Tue, May 20 - Akko to Nazareth

8AM finds me on a bus to Kvar Tavor, a small town at the base of Mt. Tabor (lots of biblical references) where the Hoo Ha Cyclist House is located. Dror and his wife are incredibly nice. When I call from the bus station, Dror comes to pick me up within minutes and already has my bicycle prepped and ready to go. He reviews and blesses my plan for cycling to Zippori, Nazarath, Tiberias, then clockwise around the Sea of Galilee to Beit She'an before returning to Hoo Ha (three days cycling). He suggests that I stick to roads, even though I have a mountain bike, and further recommends that I stay at the Fauzi Azar Inn while in Nazarath.


What did I say a couple days ago?, "I forgot what fun it is to cycle" I also forgot:
1. How quickly one's bum gets sore when you haven't cycled in a long time.
2. How hard it is to cycle into the wind.
It is great fun. Initially the scenery is rolling green hills and golden wheat fields that gradually get drier and more rocky as I get closer to Nazarath. The shoulders on major roads are paved and six feet wide, making it quite comfortable and safe, despite the large trucks that whiz past. I stop a couple times for half hour breaks but make it to Zippori National Park by 3:30PM, leaving enough time to see the Roman mosaics. There is more to see but my major reason for coming is for the mosaics.

I know from taking pictures of dusty mosaics in Portugal, that even though the colors appear dull and muted, Photoshop recovers the original colors and the results are stunning. I can't wait to play with these.

Zippori

I'm only 6km from Nazarath but it's quite some 6km. There is a 1000 foot hill that must be climbed to get into town. I know this is no big deal for regular cyclists, but its been twenty years since I've done anything this ambitious. The locals know exactly what I'm going through. The looks and calls they deliver as I huff and puff my way skyward tell me that none of the locals cycle up this hill and not many tourists do either. Once again, I'm a novelty.

The owner of the Fauzi Azar building is Suraida, and she is the great-great grand daughter of the original builder/owner. It dates to the time of the Ottoman empire, is built of stone, has beautiful arches and an inner courtyard. The ceilings in three of the rooms have frescoes painted by a Lebanese painter in the style of Michelangelo, meaning he spent a long time on a scaffold with a bent neck painting the scenes. The ceilings are twenty feet high. Suraida explains the door frames are made from cedar imported from Turkey.

A picture on the wall shows her grandfather, who died many years earlier, as a result of burns inflicted when he saved the building from a fire. His wife lived in the house until her death in 1989. The house fell into disrepair until Maoz Inon found it and wanted to restore it as a guest house. Maoz and Suraida have worked out some arrangement that allowed them to restore the house and open as the Fauzi Azar Inn. The house is saved, it stays in the family, provides work for Suraida, draws tourist dollars into the heart of this Arab city and provides a wonderful place for tourists to stay while visiting Nazarath. Talk about everyone winning!

I check in, store my bike in the ground floor kitchen and set off to find a store where I can buy a beer, as I'm parched after my day of cycling. Alas, I did not find any beer, but I did find some excitement. Read On!