"Strip away the layers and reveal your soul
Give yourself up and then you become whole" - Matisyahu lyrics

Today was an absolutely beautiful experience!! We said our goodbyes to Jerusalem and drove up along the Coastal Road to the ancient city of Ceasarea Maritima. No surprise here, it was also built by Herod the Great, but the most important aspect is that it was literally an invention of genius at the time of its creation! It was the first ever-artificial harbor!! This may not sound too impressive, but imagine literally singing limestone into the ocean and then building an entire harbor and port on top. Thanks to my obsession with the HBO show "Rome," I knew some of the history surrounding Herod's association with Marc Anthony and, as a result, his wish to build a city in honor of Octavius (later known as Augustus) to gain the Cesar's graces...it was nothing short of awe-inspiring to be walking on such a piece of history! Fun fact: Herod brought the Olympics to Ceasarea and created 2nd and 3rd places for the first time!

After a morning in the hot Israeli sun at Caesarea, we made our way to Nazareth and had a finger-licking-good lunch of falafel and hummus (no surprise there!).

A nice vendor also gave us some baklava for free! For being the place where Jesus spent his childhood, it is shocking to see that Nazareth population currently consists almost exclusively of Arabs... it is somewhat alarming in light of the billboards we saw there (one of them is pictured in my photos for this post).

This particular sign was placed directly in front of the Basilica of the Annunciation, the largest church in the Middle East. Ridiculous, absolutely inexcusable. There is a really interesting story associated with the sign (and the mosque on which it is posted), so if you're interested, ask me!

In the evening, we settled into our hostel and had a long advocacy-themed discussion with Dr. David Brog, sitting out under the stars. Afterwards, as would be our custom for the remaining nights we spent in Israel, we took our some hookahs, bought some Israeli beers, brought out some blankets from our rooms, and spent the evening under nightfall's cooler breeze.

"I told you to be patient
I told you to be fine
I told you to be balanced
I told you to be kind" - Bon Iver lyrics

The first half of the day was spent "walking in the footsteps of Jesus' Ministry" in Galilee, visiting the site that symbolizes the Sermon on the Mount, the place that symbolizes the miracle of feeding the 5,000, etc. We dipped our feet in the Sea of Galilee as well - so refreshing!

 

After this, we traveled to the Golan Heights and immersed ourselves in the political debate over the area. In part, we visited the ancient town of Gamla, where one of the epic battle-sites of the Roman suppression of the Great Revolt. The Golan is a place of incredible hiking and I was pretty sad to be rushed through it all; however, when I return in several months, I have arranged with Avi and Ohad to go on a solid hike with them...the weather will be much cooler then, so it will at least be bearable to be outside!

Having learned about the Great Revolt, we traveled to the Israeli-Syrian border to learn about the strategic importance of this area to the state of Israel. Lastly, we headed to the Golan winery for a wine tasting!!

The Israeli really have made the dessert bloom, growing twenty-two different kinds of grapes in an area with incredibly different topography, weather, and elevation! The wine tasting provided a much-needed break from the heat and sun of the day and it solidified (at least for me) the economic successes that the Israelis have reached in this region. The drive back to the hostel took a while, so Hunter and I sat on the bus and listened to Bon Iver's calming music and felt incredibly content. I felt simultaneously at peace and inspired...after a summer of hectic travel, I had a moment of calm in which I reminded that whatever mistakes we make and whatever wrongs are done to us, there is always more good than bad in life.

At night, we met with some Israeli soldiers. The gathering was actually somewhat frustrating for me because we were not allowed to ask them "political" questions since they were in uniform...as a result, the quality of the questions being asked deteriorated to "what are your hobbies?" and "what do you think about women being in the army?" On a tangent on that last note, Israel recently created a new infantry brigade of women that fights alongside men on the ground, instead of being in Intelligence, etc. Pretty damn cool!! In any case, despite the frustrating caliber of the questions, after the Q&A was over, we all spent some time underneath the stars on our usual blankets with hookah and wine (from the Golan!!). This opportunity was one of my favorite moments of the entire trip, as we got to freely interact with locals!

"And here is what I know now...goes like this, my salvation lies in your love, my salvation lies in your love" - Orange Sky (the OC Mix 1)

We woke up at 4:15am, ate some pound cake in a hurry, and walked to Masada. The face of the rock - completely devoid of any softening vegetation - rose up swiftly before us as we began the ascent. Masada, the desert fortress built by Herod the Great was the cite of the last great battle between the Jewish rebels and the Romans in the 70s CE. I was the 5th person up from our group and the first girl, which, modesty aside, made me (and our hyper intense tour guide) pretty proud.

After touring the top, we made our way down to breakfast at the hostel, before heading out to the Ein Gedi nature reserve, where we (gasp of happiness!!) swam in a waterfall!! Especially because it had been so hot in Israel, this was beyond refreshing! After returning to the hostel and getting ourselves cleaned up and packed up, we drove to Tel-Aviv. On the drive, we stopped at a rest stop, where one Mr. James Kimmey and I shocked the rest of the bus by buying chips and beer (of course, James bought some crappy, light beer and I went for a Guinness, as usual, thereby gaining respect points from our hilarious bus driver)! Once in Tel-Aviv we had a couple of hours to spend on the boardwalk, resting, eating, enjoying our last day together as twilight set in. And then, sadly, we made our way to the airport. The goodbyes to Ohad, Yisrael, and Avi were sad - I for one, being my usual sentimental self, had become legitimately close with them...I felt like I was leaving really good old friends.

It's a good thing I will be back here in several months though! I am looking forward to spending more time in actual Tel-Aviv (especially since I have decided to move here in a couple of years), to doing some intense hiking, to seeing Avi and Ohad again, and to seeing Israel when it is not in the middle of its dry season (I want to see her hills covered with green!). In the end, we boarded our airplane at 1am. As we did so, I looked down at a ring I had personalized and ordered in a little shop in Jerusalem...in the sterling silver is inscribed, in Hebrew, "Ahava," meaning "love." I couldn't help but smile even as I was leaving, for I had found a place that touched me greatly and differently than any of my other travels, a place that had renewed me in many ways, a place that challenged and welcomed me at the same time; and that, my friends, that is love.

On that note, I should say that I am separating from newfound friends whose friendship I hope to keep for years to come. (Some of us are already making plans for a reunion). In all honestly, I must also admit that even though I have apparently rubbed off on them with funny hand gestures and Nataliaisms (it's been pretty funny actually), the people on this trip have contributed something much greater to me, for they have injected me with a renewed sense of serenity and a belief that the surprises, the luck, the pure joy in life is always greater than the knocks, hectic stresses, and pains and disappointments we may experience! I consider myself thankful and blessed to have crossed paths with some of the people on this trip.

And so, as they say during Passover Seder, "Next year, in Jerusalem..."