Israel (part I) Tel Aviv and the start of the Trail (Oct. 1-14th-ish/ 2008)

The main part of our honeymoon was our 4 weeks in Israel, hiking the Israel National Trail and seeing the sights! It was quite an adventure-- so here we go! (because there is so much more narrative, I'm trying a slightly different format... pictures inserted into the narrative, captions in italics and [ ] as necessary... let me know what you think)


We flew into Tel Aviv on the first day of the 2-day Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana). Almost everything was closed, including transportation. No buses were running, so we had to put off starting the hike for 2 days, which we weren't anticipating. So we took advantage of the time and explored Tel Aviv. We stayed in nice little hostel called Momo's that was about 3 blocks from the beach. On one walk, we saw a huge (HUGE!) flock of birds, that turned out to be the famous migration of the cranes from Africa!

[not nearly as impressive as it is in real life, I only caught the end of the group on camera]

[the beach, and Joppa in the distance on the right...] ************** [the port of Joppa]

The first afternoon we walked down the beach to Joppa (Jaffa). There is a surprising amount of history in this tiny old city. This is the port where Jonah took the boat (which landed him in the whale) to Tarshish... It is also the home of Simon the Tanner, whom Peter stayed with on several occasions in Acts.

["Jonah's Whale" in Joppa... that's Alistair's foot by his mouth! :-) ]

For us, it was a cool intro to Israel, for as we came up to the main plaza, there was a crowd hanging around and police keeping everyone from going anywhere. We looked and looked to see what everyone was looking at, until finally we saw a bomb disposal robot across the plaza next to St. Mark's Cathedral! Apparently, there were 2 backpacks left unattended on a bench, and as you can imagine, Israeli police take no chances!



On the 3rd of October, we took a bus north to a town called Kyriat Shamona that was loaded with Israeli soldiers coming back from holiday. We took another bus to the Lebenon border to a kibbutz (small communal village) called Dan. We actually took the bus past Dan, all the way to the Banias Nature Reserve, where one of the 4 sources of the Jordan River, is located. Unfortunately for us, we got there at 5 pm, just as the sun was beginning to set, and the park closed at 4 pm, and we had caught the last bus from Kyriat Shamona.

[ you'll find that the English spellings vary quite a bit in Israel... I saw 3 different spellings of Kyriat Shamona,... but they are all phoenetic]

We stopped into a Lebenese resteraunt to ask for information, because we also didn't know exactly where the beginning of the trail was, much less how far away it was... we had some dinner, and decided to 'hoof it' as far as we could make it before dark. Thankfully, the owner of the resteraunt sent a couple in a car after us, (an Israeli born American and his American girlfriend!) and they gave us a ride to the kibbutz where we came across a group of tents! Turned to be a group of young Israelis who were all starting the Trail the next day. They invited us to join them, so we set up camp with them on the edge of a fruit orchard (the fruit was not in season, so we don't know which one it was...). The next morning, we found the "start" sign just inside the kibbutz gate, and then we headed off.

[we forgot to take a picture before we packed up!] *****[The Israel National Trail is marked with these orange, blue and white stripes]

Our first day hiking took us by the world's oldest gate, made of mud. It is said that Abraham himself may have come through this gate on his journey into Israel. The trail came extremely close to the Lebenon border, meandered down a river, and up a long hill on the road.

[we came from the other direction...we saw this sign when we turned around] *** [they 'enforce' the border with mine fields... ... yup.]

By mid-day, the heat was intense, and we had to stop for a break. We crossed the Hula Valley and began the climb up the other side, and as the day was ending, the wind picked up, and the intended spot for camping that night was eluding us. Tired, hot, and hungry, we found the spot and got our tent up and helped our new friends with theirs. The wind was so intense, it took the girls about 40 minutes to get it completely up and secure! That night, wind died very suddenly, and we heard a pack of jackals on the ridge above us...

[taking a break under a plum tree...] **** [the Hula Valley, that's Kyriat Shamona down below] ***[our campsite, on the windy night!]

