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

Chinese tourists seeking "mysterious" Israel

On September 25, 2008 forty Chinese tourists traveled from Beijing to Tel Aviv. The group was the first of many that are expected to be traveling to the Holy Land beginning this fall, as a result of an agreement sealed last October between the foreign ministers of Israel and China and which officially went into effect on September 15 of this year. The agreement gave Israel an "Approved Destination Status" for Chinese tourists. Hopefully, this will prompt many Chinese tourists to travel to Israel, a destination many Chinese describe as "mysterious". Currently, much of the Israel-China traffic consists of Israeli businesspeople and tourists traveling eastward while the Chinese travel market to Israel is primarily business. El Al has three weekly flights to Beijing and five to Hong Kong. The company is considering adding a fourth flight from Beijing or possibly switching to larger planes due to the high load factors. The Chinese have very strong links to Christianity and there are approximately 80 million Christians living in China, up from less than 5 million, 25 years ago.

Historic Notre Dame Center renovates Guest Units

Ideally located across from the New Gate in Jerusalem lies the Notre Dame Center, at 145 rooms it is the largest and most extensive Christian guest house in the Holy Land and can accommodate groups of up to 500 persons. Erected in the late 1880's the guest units offer some of the best views of the Old City of Jerusalem, situated footsteps away. The property is within easy walking distance to many of the city's most important sites. The pilgrim-oriented guest house is in the process of completing a major renovation to many of its guest units, most of which are now freshly painted and equipped with new lighting fixtures, doors, stall showers, wood-like floors, bed coverings and window treatments. New furniture has been ordered and is expected to be delivered shortly. In addition to the typical guest rooms that can accommodate two persons, there are now a few deluxe suites that have living rooms, kitchen facilities and expansive outdoor terraces overlooking the Old City. The guest house offers an an on site chapel, restaurants, meeting rooms, business center and offers daily mass and adornation. Legionary priests are available for mass and confession.

Tracing history through the caves in Park Adulam

In honor of Israel's 60th birthday celebration, the KKL (Karen Kayemit L'Yisrael)( http://www.kkl.org.il/) opened a new park in the Judean Hills, approximately 10 kilometres south of Beit Shemesh, 25 minutes from Jerusalem and 35 minutes from Tel Aviv. The entire region harbors hundreds of caves, many of which can be accessed through the numerous parks found throughout the hilly countryside. The considerable development activity that has occurred over the last several years has made protecting this historical and unusual landscape a high priority.

Last weekend, we participated in one of the walking tours currently being offered by the park guides. Our two hour walk consisted of an exploration of numerous caves including underground homes and burial caves likely rom the time of the first and second centuries. Several steep stone carved staircases led deep into the dark chambers and once there our flashlights provided us with the necessary light to observe the Hellenistic-inspired columns and other architectural features. With the Romans advancing, it is believed that the Jewish residents were forced to hide inside the caves, some for years, while the war ensued. Scratchings found inside the caves show the signs of possible games that were played by the people during this period as well as areas where lit candles were displayed. Further, well carved holes in the ceilings provided not only a small light source but the ability to view activity outside with a homemade telescope of a sort.

Visiting in early fall, the landscape was covered with terepines and olive trees, though still quite brown, however, our guide insisted that the area would be in full bloom in just a couple months and was well worth a return visit.

Likely 1st Century ruins on display underneath Sisters of Nazareth guesthouse

Sitting quietly off the main shuk road in the heart of Nazareth, less than one block away from the famous Church of the Annunciation (also known as the Church of All Nations), lies the quaint guesthouse owned and managed by the Religious Sisters of Nazareth, a Roman Catholic order of nuns who have had a presence in the Holy land since the late 1800's. The Sisters have owned the magnificent building for over 100 plus years and recently converted parts of their facility into a lovely little guest house. However, the comfortable yet simple accommodations are not all that meets the eye. Hidden several metres below the tiled terraces are significant ruins dating back to the 1st century or possibly earlier, an archaeological find discovered in the early 1900's .

Sister Stephana of Italy was our tour guide and accompanied us throughout our underground exploration. The site consists of a series of caves including at least one large home as well as water cisterns hidden beneath the residence, a familial burial area as well as several other rooms. The large water cistern is known as the Cistern of the Great Church, and is a sizeable well that was apparently used to store water for the family and possibly others that lived above and nearby. The architecture is somewhat suggestive of 1st century, with Herodian stones displayed in several areas. The burial style suggests Jewish roots, which would be likely considering the early dating of this house and its location in Nazareth, originally a Jewish village and believed to be home home of Jesus during his youth. Beyond that, there is evidence of additional development during the Byzantine and possibly the Crusader period as well.

