Friday, July 10, 2015

Interesting Architecture of Israel

During our trip to Israel I was fascinated with the architecture.  Buildings, and parts thereof, make good subjects for photographs. The angles stand out and the uniqueness of the style takes you to another place -- and perhaps another time.

One of the most famous buildings in Jerusalem and one of the most famous hotels in the world is the King David.
You can almost see Eva Marie Saint on the terrace.

One day we stopped to have lunch in Megiddo. The patio area had a nice charm to it:
The food was surprisingly good.

I have this thing about photographing stairs. I don't know what it is about them, but taking a nice photo of stairs is a Holy Grail for me. These were in the artist colony of Zefat.
The architecture adds to these.
 A building in Zefat.
Happy to see the Israeli flag in the window.
 Another set of stairs, this time looking down.
The passageways in these towns were pretty narrow.
A building in Akko. This structure has been around for hundreds of years and was used a a prison by just about everyone who controlled the area.
The English were the last to use this a a prison in the 1940's.
 The Bahai Gardens in Haifa.
With the requisite stairs.
 This was in Jaffa.
It is really hard to tell how old buildings are.

 Another building in Jaffa
A definite middle-eastern look to this.
Sometimes it pays to be nosey. I saw an abandoned building with the door nailed shut. The glass in the door was broken. I looked in and saw this.
I love this photo.
 As I recall, this building as bombed in the 1940's and is significant in history.
The history is long in this part of the world, and fascinating.
 The clock tower of Jaffa.
A rather timely photo.
I love this age of digital photography. You can take as many photos as you want and sort through them later. You can also see if you need to retake a photo. And you won't be paying more for the pictures than you paid for the trip itself.


8 comments:

  1. I miss Israel sooooo much. I want to go back right now!

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  2. Probably the most well known prisoner held in the citadel of Acre (Akko) by the British was Moshe Dayan.

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  3. Oh how I would love to see the Bahai Gardens! Did you and Fay go up all those stairs? Did you see a lot there? You took some wonderful pictures, I'm so glad you're sharing them. That prison, brrrr, those small windows (and lack of windows, really) are terrifying. Did you two have a planned agenda for your trip there or did you play it more by ear? Inquiring minds want to know!
    Hard to pick a favorite but I definitely love the 9th picture "another building in Jaffa" with that rustic balcony and fabulous doors! Like something out of Middle Earth!! I didn't know Akko was Acre.

    I'm glad you and Fay had such a great trip (except for her accident, of course). Great post, Matt, thank you.

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    1. You are interested in seeing a garden? What a shock!

      Those gardens are open to the public for a limited time each day, if I recall correctly, and we were not there during that time. Other than that they are open only to members of the Baha'i faith. At night the gardens are lit up. They are said to be very beautiful when lit.

      We were part of a tour. We were fortunate as we had an excellent guide. We also had an excellent driver. The two had never worked together before but they made a good team. The guide said he was going to do whatever he could to work with that driver as much as he could.

      We have many more photos. I posted some on Facebook already. It will probably be awhile before we can get the good ones posted.

      I am glad you liked the photos, Florrie.

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    2. I think that's the way to go, with a guide and a driver. I hope I can see that for myself some day...

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  4. Heh, there are even a few stairs on the clock tower :-)

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    1. I just KNEW there was a reason I took that photo!

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  5. I love architecture too...great photos. I especially like the one where you peeked in the window of the abandoned building. It's a really good shot Matt!

    I'm so glad you all had a wonderful trip (no pun intended). :)

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