We drank almost all of our water that day and, unfortunately for us, there was no running water at the picnic site where we camped. So the next day when we set out, our Israeli friends told us there was a spring "somewhere" nearby, but they weren't sure exactly where. Hoping to find the spring, we set off early. Well, we didn't find the spring, so we had to ration the water. The trail followed the road along the ridge, perpetually climbing. It was a long, hard, continuous climb all day long. We stopped frequently, every time we could find shade, to rest. There was no apparent end in sight, and we were both feeling a little frantic, with just less than half a liter of water left for the both of us. Thankfully, a group of school aged 'day hikers' and their chaperones came along, and offered us a bottle of water. When we finally made it to the 'top' of the ridge, the farm that our guidebook told us would be there for a water fill-up was nowhere to be seen. We had no choice but to take refuge under a tree and wait out the heat. An Israeli couple with a dog who had rested with us the day before, came along and joined us. They too were out of water, and the dog was quite dehydrated. We learned two important lessons that day. 1) Even in October, the heat in Israel can be intense -- don't count on "autumn" weather-- fill up your water at EVERY available source (we had passed on a spicket in a cemetary the day before, because we were not sure on the integrity of the water... forgetting that we had water purification tablets!) Even the Israelis were saying they had no idea why it was so hot, it was not normal weather-- everyone was running out of water. 2) The Hebrew word for water is "meim" (mime) and you should never hesitate to stop any car passing and ask for water... 2b) Israelis are extremely generous and giving people, and they will help you if they can, whether it is giving you water or food, or offering directions (even if they are unsure, they will always give directions!). After we had gotten enough water from passing cars to continue, and the most intense heat had passed, we set off again. About 3 km later, we came upon the water source. Go figure. It was improperly marked on the map.

[hiking along the road... see the sign? that says "keep climbing!" in picture :-)] ** [the water tank! ... and a bunch of thirsty hikers...]
The designated camping spot for that night was a miltary base/ lookout point, but unfortunately, we had to climb down into a wadi (valley carved by flashfloods, a riverbed without a river, every wadi was different from the next), to get back up to the army base... another long, grueling day.


** We were on the sun's schedule during this hike. The sun rose at 5:30am and set promptly at 5:30 pm, so we had 12 hours of daylight to get as far as we could each day. We found it easiest to get going before sunrise (or as soon after as possible), to make good use of the cool morning air, before the sun's heat took over. So, although I am NOT a morning person, I found myself almost eager to rise, as early as possible. (the initial waking phase was always still hard, but it was easier to get moving than normal...) It probably helped that we were going to bed around 6 or 6:30 every night! (once the sun went down, it got very dark so there was little left to do and we were so exhausted after the long days, we were ready to fall into bed!) Also, since we had to carry everything we needed, we packed as light as possible. Alistair carried the majority of our gear and all the food. I carried my clothes and toiletries and 3 liters of water everyday (I'm not a wuss, but this was my first ever hike like this, so Alistair thought it best that I was not held back by a lot of weight.) But this meant that we only carried enough food (and in theory, water) for about 3 days at a time. Our diet was mainly pita and cucumber since they are very easy to come by and pack well. We brought a soy chuck concoction (freeze dried and already flavored) that we would cook up in the evenings with noodles for a little more sustenance. When we came to a town, not only would we restock, we would often splurge on falafel and a Coke. Alistair was so right when he said, "you'll never appreciate a Coke more than when you've been hiking for several days, especially when its hot." I don't usually drink Coke, but my goodness, what a treat!**

[guess who IS a morning person?!?! ;-) ] ****** [ just outside the army base, a mosque in ruins, marking the tomb of Jacob]

