Haifa, Israel - Day 2

Israel with a population of 8.7 million and covering an area of only 28,000 square kilometres, has been a centre of conflict between the Arabs and Jews for a long time but in recent times the main areas of conflict have been

• The Gaza Strip (a strip of land between Egypt and Israel)  
• Golan Heights ( a rocky plateau between Syria and Israel)
• West Bank (a territory that divides modern day Israel from Jordan)

At the moment relationships are friendly but according to one of our guides “We will never go to the movies together”......

To summarise our tour today; we ascended the narrow windy road to the fertile Golan Heights where, even today,  marked land mines dot the countryside.  Before we ascended the Golan Heights plateau we visited Jerusalem for a photo stop and on to Yardenit, the baptismal place, where we watched dozens of pilgrims dip their white robed bodies into the cold waters of the Jordan River.  We hugged the shores of the Sea of Galilee, 166 sq kilometres and 400 metres deep, as we drove to Capernaum where Jesus healed Peters mother-in-law, according to the gospel. We stopped at Hamet Gader for a buffet lunch and then back into the bus to Tiberias for a Diamond Museum visit......yes...some were lucky enough to buy!

We passed souring mountains where the relics of years of fighting could be seen.  There is such a variety of crops that are grown in and around the area we visited.  We saw crops of bananas, garlic, date trees, pomegranate trees and wheat to name but a few. We tasted and bought date honey that is absolutely delicious and I can’t wait to serve it to my friends to see if they can tell the difference between that and bee honey.

Israel is renowned world wide for it’s innovation.  Tell an Israeli it can’t be done and he will find a way to do it and never argue with an Israeli because you will never win.  These statements came from our tour guide. The Israelis were the first in the World to use desalination  and re-cycling of water.

Israel is a very interesting place but it’s almost like they carry a chip on their shoulder that most certainly comes from years of conflict.  Their staunchest alley is the USA and they very much dislike the British.  We heard stories about the treatment of the Holocaust Jews by the British after World War 2, that I won’t go into, so the dislike runs deep.

Everywhere we went the military were present and passport checks in and off the ship were almost over the top. Israel is an interesting place and mark my words....watch this space.