” he yelled back. It seems like a known problem. 

Despite any concerns about the car, we were excited to have one. It was the first time on the trip we weren’t confined by railroad lines or bus stops, and it felt good to have that freedom. The drive up the coastline to Haifa was beautiful, and we saw a beach we coulnd’t pass up on the way there. 

There wasn’t a ton to see in Haifa, but we visited the famous gardens there, and stopped at a small food vendor where they made the falafel fresh (which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in the states).

From Haifa we continued onto Acre. We’d been told by a friendly guy at the hostel the night before that Acre is what you picture an old middle-eastern city to look like, and I would say that description was spot on. 

Lots of small, windy roads through ancient buildings, all of which happens along a rocky coastline.

We continued our adventures on Friday, heading to Nazareth and then on to the Sea of Galilee. I’d downloaded the New Testament audiobook and we listened to it on the way as a refresher. 

Nazareth was an adventure. The streets were tiny, which made maneuvering difficult in the unpredictable Fiat. The gearing worked differently than a normal automatic, making the clutch prone to overheating in first, and causing problems when reversing on a hill. 

On one of these adventures down a side street we reached a dead end. We were getting pretty frustrated trying to turn the car around when the call to prayer started from all the minarets in the city (though most famous as the childhood town of Jesus, most inhabitants of Nazareth are Muslim). I’d never heard the call to prayer in person before, and it was beautiful. We took a moment to appreciate it, and realize the absurdity of getting frustrated about having your Fiat get stuck on a back street in Nazareth. We moved on, and found a spacious parking lot opposite a mosque a mile away. 

From the parking lot we walked to the Church of the Annunciation, famous for being the spot where (in the Roman Catholic tradition), Mary was told she would give birth to Jesus. 

The Church was beautiful, and had both modern and traditional art inside. We walked around the church and the surrounding area before wandering through the streets of Nazareth. 

On the way back to the car we stopped in a yard to watch some puppies playing. Two men were there working on a car, and one of them offered us water and some raw nuts in their casings (cashews?) to eat. We sat and chatted with him for a while. He was born in Nazareth, but had lived in San Jose for twenty years and made frequent trips back to the states where he had family. We talked about the differences and similarities between the US and Israel, and a little about each of our lives. As the sun got lower we said goodbye so we could make it to the Sea of Galilee before sundown. 

Almost all Jewish-operated businesses are closed for the Sabbath from Friday evening through Saturday evening. When we arrived at the Sea of Galilee, there were only a few tourists milling about. We arrived right as the sun was going down and the full moon was coming up. We took it all in. It was a beautiful warm night with the full moon rising over the Sea of Galilee. There was a bar right on the edge of the water, and we had beers there, right on the banks of the Sea. A pretty special moment, we both agreed. 

We headed to the ancient Judean fortress of Masada on Saturday. It was a two hour drive from the city, much of it through the desert. It looked like the surface of the moon once we hit the entrance to Masada. A very dramatic and seemingly inhospitable landscape.

We had gotten a late start, so we only had an hour to explore the fortress’ ruins before it closed. The heat in the desert was intense, and we loaded up on water and sunscreen before scrambling up the Roman road to the fortress. 

The views were beautiful from the top of the fortress, and the ruins themselves were impressive considering how ancient they are. Especially on such a hot day, it was hard to imagine anyone living here, or thriving here, but they made it work. It served mostly as a winter palace and fortress for Herod the Great until it was the location for a battle between the Jews, who were in the fortress, and the Romans who attacked it. 

From Masada we drove along the Dead Sea, trying, without success, to find an entry point for going in the water. Apparently there have been sink hole issues recently in the region, causing some of the beaches to shut down. By the time we reached an official beach, they were closed, but we decided to come back a few days later for the proper experience. 

We stopped along the Sea and watched the red of the sunset against the walls of rock on the Jordanian side, playing the Lumineer’s Dead Sea on repeat until the novelty wore off. We both took a minute to meditate and soak in such a wonderful moment. Another good day indeed.