Lebanon and Golan

Dear Friends and Family,
We continue to have great adventures and already regret not having even more time to spend here in the northern part of Israel. Allow us to take a few minutes to describe the scenery. The Sea of Galilee is below sea level and until today has been shrouded in fog due to the massive rain storms. We can't complain about the weather because the area has been parched and they needed much rain to refill the reservoirs. As a result of the rain Mt. Hermon in the north is snow capped and majestic, every where there is green in magnificent and varied shades. Today the sun is out, partly, and so are the wild flowers. (We've taken photos but are still having a bit of a challenge downloading--that will happen.) The wildflowers are red and purple and yellow and pink. The apple trees are beginning to blossom in pink array. We have passed through acres and acres of date/fig trees the fruit wrapped in blue plastic to prevent ravishment by the birds. The area north and north east of the Sea is a bird estuary and we've seen amazing blue herons, egrets, and birds whose names we don't know.
All about are hills. The hills are filled with rocks, large volcanic rock. One can only imagine how the Israelis are able to clear the land to plant their crops, but they do it because next to the rock field, are acres of vegetation, apple and olive groves, vinyards, and other crops. They are an industrous people, you see that all around you.
The area around the Sea of Galilee is rich with historic Jewish settlements from the Mishnah (around 200 CE) and Talmudic eras (around 400 CE).
We began Tuesday morning, in spite of ominous rain clouds, with a trip to a northern town in Israel, on the Lebanese border. Metulla is a relatively new settlement, modern housing, winding streets, play areas for the children. It overlooks Lebanon on three sides. You can see across the border through the Good Fence, indicating by the Israelis that good neighbors make good fences.
We are so impressed by the Israelis, their industry, their continual willingness to believe the best of others. And the courage for these families to move here. We are confused by the term settlements, which we hear often these days in reference to the towns in the Golan. These are small towns and cities, with people who are filling their lives, creating industries, and reaching out to others. Under the hands of the Lebanese, this land was bare. Israel is using all of the land well. It builds homes among the rocky hillsides where crops cannot easily be grown, and clears the other land for crops. Nothing is wasted. Each home boasts solar hot water panels on the roof. Their cars are small, but zippy as you know when you are being passed on the highways.
(Just a note about the names. The names are all in Hebrew and they are transliterated for the English. Therefore, their English spellings vary depending upon who is doing the transliteration. Sometimes we check one map for a town, only to find it has a somewhat different name on a different map. We won't even begin to talk about the street signs which are all in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.)
After view the border area from Dago Lookout, we noted the Lebanese side is also hilly, buildings are within view, apartments, and other edifices. Not as planned as on the Israeli side, but also within shofar blowing distance. Metulla has the advantage of the height, as it towers over the Lebanese countryside at this juncture. There is an old army tank, now painted with flowers and multi colors, that rests overlooking the border.
We drove through the town, found the Alaskan Hotel owned by Holocaust survivors and thriving. It is a tourist community with many small bed and breakfast inns, a synagogue on the main street, and winding, narrow roadways. The town center boasts a charming statue of four apples signifying their principle crop.
From Metulla we headed south to Sefat and Rosh Pina, major religious centers and home to the Lubavitch (sp?) and his followers. This is considered the Kaballah center. The drive from Metullah, thanks to the GPS, was on a small, winding road through the hillside, vineyards, and more rock strewn landscape. The rain went from a drizzle to a downpour and visibility went down with it. Hours later we arrived in the northern part of Sefat. The streets are very narrow, one way, challenging. There are synagogues, or religious study houses of every description, mostly small and narrow. Billboard sized pictures of the Lubavitch were in evidence. In spite of the down pour, people walked the streets, went about their business. Political signs from the last election, again in billboard size, were still plastered on town walls. At the city center in this old part of Sefat, a community center is the center of the town. We tried following the signs to the art colony and actually wound up on a very short street, very narrow, that ended in a long stone staircase. Had we been driving a 007 car instead of a Hyundai, we've have taken the stairs. Instead we made a careful u turn and left without visiting any of the art studios. We shall return.
By now we were hungry, our gas tank was light, and the rain continued. We weren't quite lost, because we knew the direction to Tiberius was south, but we didn't know how to get there. More driving through what is the south, or new part of Sefat, where tall, cement apartment buildings dominate the hillside and then off to Tiberius.
We didn't hit the main highway until Rosh Pina, another charming town that we had to miss due to the heavy downpour and our search for late lunch.
It's funny, but highway 90, is beginning to feel like home, we've traveled it several times and know the landmarks. Along the route are Christian sites of Capernaem, where the story about the Loaves and Fishes is said to take place, and the Mount of the Beatitudes, renowned for the sermon on the mount. Tour buses fill these parking lots and we were glad that we had chosen a Jewish tour group because the areas of interest differ greatly between the Jewish tourists and their many Christian counterparts.
We stopped for a late lunch in Ginossar, as much to refill the gas tank, get out of the rain, and have something to eat. The available restaurant, as it turns out, was Lebanese style. We had 15 small dishes of various salads with pita bread. Stu enjoyed strong Turkish coffee--they do not refill the cup and charge almost as much for milk for the coffee as for the coffee. Still, the lunch was lovely. We enjoyed watching the local geese pose in the rain. A tour bus came in after we began our lunch and filled most of the restaurant. It was fun to watch them standing in the rain, taking pictures of the geese.
So the day that began with the Lebanese border, continued with late afternoon Lebanese luncheon. Arriving again in Tiberias we decided we were much too tired to eat out so we searched for a grocery store. First, we found a bakery with dozens of different cookies, houmantash, fresh bread and pita. Stu loved the baklava we brought back to our hotel room.
We did, accidentally, find a real grocery store. It was another adventure. I actually felt at home there because it looked much like the stores I shopped in in Malaysia. The shopping carts are connected one to another and you need a key to retrieve one. The result is that if you don't have a key, for which you must leave a deposit, you can't use a shopping cart. Return the cart, and you get your key back. Hence, no carts on the streets, none around the parking lot, and always one available to use.
We bought cheeses, fresh bread, apple juice, milk and cereal so we would not have to get out too early in the morning. We are settling into our small home in Tiberias. By 8 PM we were both asleep. So much for the exciting Kirschners.
Stu and Adrienne