Today was a special, magical day...

We woke, packed, checked out of the hotel Miguel and were picked up at 9:30 by Carmi and Meira. We first drove to Carmi’s busy, bustling garage for some last-minute things he had to attend to, then we headed north out of Tel Aviv, through Ramat Gan, Caesaria, Natanya, and Zikhrom Ya’akov where we turned northeast. We stopped for coffee, sandwiches and sweets, then continued on, past many small settlements. Stopped at the German settlement of Bethlemen, close to Galilee, where we examined the stone edifices of the settlement, and then drove on to Tsipori (Sefora,) once a major strategic settlement. We viewed ancient mosaics and ruins and the famous underground water reservoir, an early engineering masterpiece.

Next we stopped at the most incredible spice shop we have ever seen – spices from all around the Middle East and the world. We spent at least an hour there and could have stayed longer.

After Tzipori, our next stop was Kenneret (the Sea of Galilee) and Tiberias. We could clearly see the valley where the Syrian/Jordan/Israeli border lay about 7 km away.

Continuing along the historic Sea of Galilee, we drove through ancient Tiberias and then stopped at some of the Christian sites north of the city.

We kept climbing north into the Golan Heights, crossed the River Jordan, past countless Israeli army bases, minefields, tanks, deserted Syrian villages, outposts, and bunkers showing the scars of war.,

After settling in to our ornate rooms in this astounding B&B, we went off for dinner at a nearby restaurant on a Kibbutz where we thoroughly enjoyed the food and each other’s company and warm conversation.

Back to the B&B, we sadly watched the Israeli Maccabi basketball team lose to the Russian team in the European league Final Four.

The weather high up in the Golan is delightfully cool and we totally enjoyed today’s adventures. Late in the evening, we said Lilah Tov ("goodnight") and Chalomot Paz ("golden dreams") to our dear friends, and then we headed to our delightful, peaceful, quiet and cool room, where we fell into bed and slept like babies. What a magical day…

Next Day