We started the day with a boat cruise on the Sea of Galilee. Israel really surprises me in different ways. First, we had roaming wifi on a tour bus on the very day we arrived. Next, they played our National Anthem and started raising our flag with the Israeli flag beside it. Who would have expected that? Anyway, the view was picturesque and perhaps only New Zealand can match the view?
Biblical places that we visited:
- Church of Annunciation: This is believed to be the childhood place of Virgin Mary. It was at this place in Nazareth where an angel announced to Mary that she would conceive and become the Mother of Jesus (meaning Saviour), marking his Incarnation - union of God and man in the form of Jesus Christ (became flesh by being conceived in the womb of a woman). While at the Church of Annunciation, we see mosaics donated by Christian organizations all over the world and Singapore was not left out either. The interesting thing was that the Mosaic painting was typical of Singapore in the 1960s or 1970s whereby you see the four different races, CIMO, being depicted in the painting. Thumbs up to our multi-racial policy and social cohesion!
Subsequently, we went to a Druz village located on Mount Carmel and had our lunch there. Druz are a minority group in Israel and they also reside in our surrounding Arab nations. They have interesting cultural practices and beliefs as well. Most of them do not believe in identifying themselves with the borders that separate them, the religion that they adopt and also race. A druz born in Israel calls himself a Israeli whereas another born in Jordan or Lebanon would probably call themselves a Jordanian and a Lebanese respectively. According to the druz guide, the typical druz race draws a line between black and white, right and wrong, yes and no and prefers not to have any grey areas or ambiguity. Their religion does not permit polygamy, fasting or enforced rules as they believe in reincarnation whereby life is a continuous cycle whereby you are born and die and reborn later. They also have their own flags with the 5 main colors - green, red, yellow, blue and white.
- Green - nature and the mind
- Red - heart and energy
- Yellow - soul and intelligence
- Blue - peace and hope and our body parts
- White - Pure
The next time you see men and women in white headwear in Israel, he or she is mostly like a religious drug. The interesting thing about them is that they
Our next stop was at Caesarea - a favorite place of a Great King of Israel, Herod, not because of his achievements for Israel but he was one who built lots of infrastructure, temples, castles, fortresses, etc. in Israel.
The story of King Herod goes like this. After the Roman empire took over Israel, there was no appointed ruler in the country. Herod then went to the Roman King and sought his approval to appoint Herod as the King of Israel. Herod knew that while he is far away in Rome, his rivals might take advantage of the situation and that his family might be in danger so he kept them at Masada (if I remember it correctly). He arrived back in Israel as the King a day before his family had to surrender due to a lack of water. remar due to a lack of water. Under his rule, Jerusalem remained the religious capital of Israel but Herod built another capital for the non-Jews and also for himself. The city, Caesarea, was named after the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus , as his way of maintaining a warm relationship with the Roman emperor. As a city, Caesarea flourished during Herod's times as a lot of ships from Europe sail on the Mediterranean Sea and would come through Caesarea to get to Jerusalem. To supply water to his newly built capital, he cut a slope through the surrounding mountains to supply water to Caesarea and even had a pool in his fortress. The Byzantines also made Caesarea their capital subsequently but beyond that, the city was in ruins for most of the time. In Caesarea, you will also find a Roman Amphitheater which was built in Herod's times but is still in use for major concerts and performances during Summer in Israel. It is equivalent to Taiwan's Arena, Hong Kong's Coliseum, those in Vienna, etc. The amazing thing is it is an outdoor venue with an ancient backdrop. Just the thought of it makes me wanna be there personally someday. Of course, back in those days, besides song and dance performances, they also had a chariot racing i.e. modern day's horse racing. What our guide totally resonated with me that so long as people are sufficiently occupied day and night either by work, family, or entertainment, they would not think of revolt and Herod managed to keep his people happy with such entertainment. In present times, I guess smartphones and the Internet are our best companions.
Other things that Herod built:
- a surrounding wall for the Temple Mount: The Western Wall or Wailing Wall is the one section of the wall that remained from Herod's time
- winter palace in Masada - temperatures are warmer in Masada
- Herodium - a hill south of Jerusalem and southeast of Bethlehem where Herod is believed to be buried there.
Fun fact: The word, "salary" is derived from the word "salt" because in those times when the Roman soldiers worked to build the various fortresses, palaces, etc. they were given salt in return. Salt was a precious commodity in ancient times when we did not have refrigerators. Apparently, it is said that the soldiers perspire a lot doing construction thus they needed salt to replenish the loss of salt from their body.
Our last stop before the Holy Land is none other than Jaffa city in Tel Aviv, the gateway to Jerusalem centuries ago. The British were the ones who discovered modern day's largest port in Israel, Haifa, but prior to that, Jaffa was the main port where ships called at. Apparently, crusaders from Europe went through the port of Jaffa hoping to find good trees for wood needed to construct siege machines to attack the fortress in Jerusalem. In Jaffa, you will find the only church in Israel that faces the West, St. Peter's church, because the church was constructed based on the New Testament whereby there was a belief that they had to spread the religion to the west.
As for Tel Aviv, it is a relatively new city founded after Israel's independence. It hosts the only international airport in Israel and the best beaches. If you have plenty of cash and cannot decide what to invest in, you could possibly consider buying an apartment that faces the beach in Tel Aviv and bank on Summer to collect skyrocketing rental rates. Apparently, it costs around US$6,000 to rent an apartment for a month during summer. Rent it for 3 months and you are guaranteed a holiday to anywhere in the world! As for the rest of the year, you can still expect lots of expatriates and tourists or locals working in Tel Aviv so your income is guaranteed.
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