Two vagabonds in Israel

Ok so… 

we’ll have to ignore the fact that I’ve missed about a week of blogging and choose the less pressured option of starting from the ‘now’ and working my way back slowly. (Else I’ll never start!) Going back into the archives of my memory will definatly be good, since at this rate I’m in need of a method to help me come to terms with the trip so far. It has been saturated with experiences, history and sights that have blown me away. Writing will be a good way of coming to grips with the trip thus far!  

Our legendary little Avis  Nissan, keeping us mobile.

Lunch in Jerusalem in the Islamic market.

Supper at a very very good restaurant in Rosh Pina. Terrific tapas!

Dead sea in style. (Please appreciate the floating Korean in the background. Classic, this makes me smile!)

Petra.

Our B&B in Eilat had a tiny tiny braai. Of course we made the most of it and 'smoked' a chicken. Proudly SA! (no boerewors in Israel I;m afraid, so chicken it was.)  

Swimming in the Sea of Galilee - glee! 

Incredible ice cream store 'Aldo' we discovered this evening... 

Really delicious supper this evening in Zichron Ya'achov.  

Here’s what the two Avis vagabonds have been up to:

The last three days in Jerusalem area were spent at Masada, the Dead Sea, the Old City (the list here is long enough so we’ll leave it for now), Israel Museum, Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) and many little streets and café’s.

We then took the bus through the En Gedi desert to the southern tip of the country to the coastal town of Eilat. Here we spent three days snorkelling, visiting the coral Aquarium, scuba diving! (smiley face space necessary right here) as well as a day trip over the Jordan border to visit the ancient city of Petra… no words could possibly do justice, but I’ll try when I have the pictures to accompany my otherwise destined to be useless attempt.

Thereafter we took the bus back to Jerusalem and then further north to Afula where we hired an Avis car for the second leg of our trip. Hiring our own car has been the best move! It changes the dynamics of one’s trip completely, so freeing to set your own pace and not be restraint by tours or time constrains. We drove north to the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee and then slowly made our way from the south of the sea to the to north where we stayed in a little city called Zefat. Zefat is situated on the highest mountain (close to Mt Meron) in Israel so we had a completely new view of Isreal. Driving from there in and around Galilee and the Golan Heights is very easy and pretty central. (Technically speaking almost any place in Israel is pretty central since it’s a really small country, about the size of Kruger National Park. Yip, that small!) We spent 3 days in Zefat, using it as our base to explore the Galilean area. 

Today we drove towards the west, and are now staying in the sweetest little town called Zichron Ya’akov. It’s about 5km from the Mediterranean Sea, and the town itself has the most beautiful pebbled streets, café’s and artist vibe. We plan on spending the next two days exploring the Mediterranean coast and then heading down to the cosmopolitan energetic city of Tel Aviv on Friday, until we leave on Sunday evening.

So, only four days of our pilgrimage left, then we head back to South Africa. Going to soak up and embrace every moment and of course keep you posted, slowly but surely one blog at a time…

{ Even vagabonds long for home - sending all our love!}