A way to see Israel in a couple of hours....

We sadly said goodbye this week to Reza and Tahereh Khanlari who have traveled back to Australia after spending two and a half years serving with us in Haifa.

We will also miss Parvan Saadati who greatly helped Muna become a real computer whiz and was such a constant source of joy and love.

Our very dear friends, Reza and Tahereh, are a wonderful couple from Tamworth; the weekend before they headed back to Os we went together to Mini Israel, south of Tel Aviv. Spread over a large outdoor area most of the important buildings and historic places in Israel have been literally miniaturised. The main regions of Israel – Haifa/Akka, the Galilee, Golan Heights, Negev, Judean desert, Jerusalem, Dead Sea, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Caesarea and many others are featured.

A most interesting character welcomed us when we arrived on an unusually cloudy September day, and we were then greeted with a Muppet style rock band.

The models are exact 1:25 replicas and over 350 models of important sites are depicted. We can only show a snippet on this post. 30,000 miniature figures (7.5cm tall) represent all the religious, cultural and ethnic groups of Israel. In total there are 50,000 plants of 50 species, of which 20,000 are miniature (bonsai style). They make an astounding backdrop to the models. In addition, some 200 scenes from daily life in Israel are spread among the models.

There are lots of photo opportunities! The tour starts with Haifa/Akka in the north, and the cable car ride near the cave of the prophet Elijah and the Stella Maris monastery.

The recently “world heritage listed” Bahá’í site in Haifa is well depicted, starting with the Shrine of the Báb and magnificent terraces that adorn Mt. Carmel.The old city of Akka is one of the longest continuously lived in cities of the world and is being restored to show its ancient grandeur. One of the Holy Places in Akka is nestled in next to the Jazzar mosque (Akka) and the world heritage listed Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh, founder of the Bahá’í Faith. Some familiar places in Jerusalem are the Mount of Beatitudes,

the garden of Gethsemane,

and the mosque of the Dome of the Rock

as well as the Western (Wailing) Wall.

The port city of Jaffa is shown as a backdrop against the Mediterranean Sea and is very realistic. Such a lovely city just south of Tel Aviv; it used to be famous for all the orange groves that grew inland of Jaffa (they have long since been cleared and only the Jaffa Orange fame lingers on!

Masada is also done well and includes a model showing how the Romans finally broke through the defenses of the Jewish communities that revolted against Roman rule and held their legions at bay for so long. The real Masada is a symbol of resistance to oppression and the place itself has a very special atmosphere.

The ancient Hurva synagogue

and the amphitheatre in Caesarea are shown here.
Tel Aviv, the Negev and the tourist attractions at Eilat on the Red Sea take time to explore as they are very intricate – no space to show them here, but we must close with a very colourful character who looks over the car park exit.

The bay of Haifa has many sights. Sometimes it appears that ships seem to disappear in the water as if submerged - look at this one!

Now that the hot summer is over, the next couple of months are ideal for traveling and exploring this amazing land. We hope to visit Mt Tabor and Tiberias in October and the Negev desert in early December; so we should have plenty more to share with you in our next posting. As we begin to enjoy the beautiful autumn days and nights ahead, we wish all our Aussie friends a wonderful spring and a ‘kind’ summer; keep well!