We started early from the army base, and diverted off the trail to restock, because we were completely out of food... no breakfast. Of course, not every kibbutz is as big as the others, and this one was tiny. The one 'general store' was only partially open, but they let us in anyway. No cucumber, very dry (and probably old) pita, it was a little disheartening. But we got a can of tuna for the pita and a liter of coke and yogurt (and a Snickers bar for me!). The day was proving to be a hot one early on, so we opted to stay on the main road instead of getting back on the trail and skipped a big climb to an observatory... I found my coolest souvenir on the roadside-- a live round from an M-16! Oh yeah. It was pretty beat up, but way cool. We picked up the trail again down the road a ways, and found ourselves ahead of the earliest group that had left the army base. Imagine that. We stopped for a pit stop/ lunch break under a tree, and joined 2 young girls who were passing as we started out again. They were 17, 18 at best, about to join the army. We walked a long ways with them, but then as the heat got bad, we stopped with another group that had passed us while we were eating, and the girls continued on. It was by far the hottest day, and everyone thought we were crazy to carry so little water... (they all carried about twice what we were carrying) but after the previous shortage, we had purchased a few extra bottles of water, so we were fine. After a pretty long break, we trekked on. We had already decided to take a break and stay that night in a guest house in a kibbutz, because we were dirty, grimy, and tired and also my shoes weren't cooperating and I was starting to get some blisters on the toes and inner heel of my left foot. It was pretty hot, but we stayed fairly well hydrated, and hiking up the wadi bed there was plenty of shade. When we got out of the wadi, and back into the blistering heat, we passed little groups hiding in whatever shade they could find, including under a bridge. We pushed on, because we were pretty close to the kibbutz. I was beginning to feel worn, and when we got to the 'path' that would lead up to the kibbutz and realized we were going to have climb an extremely steep hill, I was not a happy camper (no pun intended). We started up the hill, and about halfway up, I started feeling woozy and I got a cold sweat. I told Alistair that I was about to pass out, so he got me down into some shade and started pumping water into me. I think I was very near heat stroke. He decided to see if he could go find help, because he didn't want me pushing myself further. He took off and I stayed in the shade. After about a half hour, I was feeling better and Alistair wasn't back yet, so I ventured out onto the path. I had heard a 4x4 go by, and it came back and the guy came over to the fence and told me, "your husband asked me to come find you, but this gate is locked. Do you think you could climb over?" Now, ordinarily, in a foreign country, when a strange guy asks me to climb over a fence when my husband is nowhere to be seen, I shouldn't have considered it... but the fact that he spoke to me first in English (most Israelis would greet us first in Hebrew) and he mentioned my husband immediately, I decided it was probably legit. I had a little trouble getting over, and caught my knee on the top, but made it over in one piece. I climbed on the front and he made a mad dash back to where Alistair was waiting. We got a little cabin that was unassuming from the outside, but really nice on the inside. There was a little kitchenette, and the main room had a king size bed, satellite TV and a jacuzzi tub that could have held 8 people! We were able to take a shower (first one in 4 days!!) and wash our clothes and relax. The next morning, we got a huge Israeli breakfast before taking off again. It was exactly what we needed (especially me).

The lady who cooked breakfast for us offered to drive us to the main road, so we could go on from there (the kibbutz is in the middle of nowhere). We were hoping there would be a bus, but sadly, no buses went by there... so we had to 'tramp' it. Pretty cool, though, the very first car that came up the road stopped for us! Tramping is a legitimate and very convenient mode of transportation in Israel. We found that the trend is that if you're in the middle of nowhere, people will stop for you, but the closer you are to a town or city, where buses are prevalent, people are less likely to stop.

[that path in the center is the path we had to climb up. we started below where you can see]

We got a ride back to the main road, where we got a cheap taxi to Safed (pronounced: tseh VAWT). Safed is a city on a hill, one of the 'holy' cities of Judaism and is the home of Kabbalah and Judaic Mysticism. Its an interesting town, where building are built on top of the ruins from earthquakes, and art abounds. What's also interesting is that there is a large Muslim community here as well, and there was so much fighting, that the authorities built a staircase down the hill, 'dividing' the city... and the Mystics believe that the Messiah will make a stop here, before his arrival in Jerusalem.

[the staircase of peace, as I call it...] ******* [this is the street that the Messiah is supposed to come down...]

From Safed, we took a bus to Tiberias, where we spent 2 days exploring the Sea of Galilee and Jesus' stomping grounds. (It was also part of the plan to give my feet a break from hiking and hopefully let the blisters heal.)

I will continue with Tiberias in the next blog... its getting late and I've been working on this most of the day. What do you think of this format? I love your comments!