Going up the coast

Monday was day one of our trip with in a trip to the northern part of Israel. We are just going to the Galil, not the Golan this time. As always I strive to avoid as much traffic as possible, so even though we have big plans and need an early start, unless we were going to leave at the crack of dawn, I needed to wait a bit to time our pass through Tel Aviv correctly. Our first official stop was in Akko (or Acre for some reason....) but that was too long of a haul for kids, so I made sure we had a pit stop at the Namal in Tel Aviv (basically a seas side promenade). I knew there was a great play ground there, but that was the only detail I had. We parked near Max Brenner (not kosher as far as I know) and let everyone out at one awesome playground.
There were trapeze style ziplines, death defying slides (as usual), a large spiderweb rope climbing thing, a variety of unique swings and a bunch of spinning and balancing devices. We probably could have stayed there an hour or two, but I really wanted to move on to do as much other things as possible this first day.

In 1994 a section of the Old City of Akko was excavated and Templars Tunnels were found. They weren't officially opened until 2007. I had never heard of them until researching for this trip and I was intrigued. In fact I didn't know much about Akko and really wanted to see it. When we got there my kids were a bit wary of being in a city full of Muslim Arabs even if their reputation was one of a peaceful lot. We saw signs for the Templars Tunnels and tried to follow them, but they led through an Arab shuk and the kids (and to a lesser degree, me) chickened out and walked back. We then sought out the Visitors Center. We spoke with a docent there and she assured us that we were on the right track. She told us we had to go all the way through the shuk to find the Templars Tunnels. Oddly enough it was the one time in Israel I privately wished my kids were both wearing baseball caps. We did our best to navigate the area, going through narrow ancient streets and what seemed like alley ways, finally finding the Tunnels. It is no wonder that it took so long for experienced archeologists to find and excavate the place!Templars Tunnels  We paid our entrance fee and went down into the tunnel shaft. By this time my kids were not in their best explorer moods and we went through rather quickly. There were a few signs explaining the time period and significance of the tunnels. Supposedly there is a movie that projects on the walls, but my guess is it is in the tunnel that we did not go through since 2/3 of the kids were starting to melt down. I pretty much forced Meir to eat a sandwich (I don't care if he didn't like that kind of bread or that kind of cheese).
The tunnels exit at the sea port walls. So now we had to figure out how to get back to our car while avoiding some of the creepy passageways and not getting utterly lost. Some how we figured it out. Just as I was rewarding and fortifying my kids with their usual popscicles and ice cream, the Muslim call to prayer sounded. We watched some of the women go to pray, but then they really just wanted to get out of Akko STAT.
On my list of things to do that day was to head up to the Lebanon Border and see Rosh Hanikra. I knew the area closed at 4 pm. Given my past experience with national parks in the winter, I assumed the last cable car down would be around 3pm (with little flexibility). It was now around 2:30. My pocket wifi decided to not load. WAZE which I had come to rely upon was not functioning. We found a gas station and I tried to ask for a paper map. They no longer sell them. An English speaking customer gave me basic directions that I wasn't thrilled to follow, but I knew we were close and assumed I would see some signs along the way. Finally my phone restarted and we headed north. I knew we were cutting it close. Just before one final turn, there was a major traffic accident and the police closed the roads. WAZE could not re-route us. It was 3:05, it was time to give up on this plan for today.

Next on my list for the day, however was to back track a bit into Haifa to this totally quirky place called "Ballers". One day I showed my son their Facebook page and he was completely insistent that we go there. He doesn't ask for a lot of things, so I had to fulfill this one if at all possible. Ballers is a room with giant pool tables and instead of playing pool with cues, the balls are small soccer balls and you stand on the tables and use your feet. It doesn't open until 3pm, so I knew we were in great shape. We got there a little after 4pm. There was only one other table being used when we arrived. The employee let the boys use one table and let Atara do her thing on the empty adjacent one. You rent the table an hour at a time. The boys played about 4 games of pool. By then I think even they had their fill, but Atara was certainly done. She did enjoy rolling around on the balls, throwing them into the pockets, jumping into the pockets and getting the balls out and dancing to their rock music. The employee was very nice and accommodating. If you are looking for an evening activity with a slightly older set to entertain, I recommend you give Ballers a try.  Ballers Facebook page

Instead we made our way to Yavne'el to our zimmer Villa Rimona The zimmer's site My kids were delighted to have free wifi and a TV with netflix. I was happy to have a shower attached to the wall, my own little bedroom area and netflix for my kids so after dinned they could space out and go to sleep! Every morning the guesthouse owner Chana delivers healthy, yummy muffins that are pareve and mehadrin. Pretty much the rest of the food you are on your own for, but there is an electric burner, a mini fridge, a hot water urn and an area you can BBQ (we didn't, but you could). We made do with a pasta dinner eaten al fresco. It may not have been a perfect day, but it was a memorable and full one. Looking forward to the next couple of days up north.