Last days in Israel

I'm already back home...in this awful weather :P...it's so cold! But I still need to write about my few last days.

Monday my friends father took us by car car to Zichron Ya'acov, a cute little town not far from Haifa. We had a good lunch there and a nice walk. In summer this must be the place to be, now it was this nice..but you could just see it was a place for summer :P.

We wanted to go to Caesarea to see the sun go down, and we just made it on time. Caesarea was a big Roman harborcity once. Spectacular to see!

That night my friend was going to a footballgame where I would fall asleep if I had gone with him ;).

The next day it was Tel Aviv-day! We took the train from Haifa to Tel Aviv and decided to go to Jaffa right away. There we walked around in the old center, which looked enchanted. Little alleys, quiet streets..so beautiful! There was a wishing bridge..where you have to touch your sign, look at the sea..and make your wish, but it was closed :( ;), so no wish for me.
Jaffa is said to be one of the oldest harbors in the world..and so it has a lot of history.
In my lonely planet I was surprised to read that I could see Andromeda's rock from the coast.
Some mythology background from wikipedia:
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Her mother Cassiopeia boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids, the nymph-daughters of the sea god Nereus and often seen accompanying Poseidon. To punish the Queen for her arrogance, Poseidon, brother to Zeus and god of the sea, sent a sea monster (Cetus) to ravage the coast of Ethiopia including the kingdom of the vain Queen. The desperate King consulted the Oracle of Apollo, who announced that no respite would be found until the king sacrificed his virgin daughter Andromeda to the monster. She was chained naked to a rock on the coast.
Perseus was returning from having slain the Gorgon Medusa, he found Andromeda and slew Cetus by approaching invisible with Hades's helm and slaying him. He set her free, and married her in spite of Andromeda having been previously promised to her uncle Phineus.
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I thought that the rock would be bigger...and uhm...I don't know..but this was not much :P. In movies it's much more spectacular...haha!
After Jaffa we took a bus to Tel Aviv. My friend had an interview in a hotal near the beach..so it was a perfect moment for me to just take of my shoes and socks, bury my feet in the sand..and lay down to enjoy the sun. It was great...a moment of summer in my wintertime ;). We walked around in Tel Aviv..through Sheinken street (ultra-hip) to Neve Tzedek, a quiet different neighbourhood in Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is more of a night-town...with it's active nightlife and stuff, but on daytime it's cool, too.
We ate something in the mall and took the train back to Haifa. The trainstation was close to a salsaplace we had been before, so we decided to end the day with a nice salsaparty :D!

Wednesday my friend had to go to another interview, this time in Haifa. I went with him and did some sunbathing. It took quit a while...and the sun was kind of strong..so I decided to go to the mall that was really close. Had a lunch there and a white hot chocolatemilk. there were 3 stages of thickness...so I took the medium one...but when I got it it was like the Dutch 'vla'. Deliciousssss..... :D Going to try to make that myself once.
My friend found me in the mall and we went to the Baha'i gardens once more...now on time to really go in...we thought. When we got there the upper part was closed. That was a pity...but 3 times of going there was more than enough ;).
We visited my friends grandparents and on our way back I bought ingredients for a Dutch stamppot. I made it 'ok', had it better..

Thursday was my last day in Israel! My friends dad, my friend and I went by car to Nazareth. There we visited Gabriels church. It is built on top of Mary's home, but it left Mary's home in the church. It was a beautiful 'different' church..one that is really worth a visit, even if you have seen tons of churches like me ;).
In Nazareth we went to a Gumusia, a place with great Humus.
We left Nazareth and went to Tsfat..because I wasn't there on daytime..and I should ;). So we walked around in this lovely city. I think it's one of the nicest cities in Israel. A little Jerusalem, without the crowded stuff.

We drove home..I packed my bag...we went to a salsaclub...from there we took the train to the airport...and that was it!
Last two night I dreamed about Israel...defending it from all the bad stuff people said about it.

Go and see it for yourself..I loved the country..the people...the nature. It's a 'weird' country because of all the religious things (maybe that's just because I'm not reliious ;)), but definitely worth a visit!

Thanks for reading my blog! See you with my next travels ;)

Chau!