Jacob / Israel ... the Promised Land

" Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
Genesis 32:28

The name "Israel" means "struggle with God." The patriarch Jacob's name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with an angel of God. His twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.  These Israelites migrated to Egypt during a famine, then returned four generations later led by Moses to this, their land, their Promised Land.

Who Promised this Land? God promised this land to Abraham.

"your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.  I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.  I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.  The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
Genesis 17:4-8

So this land was promised to the Israelites. For EVER. Promised to Abraham, and again his grandson to Jacob / Israel.

God appeared to him (Jacob) again and blessed him.  God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.” So he named him Israel.

 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.  The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

Genesis 35:9-12

Israel planning

Now I get to look east, towards Israel.

I know some of her history and geography from studying the Bible, and from newspapers. Or from IPAD.

Here's the official A&K map of our tour in Israel.
Our plan is 2 nights in Tel Aviv, 2 nights in Tiberias, 4 nights in Jerusalem. 



Day 1 arrive by air to Ben Gurion

Day 2  Tel Aviv

Day 3 Caesarea, Haifa, Acre, Tiberias

Day 4 Sea of Galilee, Golan Heights, Tiberias

Day 5 Cana, Nazareth, Beit Shean, Jerusalem

Day 6 Jerusalem

Day 7 Masada, Jerusalem

Day 8 Herodion, Bethlehem, Jerusalem

Day 9 leave by air from Ben Gurion

I know so little of Israel's history. So little of her current politics. I will delve into her history first.

Delphi or Cornith?

Want to take one day trip from Athens. Delphi or Corinth?  Have been looking up info on both on the internet.

Cornith interests me because Paul ( of the letters of Paul) lived there for a few years. Was a tent maker there, spoke publically about Jesus, helped the church.

Delphi interest me because it was the  belly- button of the world to the Greeks. The Oracle there so influential to Greek culture.

Looking at videos by past travellers and reading tour guides, Corinth looks like ruins of a Roman town reminisent of areas in Athens. Delphi seems more interesting to visit. So I choose Delphi.

Want Mike's input. When he stepped out onto the back porch, I asked him, " Day trip to Delphi or Corninth?" I was prepared to talk about the pros and cons of each for at least ten minutes. But no. His reply was instant and sure. "Delphi. Of central importance to the Ancient Greeks. Why go to Corinth?"

Well good then. Delphi here we come...

Researching what to do in Athens

If you are reading this blog only to follow my adventures in Israel, well, you will be frustrated until Valentine's Day. I have given myself the next two weeks to delve into Athens. So please excuse us while we go the Greek route first.

Kalimera, dear reader! That means "hello" in Greek.  Getting you in the mood.

Today I spent a fun morning searching for top things Mike and I won't want to miss in Athens. How do we want to spend our time? What do we need to plan ahead? I like to prepare options, and then flex with the mood while we are there.

Mike and I are not huge museum-goers. We will visit one, and spend some time in one section or seeing two or three sections, but that's our limit. We like walking. We would rather go deep into a moment than hit all the moments shallowly.  On the topic of museums, art museums seem to be particularly uninteresting to us. To one of us.

We do not like crowds. At all. (Please note that when I say "we" I could be meaning only one of us but "we" are a unit when we travel.)  We don't need to see everything that is important in Athens. Don't have that compunction at all. This is vacation. Fun and soul inspiring.

We like parks and gardens. Grand architecture. Science. Understanding a place. Absorbing the culture. We like walking, then having a coffee. Then looking at something. Talking about it. Walking around it. Talking some more. Photos, love taking photos. Then walking to lunch. You get my drift?

Acropolis

I started with some old dependable websites. Conde Nast's Travelers' Guides (to do, to eat, to stay) are an excellent jumping off spot I think. What is on their top 10 for Athens, that meet our likes?
1. Acropolis
2. Temple of Zeus - walk Ancient Promenade from here to Monostiraki
3. Acropolis Museum
4. National Archeological Museum
5. National Gardens
6. Mount Lycabettus

Lycabettus Hill and Parthenon

Abercrombie and Kent's two day Athens tour is:
Day 1 - AM Acropolis and Acropolis Museum
            Changing guards at Parliament
            Walk through Plaka district, have lunch
            PM Benaki or Lycabettus Hill (take funicular up, walk down)
Day 2 - AM Free
             PM Cape Sounion
                    Temple of Poseidon at Sunset


New York Times Travel in Greece
The NYT has a good set up. They list top things to do, where to eat, where to stay... and link you to articles on most of them.

Agora

Top three things:
1. Acropolis
2. Ancient Agora
3. National Archeological Museum


Time Travel
Top Ten things to do, with links to hotels and restaurants.
1. Agora
2. Anafiotika (stroll neighborhood)
3. Acropolis
4. Acropolis Museum

Anafiotika

5. Byzantino, in Plaka, a Greek jeweler
6. Benaki Museum, Modern Art
7. Mount Lycabettus, cafe, funicular
8. Thiseion Cinema, outside shows
9. Gazi, night life
10. Monostiraki Flea Market


Other websites new to me confirmed the above and gave a few new ideas, but I think these above are the top sites.

Reliable Fodor's organized Athens into five neighborhoods, or Places to Explore as they title it. Excellent way to organize a visit. Then they progress to more detailed descriptions on each Place to Explore.  Here's a general idea of these five neighborhoods. Our hotel, Grande Bretagne, is the blue cross on the map.

The five neighborhoods are:

1.Acropolis (Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, New Acropolis Museum, Temple of Dionysus)

2. Agora / Monostiraki

3. From Central Athens to National Archeological Museum

4. Plaka and Anafiotiki, Temple of Zeus

5. Syntagma and Kolonaki  (Mt Lycabettus, National Gardens, Museum of Cycladic Art, Benaki Art)



My thought process. We will have Tue, Wed, Thurs, Fri and half of Sat to explore. Tuesday should be a light day, more walking and not so much heavy duty figuring stuff out as that is our first day after flying from US. Saturday also should be a less intense day, as we fly to Israel that evening. Wed, Thurs and Fri are totally open. One of those days we could hire a tour guide to take us to Delphi or Corinth.

At this point, I say:
Tues Acropolis neighborhood (1)
Wed National Archeological Museum neighborhood (3)
Thurs Delphi or Corinth
Fri  Grande Promenade (part of 2 and of 4) from Temple of Zeus past Acropolis to Agora and Monostiraki
Sat Mt Lycabettus, National Gardens (5)

So, going to mull on this for awhile. We will see some of Plaka, Anafiotiki and Syntagma walking to and from our hotel, eating dinner etc. Want to decide on Delphi or Corinth. Oh man, that's tough. Delphi the Oracle, or Corinth, Paul's home for a few years. Hm..