Israel 22-26 октября 2022 года

Our trip to Israel during Sonya's half term was short but significant. We met our relatives and friends who moved to Israel earlier this year or just like us came to meet with everybody, we visited some relatives who we stayed in touch with but haven't seen for a very long time. And we had a little bit of time for sightseeing.

Caesarea

There are many fairly well-preserved Roman buildings in Israel. Caesarea is a port and a theatre built during the reign of Herod the Great in the 1st centure AD.

Capitals of Roman columns near the theatre.

A Jewish lion.

Remains of Herod's palace surrounded by the sea.

Mosaic floor in a Roman bath.

The walls of a Roman bath, or rather all that is left of them.

A marble sarcophagus with the head of the Medusa.

In the evening the whole family gathered around the table, almost like New Year's Eve in St. Petersburg, just a different time and a different place...

Three girls called Sonya, each belonging to a different generation.

The same girls in 2011, at our dacha in Orekhovo.

Yaffa

Yaffa from Tel-Aviv. Yaffa was one of the main ports of the Israel. Ships would dock here bringing new settlers to Palestine.

The Tel-Aviv skyscrapers can be seen from Yaffa.	Eric on a pedestal.

The entrance to a mosque. All day long we walked past some amazing doors.

The terrace of a small restaurant. The colour of the lanterns and doors match the colour of the sea.

A wall of flowers in Abrasha Park.

A rare safe place.	A thoughtful Atlantean.

Doors: colorful, big and small...

...made from wooden and wrought iron, open and mysterious...

...carved and ancient, with perched birds and abandoned...

Take your pick!

We wandered into a parking lot near the market where there was an art show of stone and wood crafts.

An installation made of painted agate.

A market.

A lunch break.

A trip to the Dead Sea

After a couple of days in Bat-Yam, we visited the Dead Sea and Masada fortress before moving to Jerusalem. The Dead Sea from a viewpoint. On the other side of the sea is Jordan.

We got at Masada quite late, the hiking trail was already closed because of the hot weather, so we had to take the cable car up. The fortress is located on a plateau 400 metres above sea level. King Herod built two palaces here around 30 BC.

A water cistern.

The perimeter of the fortress had four-metre high walls with observation towers.

In 73-74 AD a group of Jewish rebels hid in the fortress. The Romans built forts around the plateau and set up a blockade. The rectangles below are the remains of the Roman forts.

The wall of a Byzantine church.

A Dove House.

King Herod's northern palace was built into the mountainside.

A steep path, also cut into the rock, leads to the palace.

After Masada, we stopped for a dip in the Dead Sea.

Jerusalem

Our last day in Israel we spent in Jerusalem. A view of the western wall of Old Jerusalem from the Mishkenot Sha'ananim area.

Tiles on one of the houses.

The narrow streets of Mishkenot Sha'ananim (Montefiore Quarter), the first Jewish settlement outside the walls of the Old City in the 19th century.

The streets of Old Jerusalem are one big market. One can wander around all day.

A bakery.

Beads, stones, boxes, bracelets...

A door to the art gallery.	Jerusalem market.

We visited Temple Mount. They let tourists in twice a day for a couple of hours. The capitals of Roman columns.

A hand washing fountain.

Small chapels near the Dome of the Rock.

Two children by one of the chapels.

At the entrance we were given long skirts and hooded jumpers so that we didn't flash our bare shoulders and knees.	A door to the Dome of the Rock.

The Dome of the Rock.

The tiles are so beautiful.

Sonja took us through some Arab streets of the old town.

The cells of the monks of the Coptic-Ethiopian monastery, which adjoins the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The temple is underneath the monastery, with the dome of the underground church of St Helen rising in the courtyard.

This monument in Teddy Kollek Park is called 'Jerusalem as the Centre of the World', by sculptor David Breuer-Weil. Beneath the globe is a trefoil-shaped world map with Jerusalem in the centre (based on the Bünting Clover Leaf Map from 1581).

We didn't have time to see much on our short trip to Israel, but we will definitely be back.