Melissa, GAGA, Hiking, and Bowling

                    Thursday afternoon brought us a big surprise!!

Melissa Spector, Mom, Dad and Cousin

 came to Shluchot for a visit.

Catching up with old friends.

Thursday night....GAGA

in the bombshelter!!





This Friday was the "hike of all hikes".  We ventured out on a 4-hour expedition which brought us up to the top of the Gilboa Mountains where we had a great picnic lunch.....and then back down for a well deserved pre-shabbos rest.



To celebrate our one-month anniversary in Israel,

 Saturday night we had an amazing bowling and

pizza party with the Kibbutz High School kids.

Golan Heights Day 2

First stop on our second day is to Mount Bental, which is part of an extinct volcano in the northeastern Golan Heights. The top of the mountain is 3,840 ft. above sea level and is home to the Har Avital - Har Bental Nature Reserve.  On top is a reconstructed IDF (Israel Defense Force) emplacement, built on the original Syrian emplacement with bunkers, tunnels, and now........ a "posh" new cafe and coffee shop.

Tunnel leading into an underground bunker



"Coffee Annan"....which means "Cloud Coffee"



If there's food.....Yonaton will find it
 (even 3,840 feet up!!)

Max helping Bayla over tough terrain.

Picnic lunch in a very cool sculpture garden

After lunch, we arrive at a Deer Farm....but are

surprised to find many other animals.

Some very small and some VERY large.

Our last stop in the Golan Heights took us to Banias (Banyas) Nature Reserve and Waterfalls.  The Banias was the site of worship for many centuries to a dozen peoples and half a dozen religions.  In ancient times the Canaanites and later the Greeks built shrines and temples here. The park today is treasured for its rich historical significance and its magnificant waterfalls.

 

We never miss a chance to walk...or sit on water pipes

Dinner in Bet Sh'ean at our favorite local place.

                              

Golan Heights Day 1

                                 We're off to the Golan Heights!!

A roadside tank museum...let's climb them!!





This Ancient Jewish farming village of  Qasrin or Katzrin is now a museum park giving a revealing picture of what daily life in the early Jewish communities of the Golan and Galilee would have been like. Here you will find a partially restored ancient synagogue dating from the Byzantine period.  Also, two reconstructed houses from the Talmudic era, complete with reproductions of furnishings and implements from those times.

Time to grind the olives


 

And then press them.

"Peek-a-boo"

At the entrance of the Ancient Synagogue.



Davening Mincha



  


   Capernaum Vista Olive Farm produces some of the

best quality olive oil products in the  world

          including cosmetics, foods, soaps, and of course

 olive oil....in many flavors.



After a movie and a tour of the factory, it's time to
 taste the many varieties of olive oil



A quick stop at Eden Springs

And finally..... a stroll through Tiberius

 with dinner and ice cream

Meeting one of the most famous chefs
in Israel...Segev Moshe.

Yonaton enjoying one of the 10 plus
     falafel places in Tiberius...and getting
 free seconds from the owner!!

Gelato by the Kinneret

Time to head home....we have a full day
tomorrow back in the Golan Heights!!