After a later than intended wake-up alarm (the alarm was still on SA time, one hour behind), we went for a walk along the beach. The guest house on the Sdot Yam Kibbutz is right on the beach adjacent to Caesarea. Jen constantly said with glee “I’m paddling in the Med” over and over again ….

Then for shower time – and we discovered that there was no separation between the shower and the rest of the bathroom apart from the shower curtain. As a result the ENTIRE bath room floor became awash. The only thing that prevented a flood of the bedroom was a small lip of 5mm at the most.  A squeegee was “thoughtfully” provided to “manage” the water.

Breakfast was in the dining room overlooking the beach;  an Israeli style breakfast with a range of cheeses (sweet-milk, feta, cottage, and a few other soft types), sliced tomato, red and yellow pepper.  The only warm food was scrambled eggs and boiled eggs.  Rolls and rye bread were also available. Different but very fresh and tasty.

After packing we left at 8:45 and drove north to the Carmel range of hills. On the way we drove thru Daliyat el Karmil, a Druze village, and arrived at the outlook called Kerem Carmel which overlooked the Jezreel Valley.  It was really nice to be able to enjoy the view again and contemplate what had traditionally taken place here – Elijah offering up a sacrifice in a competition with the priests of baal.  And we all know who won that one!

We drove on down the mounting through Druze village, Isfyia and skirted Haifa, after passing the university we drove on North to Rosh Hanikra. This is a chalk hill that has been formed by the sea to form a series of Grottos.  A cable car ride took us down to a series of tunnels carved through the rock enabling us to see the water crashing through the grottos. The area is also referred to as the Ladder of Tyre. Two train tunnels dug during the British mandate prior to the second world war are now used for a audio visual presentation complete with a water spray effect, to get the feeling of the spray of the sea.

Rosh HaNikra also serves as a border post between Israel and Lebanon which is currently closed. But Jen was insistent that she had her photo taken in front of the Border crossing.

We stopped at a petrol station that had a coffee shop for a bite to eat and discovered that there was free WiFi so we had a “sandwich”.  Anything in a roll, between bread or in a pita is called a sandwich.  What we had was very much the same as “Yiroll”, ie. HUGE baguettes.  Jen had salmon and cottage cheese while Rob had hummus and salad.  Boy where they fresh and delicious!  While we ate, we were able to check our mail and upload the page for the blog (well at least Rob was able to do his, Jen had trouble replying to emails).  Rob had an interesting fruit drink which was strawberry and banana flavoured …

We then drove east through hill country towards the Sea of Galilee. We detoured into Safet which seemed to be a series of traffic circles and roads going around and around the hill and constantly going up. As it was getting rather late we did not stop but will maybe go back if we have time later in the next few days.

Driving on we arrived at our “home for the next few days …. Karei Deshe Guest House, which is part of the Israeli Youth Hostel Association” but not restricted to age.  Our room was bigger than the night before, but had twin beds, also a comfortable chair, bar fridge and a table & chair.  What was “different” was that our sheet & quilt were beautifully folded at the bottom of the bed, and we had to make it up ourselves.  Jen had vaguely heard of this happening somewhere else, so it was not too much of a shock.  Since we had not booked for supper we drove through to Tiberius  and after a few detours and trips down side roads we found  parking and had some supper at one of the many street restaurants. When we got back to car we turn on the laptop to discover that we could use someone’s WiFi so we quickly checked our mail before returning to Karei Deshe.

Having been warned, when we made the booking, that the guest house was having “children” staying at the same time, and therefore might be noisy, we still weren’t prepared for a riot of teenagers!!  So while we write this we are being serenaded by teenage Israeli karaoke…. In the middle of this, Jen was thrilled to receive a long phone call from Suzanne, with lots of advice, suggestions and a general chat.  We are really looking forward to meeting her in Jerusalem next week.  For most of the duration of the call, Jen had to shut herself in the shower to hear over the karaoke!   No matter what age, language or culture ALL karaoke sounds the same.

But you must admire the spirit of the Israelis as they live life to the full and take any and everything as their own and are fiercely proud of who they are.

L’chaim …. to LIFE !     Tomorrow Day 3