David Sokol Photography: Day 7 - On the Road Northward

We're picked up at 8:00am in a 43-seat bus and our group has grown to 39.

First stop on the road north is a quick visit to the old aqueduct that carried water from Mt Hermon. A great photo opportunity and after a whole 10 minutes we were on the expressway again.

Next stop was Caesareas, built by Herrod the Great and once the seat of Roman rule. We see a great tourist video of what the town looked like through the centuries. And that's so intense for many of us on the tour, we really are seeing ruins that are thousands of years old. A quick look at the old hippodrome where chariot races were held and the old Roman theatre that used to seat 5,000 (but when it was rebuilt was limited to 3,000 seats - looking out over the water.

Back on the bus and we then travel through Haifa looking at the Israeli offices of Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco and Google. We went to the top of the Baha'i Temple in order to take some stunning photos of the city and port of Haifa. We kept driving onto the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum that records the passage by sea of immigrants trying to reach Israel during the English Mandate. The movie that we watched has us seated inside of one of the boats used as a transport vessel. Then we went for a tour of the museum and inside an old submarine.

Then it was off to Akko, where we drove through the old moat walls into the town for an amazing lunch held in what was an old lane way which was part of the old markets. This walkway has been restored and now houses several restaurants. After filling our stomachs a few times over with chicken shwarma, 7 dips, French fries (!!) and ending with Arabian espresso (for about $18) we walk through the markets stopping off at an artist's store where they make religious items by hand-pressing copper (hide the credit card). Then, at the end of the markets, we head off to the lighthouse for some more photos, grab a freshly squeezed juice from a road-side fruit vendor and then onto the bus for the last visit of the day, the Rosh Hanikra blue grottoes. we get a steep ride down to the grottoes via cable car and then have a walk through the tunnels, capturing great photos of the water through openings in the rock. the water really is a deep blue.

Then it's back up the cliff-face to the road, onto the bus, and a trip to Kibbutz Lavi Hotel, our hotel for the next two nights.

Out of the 270 active Kibbutzim in Israel this one of a handful which is both orthodox and maintaining the true income-splitting style of the traditional Kibbutz of the 1960's. We're given a wonderful buffet dinner which is paused at 8:00pm for a 1-minute siren in memorial for the fallen soldiers who have helped protect the country from the surrounding enemies in the wars from the 1948 proclamation of the State of Israel. Tomorrow there will be a two-minute siren at 11:00am. Again, an important part of the symbolism of the country that celebrating the country's 65th "birthday" will not overlook those 23,000 soldiers who have given their lives.

A big sleep ends a big day.