Touring the North of Israel

On Sunday we bid farewell to our Jerusalem apartment;


I caught the bus downtown, picked up the rental car we had reserved, drove back to Baka, loaded our two suitcases into the trunk, and off we went! The car felt like such freedom after the past several weeks of buses. Our destination was the Jordan River valley, but we couldn't resist exploring a little of eastern Jerusalem on our way out of town. We explored long enough to get lost--all too easy in Jerusalem--and eventually, after asking at a gas station, found the highway going down, down, down, through bare and arid hills, to the Jordan River, far below sea level

and past the obligatory camel.


Turning north, we continued through the Jordan valley, up to Gan Hashlosha, an Eden-like national park.


We enjoyed swimming in the naturally warm pool and having our feet nibbled by little brown fish; afterward, a wonderfully superb dinner at the restaurant in the park--our best since NYC.

Lodgings were close by: Kibbutz Bet Aleph, where we slept in comfort--and in the morning a basket full of typical Israeli breakfast items was delivered to our door: cheese, tuna, olives, chopped tomato and cucumber, rolls, juice, fruit, and even halvah.


Our next stop was Tiberius, a historic city on the banks of Kinneret, (The Sea of Galilee).



We indulged in coffee on the roof terrace of The Scots Hotel, an elegant, well maintained spot of beauty:



with its pleasant view of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights in the far distance:



From Tiberius we drove up the Hula valley as far as Kiriat Shemona, then turned back toward Safed, high in the hills of the Galilee.


The friendly people in the tourist information office recommended a bed-and-breakfast, made a reservation, and sent us on our way to The Safed Inn, a wonderful place owned and managed by a native of Safed and his Jewish-American wife Riki, who eagerly talked with us about Israeli politics and religion. Before bed we enjoyed a warm, relaxing dip in their garden hot tub.

Next morning, the old city and the artist's colony: old synagogues,



archeological remains, a remarkable candle factory, and many art galleries:



After Safed we stopped briefly at Rimon Winery. "Rimon" is Hebrew for pomegranate, and this winery specializes in 100 percent pomegranate wine. The fruit is both delicious and beautiful:


Our last stop in the Galilee region was Hazor, the ruins of an ancient Canaanite/Biblical city. It was the model for James Michener's fictional city of Makor in The Source, which Libby has been reading since we arrived in Israel. We strolled among the desolate ruins, admiring the ingenuity, resilience, and courage of the people who, through the rise and fall of empires, made Hazor home.




Too soon we began our descent from the high Galilee region to Rachel and Shlomo's Kfar Saba home near Tel Aviv to grab a few hours sleep, leaving at 3:30 a.m. to arrive at Ben Gurion airport the required three hours before our 7:05 flight to Cyprus...