The Sisters of Nazareth provide complimentary group tours of the site with advance notice.

A Different Kind of Bethlehem -Bethlehem in the Galilee

Most pilgrims and Christian tourists will make it a point to visit Bethlehem when they journey to the Holy land. Few, however, have even heard of Beit Lechem HaGlilit, Bethlehem of the Galilee.

An idyllic town adorned with beautiful European-styled stone houses, set deep into the hilly countryside of the Galilee this quaint village is very reminiscent of Provence. Interestingly, some scholars have even suggested that this town might have been the actual birthplace of Jesus, due to its proximity to Nazareth, approximately 25 minutes away.

Its European roots stem from its establishment as a farming village by Christian Templars in 1906. Over the next two and a half decades the village atracted an additional 20 Templar families. Two oterh neighboring villages, Waldheim and Arnhem also attracted a Christian german population and together the three towns became the heart of what would later be during the rise of Hitler, a resident enemy population.

The village is easy to explore by foot or bike and the local historian, Kobi Fleishmann (04-953-2901), will gladly take around tour groups for a two hour stroll through the village by pre-arrangement. Kobi and his family live in a beautiful historic old Templar home and have converted a portion of it to a bed and breakfast as well as a local museum, chronicling the Templar roots of the village as well as the rise of the local Hitler Youth movement, which rose to prominence in this town during the 1930's. Photographs on display in the local museum chronicle this dark period of local history and provide visual evidence of the Nazi Youth parade that occurred in the village to mark Hitler's birthday. The museum showcases much of Kobi's collections of historic Nazi memorablia including flags, pictures and other artifacts, that were from the area.

During the war the British rounded up the local "enemy" German-sympathizing residents and put them into local interment camps where they remained until they were deported. Some 222 of the local prisoners were swapped with 222 Dutch prisoners of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. During our tour, Kobi showed us the actual list of the prisoners released from Bergen-Belsen and we, coincidentally, found the names of our relatives on the list.

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.

A culinary, musical and biblical adventure in the Golan Heights

Still in the southern Golan Heights we came upon the moshav of Geshur, where we visited the new olive oil visitor's center (http://www.eretz-gshur.co.il/), watched a movie on local production, spoke with a local producer and taste tested at least seven different varieties of olive oil, purchasing several litres upon departure. Though the tour was offered in hebrew, we were able to translate everything to our guests.

Our next stop was a mere five minute drive away, in the moshav of Givat Yoav.There we had a lecture and demonstation at Kol Shofar, the largest shofar factory in the country (http://www.kolshofar.co.il/). We sat outdoors in the shade as the owner, Shimon Keinan, elaborated on the tradition of the shofar, and the complexities of accurately creating the instrument. Both children and adults had the opportunity to try to create the shofar sounds. Unfortunately we were not allowed to film there because of concern over the publication of any trade secrets regarding shofar production. On the way back to Ramot we stopped by Moshav Nov, known throughout the country as the best place to buy locally raised beef. There we purchased our flavorful steaks for barbeque that evening, and they were so delicious that we returned the next day for an encore.

First stop on the wine road in the Golan Heights

Twenty minutes southeast of Ramot, up the windy road to the top of the southern Golan Heights, we visited Chateau Golan, (http://www.chateaugolan.co.il/) a boutique winery next to Odem that produces approximately 70,000 bottles of wine annually. Aside from its highly reputed wine, the winery has one of the most spectacular wine rooms I've seen. The room is set like a scene right out of a Harry Potter movie, and the extensive mahogany table centered between the concrete Roman-inspired pillars, is cut from one piece of wood and can seat 22 people for a tasting or more elaborate celebration. Our English speaking tour guide accompanied us throughout the winery, explaining the production process, both ancient and modern, and providing us with various selections of different wine. The non-kosher winery is available for free tours for groups of 10 or less. Advanced reservations are required.

Quick stop at Kursi

At the base of the Golan, we stopped by Kursi (http://www.parks.org.il/ParksENG), a Jewish fishing village during the mishnaic and talmudic periods, remains of which were accidentally discovered after the Six Day War, when a road was paved along the eastern bank of the Sea of Galilee. Excavations revealed the largest Byzantine-period monastery in Israel. The monastary as well as the church inside were built in the middle of the fifth century C.E. and were later damaged most likely during Persian invasion (614 C.E.). The church was repaired but abandoned in the eighth century and never again used for prayer. A mosaic floor with pictures of animals (chickens, geese, doves, cormorants, and fish), and pictures of plants such as citrons, dates, pomegranates, and grapes were uncovered, some of which was vandalized. According to the New Testament, Jesus healed a man possessed by demons in Kursi.

Kursi is run by the Israel Parks Authority and is open daily.