Days 1 & 2 - The day after my mother and I arrived into Israel/Palestine we decided to rent a car and head up north as I had a few days off before I had to return to work. We made our base in Nazareth - at the same hotel that I stayed in my first time there. We were still feeling the jetlag our first day so after getting up early to take the bus to Jerusalem and then traveling a few hours to get to Nazareth we rested our heads for the rest of the evening. The next day, with my trusty road atlas in hand, we headed northwest towards Haifa. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to see the coast and explore the city of Haifa. After driving up and down the windy roads of the city, we visited "Elijah's Cave" before heading south to Mt. Carmel, but not before getting lost in the narrow alleyways of an Arab village along the way. Although the actual monastery located on Mt. Carmel was closing at the time we arrived, we were able to see the beautiful and scenic view from the top looking down into the valley of Megiddo. That in and of its self was worth the crazy, windy drive there.

Days 3 & 4 - In the morning the next day, mom and I headed to the Basilica of the Annunciation, which is actually an extremely modern establishment with some pretty amazing pieces of art coming from all over the world. Once finished we walked through the old city of Nazareth before checking out of the hotel and making our way to the Sea of Galilee. Our first stop was at the Mt. of Beatitudes. Although the view from here was quite breathtaking, the hordes of tourists somewhat took away from the tranquility of the place. After a quick stop there, we made an even quicker stop at Tabgha and then went further on to Capharnaum. After a day of holy sites, we took highway 90 down through the Jordan valley to get back to Ramallah. Along the way we saw ancient Jewish settlements, bedouins galore, thousands of butterflies, a camel caravan, a quick glimpse of the Dead Sea, and a herd of sheep at a traffic light.

The next day we had to take the rental car back to Jerusalem. After we dropped it off we were able to explore the Old City (mom's first time). We both agree that the best people watching spot in the world is outside of the Damascus Gate. We went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre first, then got lost in the Jewish quarter, then afterwards found the viewpoint I had been to before with V so that mom could get her first glimpse of the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock. On the way to catch the bus we stopped at Jafar Sweets so that my mom could taste the glory of kanafeh - a lovely, cheesy, syrupy Palestinian dessert! She didn't know what to think of it.

Days 5, 6 & 7 - The next few days were spent in Ramallah because I had to come back to reality aka work and Arabic class. Mom got to see how I live my life from day to day around Ramallah - walking to work, going to the market, hanging out with friends, enjoying the lovely food of Palestine, etc.