Ulpan and Hikes =)

Hey All,

Another weekend has passed here in Israel and its been an exceptionally hot one, when I say that i've been sweating buckets im not lying. The week in the Ulpan has been great and another midterm has been passed with a good result 88/100, so right now im pretty pleased with myself. This week the University is closed so almost all the building are locked up. This means that we have had to move our class to a different building and a different classroom. Later this week I'm supposed to hold a presentation about whatever I like and so far I dont know what...suggestions anyone?

Last weekend was full of fun stuff. On friday I went with the Ulpan to Sippori, Yodfat and Akko. Sippori was the only city in the Galilee that surrendered to the romans during the Jewish Uprising in 66-72 AD. This saved the city from complete destruction as was the case for the cities that did not surrender. The cities inhabitants and commanders was seen as traitors but they lived to keep the traditions and life of the early Jewish state. The buildings that survived are also very special as they are full of Roman mosaics that show different things. I'll upload the pictures later. After Sippori we went to Yodfat a city not to far away and to much unlike Sippori before the Uprising, however Yodfat made the deadly choice to fight the Romans and as a result the city and its inhabitants were leveled to the ground or killed. As the story goes there was only one survivor, the former commander of the Jewish "army" in the north, Josefus Flavius. Josefus surrendered to the Romans when he was the only one left alive. He was brought to Rome to be processed and most likely executed but he persuaded them some how and he survived and became a historian who would live to the the story of the Jewish Uprising and irs thanks to him and some other writers that we know what we know about the siege of Masda, Yodfat and Jeursalem. In Yodfat nothing is left but the cistern that they kept their drinking water in. After Yodfat we went to Akko Beach for some swimming and tanning however as I and Adi had made other plans for the weekend she picked me up and me, her Raz and Noam took the car more north.

Yodfat or what remains...

One of the "smaller" Mosaics found in Sippori

My favorit Mosaic (above)of Sippori can be found in the Roman Villa, it depicts the Roman God Bacchus and Herkules having a drinking game, but it also has the Mona Lisa of Middle East, created almost 1500 years before Da Vincis.

Mosaic in the Synagogue in Sippori

View from Yodfat

On friday afternoon we drove from Akko to the Kinneret lake to camp for the night, which was really nice. We made our own food and had nice calm evening. Our goal for the saturday was to hike the Nahal El Al. Its a stream that runs through a river valley in the Golan Heights. Along the stream there are a two major springs/waterfalls. They are called the Black Fall and the White Fall. They both get their names from the color of the rocks the water flows over and down. The Black Fall is made up of volcanic rock and the White Fall of Limestone. Both of them have smaller pools at the bottom that you can swim in, we swam in both to cool down form the extreme heat. Except for the heat the hike was really beautiful and fun, I took some pics that you can see further down. We got home last night completely exhausted and fell into a bed after a nice long shower.

The Black Fall

The Road ahead of us

One of the beautiful views...

The White Fall

Another nice view...

Also I just remembered that we went to Caesera, the huge port the King Herodes built, on tuesday. It was a really nice trip and the guide told us about everything that happend there over almost 2000 years. First King Herodes built it, the construction took 11 years but afterwards he had mighty port and the city grew to include a hippodrome, a palace, a market and a big bathhouse etc. When the Herodes died the city deteriorated and some hundreds year later the Byzantines took over and restored and rebuilt the city and became yet again a mighty stronghold had trade area. After the Byzantnies came the Crusaders that fortified a smaller area and used it as a stronghold for their campaigns however they were run over by the Sultan Baybars how leveled the city which is why not a whole lot survived from the Crusader time however under the dust and rubble archeologists have been able to find much from the time of Herodes. Ill give some pictures to illustrate it.

The ground of the Hippodrome

The main road of Caesarea

View of the Roman City from the outer port

A Muslim prayer tower one of many evidences of Caesarea being used by many different cultures.

The hugh moth and a Castle wall that the Crusaders built.

On another note one of my dear good friends from Sweden is coming for a visit this week YEAY! It will be fun to catch up and talk some swedish and see what sort or mischief we can get ourselves into. Also last night IF Elfsborg ran over Kalmar FF with the score of 4-1, its looking good for the EL-game vs Napoli on thursday.

Til you read again have fun,

Carl