A few months ago my wife Molly & I took a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Israel as part of an amazing journey with the Israel Collective. These are my journal entries over the course of the trip. Today’s post is the final installment. Thanks for reading!

DAY EIGHT / 2.15.22 / 4:10PM / Bus

Molly looking lovely beside the ancient aqueduct leading to Caesarea.

We just left Caesarea Maritima, the Roman City built during the time of King Herod as a tribute to Caesar Augustus. It was also where Paul was imprisoned by the authorities and the port where he would subsequently set sail for Rome to meet his earthly end. Located inside Caesarea is the palace of Herod where Pontius Pilate lived during his authority in Judea. His name is etched on a stone there. What a beautiful place.

We went down to the beach to see the ancient aqueduct and then made our way to the old port. The aqueduct was awesome with dozens of arches stretching along the sand toward the ruins of the city like a gigantic serpent diving and resurfacing. Once in Caesarea, the sea was a kind of azure blue and the stone harbor arced into water like a gigantic letter ‘C’.

The ruined city had so much to offer. First came lunch - cooked tuna & herbed rice - and then a walk to the hippodrome where charioteers once raced. It was a long track stretching down the sandy shoreline with stone risers built on the eastern slope leading up from the beach. I couldn’t help but think of Ben Hur and climatic race between Judah & Masala.

Next came Herod’s palace set on rocky promontory which jutted out into the Mediterranean like a thumb. At the far point of the small peninsula of land were floor mosaics and the ruins of a freshwater pool. Herod knew how to bathe in style.

The final site was a theater with high stadium seating and a marble floor facing the sea. During some performances they would even flood the stage and re-enact sea battles from bygone eras.

The day concluded with a trip to Jaffa to see St. Peter’s Church and enjoy a great meal at a Russian/Jewish restaurant before climbing back on the plane to head home. Our last full day in Israel!

The remains of Herod’s palace reach out into the Mediterranean.

DAY NINE / 2.16.22 / 3:20AM / El Al Flight Home

We were often so busy on our tour days that I was unable to record all our activity. Now I’ve got a long flight ahead of me. What did I miss?

Scenes from an amazing trip…

Molly skinned her knee at the Dead Sea (hey that rhymes!). We drove out to the Dead Sea in late afternoon after our trip to Bethlehem. From Jerusalem it was an hour or so into the desert and well below sea level - the lowest point on land below sea level in the world as a matter-of-fact. The mud of the sea is said to have beneficial properties for your skin, so the small seaside resort which surrounds the Dead Sea is populated with cosmetics shops selling Kedma beauty products. It also has changing areas where Molly & I donned our suits before walking down the to seashore. Over the course of the trip, we’d both been eating well (again, the buffet game was strong in Israel) so we both resembled a chubby pair of penguins waddling into the water.

You could smell the salt. There’s so much salinity in the Dead Sea water that you’re told not to put your head under the surface, not to swim on your stomach and definitely not to open your eyes underwater. Instead, you simply float. This was easy. Upon entry you automatically became so buoyant that all your limbs feel like irrepressible bath toys, bobbing ever upward. This was the fun part.

The difficulty came in getting into the water. The mud was very slippery so you had to be careful as you waded in. Molly slipped and skinned her knee on an underwater rock. Poor thing. We floated around for a bit with our toes popping out of the while laying on our backs. When the sting of salt on her wound became too much., we made our exit and found the life guard station for a bit of Dead Sea triage. The lifeguard tended to the cut quickly - this was not the first such wound he’d seen.

Afterwards we made our way back to the resort area for retail therapy as Molly purchased some Dead Sea cosmetics. The camel in the parking lot also chewed on her hair for a moment. Needless to say the lowest point on earth may also have been Molly’s lowest point of the trip.

After her fall, Molly’s spirits were lifted by retail therapy. Our guide Yoav even held Molly’s purse for her!

A successful treasure hunt. Every time I travel abroad, I get a handmade cross from the country I’m visiting as a memento to take home. I was on the hunt in Jerusalem until Molly & I found the perfect ceramic shop in the Old City. The rest of our group was finishing their evening shopping when we asked our guide Yoav if we might break away momentarily. On the way in, we spied a nearby Armenian Ceramic shop, and Yoav recommended we go there. We took a jog over.

Home at last. Doesn’t Hagop’s Jerusalem Cross look grand on our kitchen wall?

The door was only half open and we feared they might be closed for the night when suddenly the owner waved us in. His shop was colorful, tidy and filled with ceramic tiles adorned with bright flowers, birds, and distinctive Jerusalem crosses. The proprietors name was Hagop Karkashian and he told us the story of how his family has run the shop for four generations. His Armenian grandfather had come to Jerusalem to craft tiles for the Dome of the Rock and escape persecution from the Turks. Hagop’s father would then go on to hand paint all of the tiled street signage in the Old City when it was controlled by the Jordanians in the 1960s. At that time the roadways were labeled in Arabic & English. Soon the Israelis took control and Hagop’s father was such a skilled craftsman that they had him add the Hebrew names in 1967 after the Six Day War.

After sharing this great family history with us (complete with photos that he had hanging on the wall) he brought us deeper into the shop to show us his workroom and kiln. His wife said hello to us and urged him to share more family lore. We ended up buying two tiles; one with a peacock, the other with a Jerusalem cross. The best part, however, was the wonderful story we came away with.

A few extra observations.

Israelis smoke and wear more black clothing and we do. To me this comes across as cosmopolitan and chic, probably because I’m the worlds least stylish person. They’re also aggressive drivers and cut to the chase in conversation.
Our motor coach driver, Meir, could navigate an aircraft carrier down the Colorado River. The way he squeezed our bus through old, narrow streets and heavy crowds was amazing. I’m someone who spends a lot of time aboard motor coaches for work and appreciates a good driver.
The Abraham Accords are a big deal to Israelis. As well they should be. They’re a sign of real hope. Conversely, the people seemed fairly unified in their opinion that the government in Iran poses an existential threat.
There’s a saying that before visiting Israel, you read the Bible in black-and-white. Afterwards, it comes to you in color. This is true.
From a standpoint of craft, I was very impressed with our many guides, particularly Yoav (our main guide) and James our storyteller throughout the City of David. What a stunning experience that was.
I would go back to Israel in a moment. There was so much to see and experience. I feel as if I only scratched the surface. If there is ever a return journey I would love to see Masada, explore Crusader sites and learn what Nazareth is all about.

Ultimately, the Israel Collective does incredibly important work and I was honored to be a part of the trip. I don’t think I’ll have another like it in my lifetime.

If you want to learn more about the Israel Collective, click HERE. If you’d like to learn more about our great tour guide, Yoav Rotem, click HERE.

Historic America in Israel: Aaron's Travel Journal PART 7