Weekend Reflection

My posts are still 'Not Wooster Square But...Caesaria'. After visiting the ruins of Caesaria, Herod's hippodrome and the seaport we stopped and had lunch right there on the water. Our lunch was delicious and beautiful. It wasn't until I came home that I saw the reflections in the spoon of the outside of the restaurant. For more wonderful photographs of 'Weekend Reflection' click here.

Not Wooster Square....But Still Caesaria

Caesaria is an ancient port city about half way from Tel Aviv to Haifa. Named after Julius Caesar, Herod the Great developed the city into quite the place with it's advances in architecture, its sea harbor and hippodrome.

Not Wooster Square....But Caesaria

The next couple of days I'll post some photographs of Caesaria, a port city on the coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa. It's quite a beautiful place on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

As we were standing on the dock several flocks of birds did a 'fly by'. Some were more organized than others.

Ancient Roman glass in the raw. They take this old glass and break it down into beautiful pieces of bluish grey stone call Roman Glass.

A port hold into the city of Jaffa.

Not Wooster Square....But Israel

An olive grove enroute from Tel Aviv to Caesaria.

Not Wooster Square....But

We're still in Jaffa, an ancient seaport which is now part of Tel Aviv.
Sunset over the Mediterranean Sea.

Not Wooster Square....But

The Ancient Seaport of Jaffa. Jaffa is one of the oldest cities with a harbor in use since the Bronze. This is the port where Jewish settlers first came back to the land in the 1800's. A window in the old city. Woman waiting.

Because Jaffa is such a picturesque town brides come here to be photographed. On this day a bride came and a group of local students surrounded her and began to dance. When they opened up she was twirling around like a whirling dervish.

The Statue of Faith depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac, Jacob's Dream and the Fall of Jericho. More Jaffa tomorrow.

Not Wooster Square....But

Still Tel Aviv. The first afternoon we were there it was beautiful so we took a long walk on the beaches.
Lot's of sailboats were out on the Mediterranean Sea. Gentle breeze, warm sun, ahhh.

This is Tel Aviv at dusk looking on from the ancient port of Jaffa. Jaffa photos will start tomorrow.

Tel Aviv from the rooftop of my hotel. Quite a mix of architecture as you can see.

You might ask what this is. So did I of our tour guide. "Imitation Gaudi", he said and that was all. No explanation, no nothing. That lead me to believe that the guide didn't know anything else or that he wasn't willing to talk about it. I had no clue who Gaudi was and thought he said 'imitation gaudy', so much for my limited architectural tastes. I took it upon myself to look up Gaudi and found out that Antoni Gaudi was a Spanish architect in the late 1880's. Kitschy.
Sunset over the Mediterranean.

Not Wooster Square....But

beautiful Tel Aviv sitting on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Tel Aviv is a young city that was founded in 1909 during the Ottoman Empire. It was in 1948, the founding of the State of Israel, when it really took off and established itself. Tel Aviv is known for it's beautiful sandy beaches and resort town feel with hotels, cafes and lots of water sport activity. There's a lot of Bauhaus architectural influence and is a very secular city.Over all the weather on our trip ranged from sunny days, to rainy days, and a morning of hail. Yeah, pretty miserable most of the time but we kept on.

These tracks remind me of hermit crabs but I didn't see any around. Can you take a guess? I thought they were interesting, they were the only two on the beach.

Kids getting ready to take out a boat. Check back soon, every day I will post three or more photos of the ten day trip.

Not Wooster Square

In the coming weeks or so I'll be posting "Not Wooster Square" which will be photos of my recent journey to the Holy Land. I hope that you enjoy them, when I'm finished then I'll resume photos of Wooster Square and New Haven. This bird perched right next to our group at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum. Israel is the crossroads for migratory birds.

Baby....it's cold outside!

Weekend Reflection

After a two week trip to Israel I'm back to blogging about Wooster Square in New Haven once again....just in time for the Weekend Reflection meme. Click here to find other reflections from a great group of photobloggers.