Just got back from Israel and....

bidask

Among the sites I visited included the Israel Museum.

The ancient coins I saw ( all raw) looked in awesome condition!.

coinsarefun

And you didn't buy any?

Zohar

How was the trip? What did you get to see?

marcmoish

did you find any whizzed mandate coins? cleaned?

Must have had a great time - incredible country to visit ~~~

bidask

<< <i>How was the trip? What did you get to see? >>

Trip was great,
There was 3 of us and a fuide so we traveled in the guide's suv. Moved fast unlike the big tour buses. We went to Ceasarea, Tiberirus, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, Jerusalem, the dead sea and Masada. Saw just about every Christian holy site of Jesus, John, Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth.......most of which are commemorated by churches the most famous being the church of the holy sepulcher.

Now I know why the called him 'Herod the Great' as he built not only the 2nd Temple but also Masada and the roman amphitheatre and port in Ceasarea.

Much leftover ruins from 2000 years ago, byzantines, mulims, crusades and ottoman, then muslim again cultures and influences.

Plenty of mosques, synagogues, churches, and lots of pilgrims and visitors. Also went to Yad Vashem....not for the faint of heart.

We also went to a ancient hotsprings near Tiberius on Jordan border and also saw the Golan Heights to where we viewed the plains where the Syrians had invaded down below
and also the site of a major tank battle suring the 1973 yom kippur war. From that perch we were about a hour from Damascus.

Also went to a yeshiva, aish hatorah, in jerusalem and watched the young people studying torah...and viewed the wailing wall from a high perch there, and also we were at the
wailing wall when the jews brought in the sabbath on friday early evening.....

At dinner at a drooz restaurant, a armenean restaurant and some kosher asian places.

In Israel it is customary to serve hot Israeli breakfast at all the hotels.

Hotels we stayed were nice and clean and could be had for $200 a night....airfair from NY to Tel Aviv ( on the mediterranean and is the ancient town of Joppa) is $1200.

Well those were some of the highlights and Marcmoish no I did not see any cleaned coins except in the muslim bazaar ( little shops in the old city) where the sell everything and they tell you what a great deal your getting on some old copper or common silver ancient coins which were priced about 20x more than you could buy at a coin show.

Zohar

bidask - very cool. Seems like you covered most of it. While my wife and I met in the US, we did go back having our wedding there for the expanded family. Many American friends took the opportunity to make this trip (I would like to think because of us) and tagged along. We got all our non-Israeli guests a tour guide who took them for an extensive 3 day tour which included the dead sea/Masada which you may have missed. They enjoyed it. Then the wedding which can simply be termed a very big party.

As an aside, when serving my 3 years in the IDF, I was posted in the same Golan Height location you are describing and can relate. Beautiful scenery

bidask

I salute you Zohar for your service in the IDF.

Zohar

Hey no need to salute. We all do it, even my wife

worldcoinguy

Fascinating trip. I would love to see that part of the world someday.

hiijacker

Amazing trip report.

I lived in Israel for 3 years, while studying in a similair yeshiva to the one you visited.

Zohar, I salute you too, and great photos!

oakcoin

Super cool!