This is Wednesday and our final day with Carol and David in Israel. Tomorrow we fly from Tel Aviv to Athens. I can’t believe how fast 16 days has flown by. I’m already saddened to be leaving.
Today we spent time doing laundry and getting organized. Later in the day we packed. In between, Carol walked us around the kibbutz on our way to another small museum housing many artifacts dug up on the kibbutz as buildings went up. The most significant finds all went to big museums. David showed us a display case in the Museum of Israel of stuff that came from Mishmar HaEmek. I was pretty impressed by the collection remaining at the kibbutz. It told a story from paleolithic times through more modern times.
It’s amazing to me how in a dig many shards of broken pots are found and then are pieced back together again. When we went up to the first mosaic site, Carol was constantly looking on the ground trying to spot ancient coins. Many were displayed in a case in the museum. Eron said that he had found several coins in the woods near the place where we went to see the second mosaic. Apparently, that area was an army encampment of soldiers of King Herod and there were many items recovered from that site. At any rate, it was very cool seeing things recovered from essentially underneath where we have been standing.
Mishmar HaEmek has about 600 apartments that are grouped into neighborhoods. The neighborhoods are by the age of the buildings. Eron and his family are moving into a new apartment in a neighborhood being just completed on the kibbutz.
It is interesting to see the various neighborhoods. Some of the oldest apartments are being totally renovated, some even torn down. Assignment of apartments seems to be done by seniority so that the oldest residents of the kibbutz get the larger, newer apartments. David, who has lived on the kibbutz his entire life, except during military service and for one year in the U.S., said that the apartments used to be only 44 square feet in size. Now, the newer larger apartments have 3 bedrooms. Most of the residential buildings are two apartments, typically side-by-side. Some of the older ones are up and down. One of the nicest things around the kibbutz is the vegetation, lots of flowering shrubs and trees. It’s really a lovely place.
Eron , Dana and two of their girls came for dinner. They wanted to say goodbye. We have so enjoyed getting to know all the family. Christine and I are so taken by how lovely they all are. It is so nice seeing a close, loving, and supportive family. And to David and Carol, our heartfelt thanks for a fabulous visit.
We were off early Thursday to the airport in Tel Aviv. We arrived in good time, about 3 hours ahead of our flight. Carol walked us in to the terminal and steered us to the right check in queue. We said our goodbyes, always a teary thing for me. I just love Carol. She is a wonderful woman, and a real hoot.
We made it through check in, passport control, security, and immigration in good shape and found our departure gate. After a 90 minute wait, we boarded the plane to Athens. We were all ready to push back from the terminal when the captain made an announcement in Hebrew. Most everyone on the plane gave a loud groan and many stood up and started getting things out of the overhead compartments. Since the pilot’s message was not translated to English, we didn’t know what was going on, but it didn’t look good. We managed to get enough translation from surrounding passengers to learn that the plane would not be able to land in Athens on schedule so we had to wait another 35 minutes before taking off. Apparently, the Athens airport is very small and has a capacity issue. At least the flight wasn’t being canceled which is what I thought was happening.
About an hour and fifteen minutes later, we were in the air. We had a smooth, two hour flight. As you may recall from other trips, I love airplane pictures, especially coastlines. We flew over a lot if Greek islands, too, that looked cool from the air.
Because we were delayed, I worried that our hired car would not be waiting, but once through passport control, immigration, baggage pickup, and custom, our driver was waiting for us with Christine’s name on a tablet. We rode about 40 minutes to Piraeus where the cruise terminal is. On the way, we had some fantastic views of the Acropolis, which brought back great memories of our time in Athens with Eve in 2018. We got checked into our hotel, the Triton Hotel, and settled in for the night.
Sad to be leaving Carol and David, but excited to begin the next part of our trip. We’ll be boarding our ship Saturday afternoon. Tomorrow, we’ll wander around the hotel neighborhood and see some sights.
Bon Voyage!
Excited for you for your next phase