{"id":637,"date":"2016-12-12T21:54:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-12T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/12\/tiberius-and-beyond-getting-to-know-jaffa-caesarea-and-haifa\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T04:59:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:59:43","slug":"tiberius-and-beyond-getting-to-know-jaffa-caesarea-and-haifa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochellesroost.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/12\/tiberius-and-beyond-getting-to-know-jaffa-caesarea-and-haifa\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiberius and Beyond: Getting to Know Jaffa, Caesarea and Haifa."},"content":{"rendered":"

\nNov 20, Sun: Tel Aviv-Jaffa-Caesarea-Haifa<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n            <\/span><\/span><\/b>Our
\nfirst full day in Israel began with an absolutely world-class buffet breakfast
\nin Hotel Shalom<\/i> where the service was
\nimpeccable and the choice mindboggling. I was delighted to find yogurt and
\nmuesli and I started on it as a first course with a smattering of dried fruit
\nand nuts when the waitress came to take our order for eggs as we wished to have
\nthem. Both Llew and I chose omelets with the works\u2014we got mushrooms, onions,
\ngreen peppers and cheese in ours– together with freshly squeezed orange juice
\nand really good coffee (and even mimosas or a glass of champagne for those who
\nwanted it. Needless to say, I who love champagne ordered a glass right away)  <\/span>My only regret was that we hadn\u2019t given
\nourselves enough time to have a relaxed breakfast and as we hurried through it,
\nI really did wish we were staying at the same hotel for at least one more
\nnight.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>As it turned out, our guide Moti
\narrived a few minutes before 8.00 am, to shepherd us into the van that would be
\nour traveling vehicle for the next week. We piled in our baggage and set off.
\nWe wished we\u2019d had more time to see Tel Aviv, but as it was really nothing more
\nthan a very Westernized urban settlement, we were content to see the waterfront
\nalong which we drove as we took in the Sunday life of the city. There were
\njoggers galore along a sea face that was beautifully landscaped with beach
\numbrellas, walking and jogging tracks and, on the other side of the road, a
\nconcrete jungle of modern hotels facing the sea. Little by little, we made our
\nway to Jaffa which might really be seen as an extension of Tel Aviv itself. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nExploring Jaffa:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n <\/span>           <\/span>Our
\naim was to catch the 9.00 am Mass at the Roman Catholic Monastery of St. Peter
\nwhich was right at the waterfront. It is a beautiful church in the Italianate
\nstyle, ochre-colored with yellow highlights on its exterior. Inside its Baroque
\nstyle was reiterated by marble columns and a painted altarpiece. To our
\nastonishment, we discovered, when Mass began, that the priest was a Keralite
\nfrom India. Since it was a Sunday, the church was packed by the time Mass
\nbegan.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n <\/span>It was during Mass and within a few hours of
\nour stay in the Holy Land that we had a cultural shock when the camera of our
\nguide, Moti, was shattered by a member of the congregation who objected to his
\nattempt to take our pictures during Communion. The incident resulted in our
\nefforts to make him accountable for his actions by following him to his vehicle
\nafter Mass where the five of us (Moti, Ian, Glen, Llew and I) met his domestic
\npartner and tried to get Moti compensation for the loss of his property. By the
\ntime we returned to the rest of our waiting group, our mood of well-being had
\nbeen shattered and we were all seething at the injustice of it all\u2014not to
\nmention our rather rude entry into the cultural nuances of Middle Eastern life.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>However, we soon decided to try and
\nput the matter behind us as we did not wish to dampen our own spirits and that
\nof our guide. Following his prompts, we stopped by the water to take in the
\npanorama of modern-day Tel Aviv as it lay in the distance, its skyscrapers
\ncontrasting strongly with the wayside shacks on the Jaffa waterfront. Moti
\nexplained that Jaffa was an ancient port, perhaps the oldest port in the world,
\nand that every type of invader, conqueror and explorer from the ancient world
\nsuch as Etruscans and Phoenicians, Romans and Greeks, Arabs and modern-day
\ncolonials, had sailed through its waves and arrived on its shores. In order to
\nmake this vision clearer, he led us on a guided walk through Old Jaffa\u2019s Flea
\nMarket, a wonderful maze of little shops selling everything you could imagine
\nfrom buttons and buckles to Chinese knick-knacks, from post cards to magnets
\n(which we picked up) and to stalls selling freshly squeezed fruit juice such as
\npomegranate (which we ordered and tasted). We traded with Israeli Arabs clad in
\ntraditional robes and had our first taste of buying in the local markets of the
\nland. In the main market square, we passed by the Clock Tower that created a
\nbusy traffic island.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>A little later, having received an
\nintroduction to the Middle Eastern souk<\/i>,
\nwe piled back into our van and started our drive along the West Coast of Israel
\nwith its multi-million dollar apartment buildings clinging to the waterfront
\nthat gives it a name–Gold Coast. It was not long before we arrived at
\nCaesarea, a must-stop site for most tourists to Israel.     <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nThe Antiquated City of Caesarea:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Caesarea is a large National Park.
