Here you have it: part one of our trip to Israel. "But weren't you
just in Israel?" you may ask. Yes, we indeed traveled to Israel for
passover in 2010. It was my first time there and an amazing trip. As
if in some movie-version of my life, during my first trip to the wailing
wall, I immediately burst into tears and collapsed into the arms of my
mother-in-law, overwhelmed to be in such a holy place. If our first
trip to Israel was about visiting the holy land, this trip was all about
the partying. We were beyond thrilled when Jeremie announced his
engagement to his perfect match, Ortal. This trip was all about the
wedding. We did, however, take the opportunity before the wedding to
visit an area of Israel where I had never been and Raphael hadn't been
since childhood: the
Sea of Galilee. Before I forget,
here is the link to our pictures from Galilee.
We stayed at the
Rimonim Galei Kineret,
a hotel in central Tiberias, right on the Sea of Galilee.
Interestingly, I learned that "Kineret" means "harp", and is a word
associated with this area because the Sea is
shaped like a harp.
We even paid extra for a room with a sea view, which was somewhat of a
waste of money considering it was pretty overcast during our stay
there. Nonetheless, the room was nice, and the included buffet
breakfast at the hotel was one of the best I've ever had. Just today I
was thinking of an egg dish that I ate there: eggs baked with creme and
tomato sauce and herbs. Unlike anything I've ever seen or would imagine
to put together, but truly delicious. Also, there was this lemon/ herb
sauce they served with a roast. It was transcendental. While I'm on
the topic of food, (one of the best parts of any traveling), there is a
strip of restaurants in tiberias known as "falafel row," which,
according to our guidebook has the best falafel in all of Israel. I
have not tasted all the falafel available in Israel, but I can say it
was the most amazing falafel I've ever had, by far. It was really
delicious! I particularly enjoyed the lemons slices, marinated in olive
oil and spicy spices as a falafel topping.
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| Raph with falafal |
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| Salads/ toppings for falafal |
Although we did not intend to do any religious
touring on this trip, it turns out that this area is a very spiritual
place, with a rich history of significant events for both the Jewish and
Christian faiths. For example, Jesus is said to have walked on water
and calmed the storms at the Sea of Galilee, and one can visit Magdala-
the birthplace of Mary Magdalene, or the "Church of the Multiplication
of the Loaves and Fishes." You can also go visit a 2000+ year old boat,
the likes of which Jesus used and preached from. With limited days, we
skipped the Christian hot spots and saw the Jewish ones that had more
personal appeal to us.
There
are many famous Jewish Rabbis and historical figures who are buried in
the Tiberias area, and one of the things to do in Tiberias is visit these
tombs of famous religious figures. While visiting graves is
normally not on my top-to-do list, this was something that
interested us. We visited the tomb of the Matriarchs,
which is said to be the burial place of Jacob's third and fourth wives,
Bilhah and Zilpah, the mother of Moses, Yocheved, Moses' wife, Zipporah, the wife of Aaron, Elisheva, and one of the wives of King David,
Avigail. We also visited the tomb of Maimonides, the tomb of Rabbi
Akiva, and the tomb of the Rabbi Mier Baal Haness, who is said to be the
"Master of Miracles" and one of Israel's holiest sites.
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| Tomb of Maimonides |
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| Tomb of the Matriarchs, right next to an apartment building! |
We also visited the ruins of a historic synagogue,
called Korazim. It dates from the 4th to 5th century and was made of
local black basalt. According to my guidebook, "this is a hauntingly
evocative site that gives the visitor a feeling for what a Jewish
community in the Galilee was like 1,500 years ago." Not a bad summary.
It was a spectacular site. It should be noted here, as well, that
Galilee is situated on one of the world's major fault lines. It had at
least one major volcanic explosion (hence the basalt), which resulted in
the Dead Sea, the lowest point in the world, and just south of
Galilee. (The Sea of Galilee is also one of the lowest elevations in
the world). Here are a few pictures from Korazim:
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| Korazim |
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| Korazim |
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| Korazim |
The last noteworthy place we visited in the Sea of Galilee area was
Safed, (aka Tzfat). Safed is the birthplace of
Kabbalah,
and has been a place that I have wanted to visit for a long time. I
had heard of it as a city that is all white, with beautiful blue doors,
because blue is a "holy" color. Safed is also historically an artists'
colony. Sounds gorgeous and spiritual, right? Unfortunately, I have to
report that our visit was a huge let down, although this may be because I
had such high expectations. As for the art aspect of the town, yes,
there were galleries and studios, but they were all closed, with phone
numbers on the doors if you wanted to call the owner to look inside.
The few that we managed to see left much to be desired anyway. There
were definitely some beautiful blue doors to see, and there are 4
historic synagogues which we enjoyed seeing (probably Raphael more than
I), and the high elevation of the town lends some gorgeous sweeping
vistas of the area, but other than that, it was not that exciting. That
said, we do have some gorgeous pictures from the area. Here are a few,
for example:
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| Safed |
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| Safed |
Finally, we did some other interesting things: I went horseback riding at
Vered Ha Galil,
a horse farm in the area. I absolutely loved it. I think if (when) we go back to the area, I would stay there. We also visited (albeit too
briefly) a town called Rosh Pina, where it seems that all the artists
from Safed have migrated. We ate a fabulous meal at
Auberge Shulamit, a french restaurant of all things! This sign of Rosh Pina sums up what I saw of that town, and I would love to see more:
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| Sign of a store in Rosh Pina, selling, "portraits, proverbs, poetry, carpentry, music, signs and architecture." |
The area also has many kibbutzes (kibbutzim?) and we made a brief stop at the first Kibbutz in all of Israel,
Degania B, which makes and sells
chocolate.
There just wasn't enough time to see everything that we wanted to see
and do from our guidebook. For instance, there is a national park that is about a
45min drive from Tiberias that is speculated to be the Garden
of Eden itself! There is also an area, another hour drive,
with caves along the Mediterranean
that is supposed to be gorgeous. I'd also like to drive through the
Golan heights and perhaps do a wine tour of that area. The area also
has hot springs, which we did not visit. Anyway, the Sea of Galilee is
an area that I definitely will be back to and recommend to anyone
traveling to Israel.
