Hurry to the Hula

As the afternoon fall sun begins its slow descent to the west, the storks, cranes, herons and other species of birds flock to their evening resting place on the Hula Lake in the northern Galilee situated within the Syrian-African Rift Valley, approximately 70 m above sea level. The numerous touring options available include walking, renting bicycles, an electrical golf cart (for up to 6 people), a safari bicycle (for up to 6), two seater bikes or an open air safari bus - an excellent choice for the night tours. Our group of six opted for four bicycles and a tandem and pedaled the 12 kilometre stretch in approximately two leisurely hours, stopping at numerous viewpoints along the way to observe the birds, animals, and surrounding views. The 800 acre reserve is located approximately 20 kilometres north of the Sea of Galilee, and was up until the early part of the 20th century, a vast swampland, but home to much wildlife. Early Jewish settlers to Israel worked hard clearing this area for agricultural purposes and many workers contracted the dealy malaria virus along the way. They only later realized that the valley offered less than ideal agricultural conditions, but unfortunately, by then that land had been cleared, and along with it much of the wildlife, fauna and flora disappeared from the landscape negatively impacting the ecosystem of the area. In the mid 1990's, approximately 250 acres were reflooded in an effort to restore the valley and bring back some of the natural habitat and improving the quality of the water flowing into the Sea of Galilee. During the migration seasons over 500 million birds will fly over Israel and tens of thousands will stop overnight in the Hula Valley during the peak late fall season. The Hula Valley visitor center, situated approximately three kilometres south of Agman Hula, has a new bird migration/movie experience called Euphoria which is also worthwhile. For More Information -http://parks.org.il/ParksENG/company_card.php3?NewNameMade=43&from=116&CNumber=422020

Finding the right spirit in the Golan; a family reunion

Family reunions are not generally the reason d'etre for spiritual inspiration but hence, when selecting the Golan Heights as the venue for a celebration, it is so easy to transform the party into a biblical exploration of local produce as well as a culinary experience. The selected venue for our three night stay for 14 people was bikta belavan (http://www.biktabelavan.com/) , an Israeli guesthouse situated in Moshav Ramot overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

The guesthouse facilities included four large cottages, each offering a private master bedroom with a king size bed, flat screen television and oversized Jacuzzi, a large living room with a pull out double sofa bed, room for a third cot if needed, a television a fully equipped kitchen complete with an espresso machine as well as a large bathroom with a stall shower. The oversized porch overlook expansive grounds complete with large hammocks, a pool, chaise lounges, barbeque, all with the most tremendous view overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

Our accommodations came complete with a homemade breakfast, served to us outside on fine Victorian-inspired china and linens. The tasty breakfast included a selection of fresh local cheeses, finely cut Israel salads, shakshuka (an Israeli morning specialty of eggs cooked inside a deep heavy skillet of sauteed onions and tomatoes), cheese borekas, danish, chocolate milk, lemonade and pancakes as well as the necessary local accompaniments of olives, jams and fresh butter. In addition to amenitizing our units with bottles of wine, Victorian-inspired appointments, milk, water and espresso, Michal, the owner, would keep a jar of freshly baked homemade rugelach (sweet pastry cookies filled with nuts and cinnamin) filled daily in each of our units. It would have been quite easy to just stay at the bikta all day long ounging by the pool and taking in the view, but our location put us so close to many interesting sites that we couldn't help exploring our surroundings just a little.

We made a number of local stops learning about wine production, olive oil production, shofar production, meats as well as biblical archaeology, all within a twenty minute drive of our base at Ramot. Please note that because of the high interest level in each stop, I profiled every visit in a separate entry on this site.

Having enjoyed so many unique experiences together brought us all closer together. Family reunions should be an opportunity to bond and find pleasure in each other and, amongst the olive trees, vineyards, antquities and seaviews found in the Golan, it was a simple, yet memorable experience.

Ginosar and the Jesus Boat

Along the western banks of the Sea of Galilee lies Kibbutz Ginosar, the likely site of the biblical village of Ginosar. The current site is home to a kibbutz as well as a full service hotel that attracts many tourists. Adjacent to the property is the Yigal Yadin museum, known as the Man in the Galilee museum, a museum focusing on the local Galilee landscape and history of the region. The museum features numerous antiquities, including the famous "Jesus Boat", a 1st century fishing boat that was uncovered in 1986 by two brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, second generation fisherman from the Kibbutz. They discovered the mud covered ancient boat on the normally water-covered banks of the Sea of Galilee during a period of an unusual drought which resulted in extremely low water conditions. It took approximately 12 days and ights to remove the boat and another seven years of submersion in a chemical bath to dry out the antiquity before it was able to be displayed at the center. The process of moving the 2,000 year old boat and preserving it is profiled in a 10 minute movie that can be viewed inside the museum.

Tel 04-672-700.