\nAfter obtaining our tickets, Moti walked us to a shady spot to give us a short
\ngeographical lecture on Israel and its precarious position in the Middle East.
\nHe then led us to the highlight of the park, its Roman Theater. Having just
\nreturned from Sicily only a week previously, where I had seen similar Roman and
\nGreek amphitheaters in Catania, Taormina and Syracuse, I knew immediately that
\nthis theater had received a great deal of refurbishment for the sandstone steps
\nwere brand-new and did not sport the antiquity of the authentic theaters I had
\nseen in Sicily. Our guide confirmed that the refurbishment had occurred in the
\n1960s and that the theater is still used today. Evidence of this was easily
\navailable in a sound system outfit that was hard at work setting up for an
\nevening\u2019s show. Furthermore, going by the shape of the theater (semi-circular
\nas opposed to a complete circle as in the Colosseum in Rome), I was also well
\naware that this theater had never been used for animal or gladiatorial
\ntournaments, but was a theatrical venue for the performance of public plays and
\nother such forms of declamation. However, I have to say that its location
\n(being right by the azure waters of the Mediterranean Sea) made it quite
\nvisually stunning. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nWe
\nthen walked through the thick original walls of the city (named, of course,
\nafter Emperor of Rome, Caesar\u2014but not Julius Caesar. The emperor whose name is
\nimmortalized here is Caesar Augustus, a member of the original Roman
\nTriumvirate that had included Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony).<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Our next stop was the stirring
\nremains of the Hippodrome where horse chariot races (as seen in the famed
\nsequence in the film Ben Hur<\/i>) had
\nbeen held through the height of Caesarea\u2019s fame. It was built by Herod\u2014not the
\nHerod who features in the story of the Holy Innocents in the Bible, but his
\nson\u2014in order to curry favor with Rome. For his pains, he was appointed as Rome\u2019s
\nvassal. Llew and I had seen a similar antique hippodrome in Sultanahmet in the
\nheart of Istanbul in Turkey\u2014a good indication of the spread and might of the
\nRoman Empire in its heyday. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>A short walk later in rather hot and
\nuncomfortable sun, we spied the remains of Herod\u2019s Swimming Pool\u2014lapped today
\nby the aquamarine sea water of the Mediterranean that was gorgeous in its
\nclarity. It would have been a perfect location for a King\u2019s swim!  <\/span>We also passed by the columnar remains of
\nHerod\u2019s Palace as well as the remains of a Byzantine Church that was built at
\nthe site once Christianity was accepted and established in the former Roman
\nrealm (through the efforts of Emperor Constantine whose mother, Helena,
\nconverted to Christianity and legitimized it). 
\n<\/span>Indeed, the history of Caesarea is quite fascinating in terms of the
\nvast numbers of clans who have peopled it through the ages and the
\narcheological and architectural remnants they have left behind to proclaim
\ntheir presence. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Our visit to Caesarea ended with a
\ndelightful film in the modern museum, built at the water\u2019s edge, that traced
\nthis history quite effectively to give us a time line and to create context for
\nthe ruins through which we had traced our path. 
