Well the parents turned up a bit before 2am last night. We stayed up a little while. I was worried that I wouldn't get back to sleep. But I did without any problems and had an awesome sleep. Yay for earplugs!! (I have to wear earplugs because my father is a worse morning person than I am, and there was nearly a patricide when we were travelling together in 2004). So I even slept through the alarm I had set on my phone to remind to take my malaria pills.
View from our hotel room
View from the south side of the hotel
So wandered down for a late breakfast (they had a pretty awesome buffet).
Breakfast buffet at the hotel - so much awesome fresh food!
After breakfast we went for a wander along the promenade which was a little warm but very pleasant.
Beach chairs and umbrellas on Frishman Beach
Hooded crow on the promenade
View towards old Jaffa
At 10am we all piled into the tour bus. Twenty nine people in a big coach, which means plenty of free seats which is good.
Me next to the tour coach
Photo by Mum
Our coach captain (Osama) and tour guide (Ronen) next to the coach
Our first stop was a valley south of Tel Aviv where (supposedly) David slew Goliath. They've based this on a few of the old place names in the area. There was a river bed there with lots of smooth stones. If it was actually the place it was pretty cool. If not it still had a nice cliff and wheat field and a few poppies.
Tel Aviv city buildings
Ashqelon and Ashdod sign. Seeing road signs with biblical names was so cool
Prickly pear plants
Israeli countryside near Gefen. I was surprised how green the countryside looked
HaElah Stream, Valley of Elah, possible site of David and Goliath battle
Bruce reading the Bible in HaElah Stream
White Stork near HaElah Stream
Rock face at HaElah Stream
Stones in HaElah Stream
Poppies in HaElah Stream
Photo by Mum
The countryside was very green, which was surprising given how little water the country gets. Apparently 50% of the water used is from desalination (don't know how true that is). And they're very good at water management.
Valley of Elah and Tel Azekah
Then we headed back to Tel Aviv and stopped in Jaffa. It had a bunch of old buildings and a lovely view. We got dropped off and walked down the hill and had lunch in a place which served "traditional Arab" food - which basically to us meant "Turkish" - ie, bread with varieties of dips, and chicken kebabs. Nice food and a really nice lemonade to go with it.
Gate, Clock Tower and flowers in the roundabout at Yossi Carmel Square
Danger of death!
Buildings in old Jaffa
View north along the coast from old Jaffa
Military helicopter flying over
Minaret at Al Bahr Mosque
Minaret at Mahmoudiya Mosque
Lunch spread
But after lunch instead of giving us some time to explore the town some more, they gave us a whole twenty minutes. Was so pissed off about that. Because we really didn't have the time to see *anything*. We went back to the bus at 14:45 and were back at the hotel at 15:10. That was it for the day. And I'm like .. it's ten past three.. would it have killed you to give us another half an hour?? Lame.
The Clock Tower
Tiroche Amphitheatre in Old Jaffa
So the parents and I headed out again for a little walk around the beach again. But noone wanted to come with me to see if the Star Wars escalator was still there, so went back with mum to go for a swim.
Shlomo Lahat Promenade and Renaissance Tel Aviv
Had a dip in the Mediterranean Sea, which actually had some small waves. Didn't stay long, but it was really refreshing. Then we went inside to go in the hotel pool. Which was good too, but to be honest I thought it was a little too warm and actually preferred the temperature of the sea!
Sunset over the Mediterranean
Ship passing in front of the sun at sunset over the Mediterranean
Had a bit of time to kill before our scheduled dinner time so downloaded and resized photos.
Dinner was in the buffet again, heaps of good food. But I was good and had just a little meat and plenty of veggies and salad. Best bit though was these little chocolate cups with sour berries - yummm!!
And back to the room to blog.
Distance covered on the GPS: 148.3km
Steps walked: 13823
Photos on the Canon: 557
Photos on the Sony: 52
Videos: 17
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