More Tiberias

In Tiberias, we have the ability to rent a car for really cheap and drive to see the sites, which is easier (and sometimes more affordable) than trying to take a bus or taxi.  The country is small enough, it only takes 30-60 minutes to get to most of the major sites in the Northern region.  Tiberias is a beautiful town and definitely caters more to tourists, as opposed to Haifa which is mostly an economic center of the country.  In our small hotel room, we have a big balcony overlooking the beautiful Sea of Galilee!

The weather here feels hotter than Haifa, but up in the mountains it's cool and very pleasant - it feels like spring in Seattle.  I LOVE LOVE the weather, but the trade off is the bugs!  One night I was attacked by a freakish looking spider in bed, so I couldn't sleep the rest of the night for fear that I would be attacked by more scary bugs!

Tom's friend Daniel with a praying mantis!  Scawy!

Tiberias is one of Judaism's holiest cities.  The mishna was compiled here and it is also the home of the tombs of the 'tzadiks,' highly respected Jewish philosophers and thinkers.  We were very grateful to visit the tomb of Rambam, Rabbi Maimonides.  We've studied many of the writings of Rambam, so it meant a lot to visit his tomb.  People pray at the tombs and become very emotional, it's very moving.

The tombs of the tzadiks is marked with the artistic red monument behind me.

Jeremy and I visited the tomb of Rabbi Meir Ba'al Hanes, a 2nd Century rabbi who helped compile the Mishnah.  The white dome is Sephardic and the blue dome is Ashkenazic, though when we went inside only the Sephardic dome was open.

Tiberias is rich with Jewish history and the history of other peoples who have lived in the land as it has changed hands.  As we walked around the city, we walked a few kilometers to some Roman ruins.  There was a fence around the ruins and a sign in Hebrew.  It probably said no entry, but since our Hebrew isn't very good yet it didn't say much to us, so we went in anyways!

The other thing we LOVE LOVE about Israel is the FOOOOODDDDD!!!!

We almost died the first night here...from overeating!  Seriously, it was painful.  We've learned our lesson now and only order one entree and share it!  Falafel, kebabs, eggplant dip, hummus, tahina, pickled vegetables, olives, spicy tomato dip...and pita, pita, pita!  Do pickled veggies still count as healthy?  We're still on the fence about it!  If we get beef at a restaurant, we won't see cheese, since it's not kosher to have at the same time.  So many choices though, I think we'll manage!

At the outdoor market, buying fresh fruit and vegetables!  Yummy!

Tiberias has an outdoor water/light show on the waterfront that we went to see.  It was really cool!  They have music and water fountains and they reflect lights and images on the water.  It was basically like watching a movie on a screen of water!  Who knew?!

Hiking around in Tiberias we found an unearthed amphitheater, most likely from Roman times since it's visible from the other Roman ruins maybe 100 yards away.  Since Jeremy and I are going metric, we'll say about 91 meters away. 

The amphitheater behind me and further out is the Sea of Galilee!

We hiked up into the hills surrounding the Sea of Galilee and we could see all of Tiberias... and beyond!

The forest around Tiberias.

Our room was one of 2 balcony rooms in Hotel Panorama!  We loved the fresh air!

So, Jeremy and I went to the shared balcony at our hotel and started doing our Crossfit workout.  A group of young guys vacationing for the weekend thought we were pretty entertaining.  Every time we did a push-up or a sit-up they would count for us, "Hep, hep, hep..." and then they joined us...!

They thought they were so funny when they tried to do jump rope double-unders like we do, until the found out how difficult it is and how painful it is when the jumprope whips you!