\n<\/span>It took us through the centuries from the reign of Caesar to Herod to
\nPontius Pilate and eventually to St. Paul. We also went through the Time Travel
\nHall of Holograms which, once again, had we more time, would have taught us a
\ngreat deal more about the importance of this settlement whose stones silently
\nproclaim its use. I was quite fascinated also by a small exhibit in the museum that
\nrevealed a vast discovery of Roman gold coins unearthed only in 2016 from a
\nRoman galleon that had been wrecked off its shores. It made me wonder how much
\nmore treasure lies buried in the deep still waiting to be discovered.   <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nLunch in a Small Town:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>By this time, we were peckish and
\nMoti obligingly took us to a small town where we stopped to have lunch. Deciding
\nto eat as the locals do, we opted for Chicken Shawarma<\/i> which came in pita rolls with salad and tahini sauce. It
\nwas perhaps the least appealing meal we ate on the entire trip, but it was
\nquick, practical and portable. We also realized from the price of this modest
\nmeal that the cost of living in Israel is high\u2014indeed higher than in the USA.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>The small town was very similar in
\nappearance to any Indian small town. Traffic was nuts, horns beeped loudly and,
\nin the shops, the general sense of chaos (quite familiar to those from India)
\nprevailed.  <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Right after lunch, we hit the
\nhighway again to pass by desert-like landscapes that were quite impressive in
\nthe amount of irrigational projects that allow date and banana plantations to
\nthrive. Indeed, Israel has made the desert bloom and is almost self-sufficient
\nin food production. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nArrival in Haifa and Seeing the Baha\u2019i
\nTemple:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n <\/span>           <\/span>Not
\ntoo long after, we were skirting the modern city of Haifa that is on the north
\nwestern coast of Israel. Best known for its Baha\u2019i Temple, it is the main
\nreason why visitors stop in the city today. The best vantage point for the
\nTemple is a high mountain that our van negotiated with ease to drop us off at a
\nbalcony-like lookout point.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>The city of Haifa lay beneath us in
\nall its glory with the Baha\u2019i Temple\u2019s glorious golden dome dominating the
\nscene. It has an incredibly beautiful garden that is landscaped in tiers that
\nmarch down the side of the mountain in a lush oasis of green lawns and tall
\npoplar trees. Although the interior of the Temple can be visited on a guided
\ntour, there are specific times when this occurs. We had to be content with
\ntaking in the exterior of the building and the distant vistas that included the
\ncontemporary Israeli naval base. We could see ships in the harbor\u2014both military
\nand commercial ones–as well as the prosperous city that has mushroomed up
\naround its economy. Deciding to get a better feel of the venue, we actually
\ndescended down several tiers on beautiful marble balustraded stairs to take in
\nthe pretty gardens. The vantage point allowed us glimpses of the entire Israeli
\nwest coast and gave us a good sense of its strategic importance for defense.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nA Visit to an Olive Oil Pressing
\nPlant:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Leaving Haifa behind, in our van, we
\narrived at the ancient city of Tiberius that is mentioned extensively in the
\nBible. It would become our base for the next three nights as we explored
\nregions surrounding it. However, before we checked into our hotel, Moti led us
\nto an olive oil pressing plant which is run on a small scale as a cottage
\nindustry. Having passed through many olive groves on our drive and seeing ripe
\nfruit on the trees, it was quite fascinating to see the mechanized process as
\nbranches (leaves and fruit) are fed into the grinders for separation, washing
\nand, ultimately, pressing of oil. Moti drew our attention to the number of
\nlocal people who arrived with olives plucked from their own trees to have oil
\npressed for them. This plant is, therefore, far from the more commercial
\noutfits that deal in larger volumes. Freshly bottled, the first pressing of the
\noil is like liquid gold for the people of this region as the Mediterranean diet
\nthrives on the use of this magical ingredient that lends tastes while being
\npolyunsaturated and retaining no cholesterol. Some members of our group bought
\nbottles of oil\u2014you can tell that they are genuine foodies who care for nothing
\nbut the best possible ingredients in their cooking!      <\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nDinner at Decks<\/i>:<\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Finally, at the end of an extremely
\npacked day, we arrived at our hotel in Tiberius, The Galei Kinneret<\/i>. Since it was dark by this point, we did not
\nappreciate its location\u2014right on the Lake of Galilee. In fact, in Hebrew, Galei Kinneret<\/i> means \u2018On the Shores of
\nGalilee\u2019. We checked in, got into our rooms and then decided to meet downstairs
\nfor pre-dinner drinks to be followed by dinner. Those who wished to imbibe were
\nin the lobby sipping drinks and the rest of the company arrived soon enough. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>It was decided that we would have
\ndinner in the most reputed restaurant in Tiberius called Decks.<\/i> Accordingly, Moti dropped us there and joined us for a
\nContinental meal that was very delicious. However, the meal was really
\nexpensive\u2014as I said, it was as expensive as those to be found in the US (for
\nsome reason, I had expected the cost of living to be lower in Israel). By the
\ntime we had finished our meal, the desserts of our choice were not available,
\nbut few of us had the room to eat anything more. <\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n            <\/span>Moti drove us back to our hotel for
\na good night\u2019s rest.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nov 20, Sun: Tel Aviv-Jaffa-Caesarea-Haifa             Our first full day in Israel began with an absolutely world-class buffet breakfast in Hotel Shalom where the service was impeccable and the choice mindboggling. I was delighted to find yogurt and muesli and I started on it as a first course with a smattering of dried fruit and… <\/p>\n

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