Yesterday I had the time to do a little exploring and I signed up for a tour of Caesarea, Akko, and Haifa. We had a excellent tour guide with 12 people, many from different countries. Caesarea is the old Middle East headquarters for the Roman Empire and we saw the remains of the palace of King Herod the Great who is not the one associated with the time of Jesus, and we saw Roman remains including an amphitheater modeled in a small way on Rome, and the old arena for chariot racing. Even more enlightening was the city of Akko also known as Acre. It is a Unesco World Heritage place and we saw the buildings of different civilizations Judaic, Christian, and Muslim. They have unearthed the old headquarters for the Knights Hospitaller because each successive conqueror built on top of the last, or destroyed them completely. In the area of Haifa we descended into the limestone grottoes, but the final stop on the trip had me in awe, The Baha'i Gardens.
That is the picture I want to attach and it is unbelievable. It is tended by Baha'i volunteers who on on a 5 year waiting list. Imagine something so large that has not a thing out of place, it was perfection. Every time I go to Israel I see something surprising. Last year I saw at least in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem a mostly peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs. I realize it is not always that way and we did go to a gate that separates Israel and Lebanon and hasn't been opened since 1948 and that reminds you that much is still below the surface. Today I went to one of my favorite cafes in the Jaffa Flea Market, a site to behold, and tonight, dinner with an investor at Manta Ray that is on the Mediterranean Sea and hope to share a picture tomorrow.
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