Joan, Ed and Eric Journey Through Israel

We slept in until 8am this morning. That gave me (Joan) about 12 hours of sleep and I am feeling much better. The "rash" on the back of my legs from the knee to my ankles is looking much better. I know we haven't written about the stange redness, which did not itch or anything, but was quite disturbing looking and had developed on Monday. We think it must be a reaction to a plant or insect. We spoke to a pharmacist on Tuesday in Tiberbius and got some cream for it.  Moving on... We had an amazing breakfast of fresh vegetables and warm pita with toppings and half an avacado topped with chopped onion, tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs, and a few other goodies. We slowly prepared for our day and our host was kind enough to allow us to leave our packs at the hostel for the day. We were off through the confusing streets and visiting various sights and we sampled local foods along the way. The touristy spots were ok but the places we enjoyed the most were the ones less visited. We...

With daytime highs forecasted to be around 90, we made the decision to rise really early and hit the trail before the heat got bad. Our book told us that the first two kilometers or so would be straight uphill as we would go over Mt. Tabor and that was an understatement. It was extremely hard and to compound the difficulty Joan was not feeling well.  How she ever made it is a mystery.  Serious fortitude.  The one thing they did not tell us was that there would be some rock climbing.  It was brutal. When we finally made it we walked a beautiful trail that circled the top part of the mountain displaying beautiful vistas.  We finally stopped to eat the breakfast we had packed.  We feasted on Cinnamon Babka (Seinfeld reference, not sure what this was really called).  The descent was this twisty switchback on the road leading us to the town of Diboryya.  We had a tough time navigating the streets until we finally found the trail again.  It was a b...

Being flexible and ready for change is a good attribute for a hiker/backpacker/walker.  Today's forecast was for high temps and on our agenda was a long hike with steep climbs.  After much discussion we nixed that plan and made alternate ones.  We decided to take a bus to an interesting national park in Beit She'an. This park had the ruins of both Roman and Byzantine eras and were fascinating.  We made a good choice and spent several hours exploring.  From there we hopped a bus to the bustling downtown of Afula.  A stopover there allowed us to go to a large grocery store where we stocked provisions for tomorrow's hike.  We then caught a bus to Gazit Junction where we had reserved a room at the Pearl Valley hotel. It lies at the foot of Mount Tabor, the first of two mountains we will cross tomorrow on our way to Nazareth.  After a little down time, we walked a small distance to the main town of Kefar Tavor where we had dinner at a wonderful cafe th...

Jumped out of bed and got an early start today. We quickly packed, ate a small breakfast and hit the road around 6:30 a.m.  We followed the coastal highway to a national park that was unfortunately closed.  So we marched on. Our next two km was straight uphill. It was a tremendously tough stretch that wore us down quickly.  The good thing for us was it was slightly hazy with the clouds holding back the sun.  After hitting a plateau we followed the mountain ridge line south with the Sea of Galilee on our left.  It was quite a peaceful and beautiful walk.  As we descended we ended up at the Jordan River baptismal site where we took a small break for ice cream and coffee!  We then headed off for our destination at the Country Lodge Kibbutz.  It's like a small commune. We dropped our things and went for a refreshing swim in the cleanest pool I've ever seen.  Afterwards, we did our daily cleaning and then went to the chocolate factory that is run ...

After yesterday we decided to take a bus to Tiberius. Much of the route was backtracking and our feet were tired so a 15 minute bus ride was on the menu for us. After a big breakfast at our hostel, more like a hotel, we walked 2km to the bus stop. Tiberius is small interesting town, some new, some old, and some tacky beach area. We are staying in and exploring the old city. We spent some time at the market eating lunch and buying fruit, pastries, and meat and cheese from the locals for tomorrow.  The market area was quite interesting and not nearly as intimidating as some would lead to believe. We fared quite well. As our day went on we spent some time resting by the edge of the Sea of Galilee. Very peaceful with beautiful views. The evening found us watching a small parade through town. Extremely loud! 

We had an 11 hour day, as we started out from Arbel at 7am, after a light breakfast of bread we had saved from our amazing dinner last night. We knew we were in for a treat as we had already had views of Mount Arbel, a mountain that had been split in two by an earthquake around 759 BC. From the peak, we could see miles and miles...the east shore of Sea of Galilee..and so much more. Our 400 meter descent was down the face of the cliff using handholds and very careful steps. Along the decent we viewed and went into cave dwellings. We were rewarded after an incredible morning, when we stopped at a small store that had pastries, yogurt, and an iced coffee thing. We also bought a few things for later, but shortly after we can upon a road side sandwich shop and purchased 3 large sandwiches filled with local foods and stored those for lunch. The next few hours were filled with poor signage and included a 4 kilometer detour due to that. We are not sure but our mileage total was in excess of 30...

I am tired and hungry. Yesterday was Shabbot and all stores were closed. We thought we had prepared, but we ran short and had to have Cliff bars for dinner and then at the first store today we only picked up a bag of peanuts thinking we would find another store along the way, but we didn't and the only store in the town we are staying in tonight is closed. So it is now 5pm and we are starving and our only option tonight is the expensive restaurant where we are staying....Happy Mother's Day to Me!!! So our journey today started in Iliniya. We had a meager breakfast of fruit and muesli and off we went. The locals at the goat farm told us that our walk today would be less "trashy" and they were correct. Our walk took us through some nice wooded areas and fields. The trail is not necessarily well marked and we missed a turn but took what our tour book said was an alternate route. We passed by a holocaust memorial.  Eventually, after passing over some rocky passes we got o...