Rosh Haniqra/Zippori, Israel – Sea Caves & Mosiacs

Talking with Iris this morning she told us that Rosh Haniqra is very nice and a couple from Florida who were staying at the apartment went yesterday and loved it. We had seen some pictures of these famous sea caves and thought it might be a fun detour so north we went and I mean north. Rosh Haniqra is the Israel border with Lebanon. There were several armed soldiers on patrol, a barbed wire boarder crossing gate (no pictures allowed), a Israeli warship always anchored right off the coast for safety, and numerous buoys far out into the Mediterranean marking the dividing line between the two countries. All that to say it felt quite safe. We took the world’s steepest lift down into the sea caves. After a movie on the history of the place, where water is squirted on you from above, we entering the sea caves. We did the tunnel hike through with different observation points of the sea caves. It was beautiful to see the clear blue sea with the light bouncing off the water and cave walls. The views from the top of the cliff were equally stunning. After getting our fill on scenery, we loaded up and headed over to the area Jesus grew up.

I was not really very interested in going to Nazareth as it is a very large city now and nothing like the place Jesus lived. However, Zippori was very interesting to me. Before we left on our Israel trip we were blessed to sit down with Bob Stewart, our resident expert on Bible history. He explained to us that Jesus’ father Joseph was more than a carpenter. A better translation of the greek word ‘tekton’- which describes Joseph’s work- more accurately means master builder or architect. So, Joseph was a master craftsman who could have been skilled in stone, wood, metal, architecture and in Zippori during the time of Jesus there was a huge project underway to build a military outpost. Zippori only a couple miles from Nazareth (easy walking distance) and Joseph would have had the skills to be engaged in that type of work. So, it is possible Joseph and his son may have had a hand in it’s construction. We were amazed at the mosiacs and the water tunnel. I had no idea tile work could be so artistic back then (I need to take lessons). The water tunnel was pretty awesome too. In one we walked through it with the light, then we found another section that was for people with headlamps. Thanks to Bob Stewart (again) we were prepared and got to enjoy crawling through a very cool (literally) tunnel. This place had running water, toilets, a theater, a fortress, many rich houses, and a synagogue. After a couple hours we decided it was about to be the sabbath and we needed to get to our hotel. We drove past Nazareth and through Cana (John 2:1-11) to setup base camp in Tiberius for a couple nights.

Kendall’s take:
April 4th: Beautiful places and ruined spaces
We got up at 7:00, got our showers, said goodbye to Ms Iris and headed up to Rosh Haniqra. I had fun reading maps while daddy drove. When we finally got to Rosh Haniqra, all I could say is, “It’s too pretty. It’s too pretty. I can’t get enough pictures of the beauty.” We took the cable car down to the grottos of Rosh Haniqra. (It’s supposed to be the steepest cable car in the world, but I don’t see what’s so special about it.) We saw a little Hyrax on our way to the grottos in the cable car. Then we watched a 4-D movie of the place. It was very traditional. The only part I liked a lot about it was when the video showed waves lapping the rock in your face, you got sprinkled with water from nowhere. Then we went and saw the caves. They were beauty itself. I couldn’t get enough pictures. And the pictures I did get did not show half it’s true beauty. Then we went up to the top in the cable car again. We got to see the buoys that mark the boundary line between Israel and Lebanon on the Mediterranean. We also saw a Israeli warship guarding Israel in case something went wrong. We could also see a Lebanonese boat. We also saw the gate which was the boundary line on land between the countries. (We could not take a picture of it.)

Zippori was next. We got maybe 1000 pictures!!! You should go there; it is just AWESOME!!! We saw ruins, we went in two caves, we saw a mosiac of Jentry Dine (I’m just kidding. But it really looks like her. It was so beautiful!). We saw a Hedge of Thorns and Roxaboxen all over again!!! We saw what they use as toilets (the people who lived there in olden times). It was just awesome. We passed through Cana (where Jesus did his first miracle – turning water into wine.) and we got safe (and not too confused with roads) to our hotel. Goodnight Galilee! Good night.