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photo page 28 |
Our nextdoor neighbor, Eitan, looking exhausted, apologizes for the noise. Huh?? What noise? Never heard a thing!
Then we learn they got a triple in January: 3 babies! That calls for flowers! Our favourite shop is a bit far from here,
but Sonja manages to find a bouquet that is not too gross, if you are so kind to ignore the glittering sparkles! |
Another flowery problem: traditionally Sonja gets daffodils on march 1, to celebrate St. David. But daffodils are few and far between
in Eilat, in fact non existent. So the yellow flowers are a bit oversized this year.....
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We take a short break for a holiday in the north. We reach the Dead Sea after driving 2.5 hours from Eilat, and it is a good
place for a rest. When we continue, the gearbox is slipping terribly. The gearbox has been repaired just last week, because it never
actually did run well, but according to Shauli it would certainly give no problems this trip.... |
Anyway, we reach our destination without further ado. Ma'aleh Gamla is a moshav overviewing the Sea of Galilee. The total distance from
Eilat is just 400 kilometers, following road 90 through Samaria and the Jordan valley. The lands looks like England and Wales, with
green rolling country and mountains. It is exactly the same mountain range as in Eilat, but in a totally different climate. |
Within 5 minutes from arriving we have a cat in the house: Cripply. Her hind leg is probably dislocated, but she can run quite good
and is well fed. There are lot more cats around: when we have a barbecue one night, 8 pairs of eyes stare at us from the shrubs, and
we cannot leave the meat unattended. |
And to complete the menagerie there are 6 horses in the field across the road. We buy cat food, carrots and apples, and this
results in a very special encounter in Safed, where Aliza invites us to her home in the jewish quarter and we talk for hours.
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The cottage is in a orange groove. Oranges are still in the trees, as well as blossoms. The smell is delicious!
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All of Galilee is covered with flowers. |
About half an hour from the cottage is the nature reserve of the Hula valley, where thousands of birds spend their winter holiday
during the months of December and January. Most of them have already left for Europe by this time, but we still see hundreds of storks,
white and black ones. |
The area is a swamp, with genuine papyrus. |
Catfish swim lazely in the shallow waters, and swamp turtles have a sun bath.
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Next to the nature reserve is a little museum at the former Dubrovin farm, whose family settled here 150 years ago and cultivated the
lands and drained the swamps under terrible conditions. Malaria and black-water fever decimated the family. Nowadays, it is a very
pleasant stay, with the small restaurant serving delicious stews. Hmmm! |
Gamla means camel, and the area is named after the shape of this hill that looks a bit like one. In ancient times, there used to be
a Jewish fortress and important city on top of the hill, until detroyed by the Romans.
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Gamla is situated in a beautiful valley, where dozens of griffin vultures roam. |
The valley also features the highest waterfall in Israel: 51 meters high. We spot 5 vultures on the rocks next to the waterfall,
and one is clearly visible with chick.
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The vultures swoop very low overhead, and have a wing span of almost 3 meters! |
We continue our journey to the mount Hermon. Last year in August, we were just 5 minutes late for the ski lift, and this time we
are determined to stand in the snow on top. The mountain can be seen in the distance, with still quite some snow, although it is
already the end of March and the temperature in the vally is 22 C and higher. |
We made the picture of Hermon while standing on mount Bental. This mountain is very often covered in clouds, 'annan' in Hebrew, and the
restaurant at the summit is appropriately called "Coffee Annan". |
YES! Wintersports in Israel. We took the ski lift all the way to the top of Har Hermon. There is no skiing anymore, too much snow has
melted already, but there is plenty of snow at the top for sleighing and snowball fights.
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The last meters in the ski lift are teeth shattering cold due to the high and cold winds. |
Lily tree?
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Corn flowers in Ma'aleh Gamla. |
Giant yellow balls covered with flowers.
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We visit Anat's mother, and discover Anat's great talent for painting and drawing. She never told us! Every wall in the house is
covered with her works. We hesitantly leave hours later, with bags full of hand picked mandarins and qumquats from her garden, and start our
journey back to Eilat. |
The jeep has done brilliantly during the holiday, although it remained in first gear longer and longer after a cold start.
But when Henk misses a road sign just south of Beit Shean and has to turn, the reverse gear does not work. And when we finally resume
in the right direction, we only have first gear. With a roaring engine we crawl along the highway until we reach a parking space near
a checkpoint and army base and park there to wait for the tow truck.
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The guys and girls at the checkpoint were really super! They offered water, food, bamba's and even came with giant Jaffa oranges.
Of course it took lots of phone calls with Shauli, the insurance, Memsi and the truck driver, and every time they helped us out
with translations and directions. They even allowed Sonja to pee at gunpoint, inside the army base.
The jeep broke down at 3 in the afternoon, and the tow truck arrived only at 9 in the evening. Then the driver told us he was to
pick up the jeep only, leaving us behind. No chance of reaching Eilat today anymore! But he did call a taxi that took us to the
nearest hotel in Beit Shean. There Rudi, the night watch, offered to take Henk to Afula the next morning, to rent a car.
At 8 in the morning they boarded a green Egged bus that made a kind of sight seeing tour through Beit Shean, Bet Alev, mount Gilboa and
finally to Afula. Rudi even walked with Henk all the way to the rental office, and even payed his bus fare. To thank all these wonderful
people, after we were mobile again in a green Getz, we bought a number of boxes of Merci chocolate and left a big one for Rudi at the
hotel, and several more at the checkpoint for Daniel, Dekkel, Jael and the other soldiers!
With the rental car, we reached Eilat
quickly and even saved some money on fuel! The jeep arrived 2 days later, on Sunday, in good condition. We emptied it, so that
Shauli could start his work on the gearbox a.s.a.p. |
