One of the best parts about living in Tel Aviv is the relatively cheap cost of travel. Coronavirus may have hindered some of our European travel plans, but that hasn’t stopped us from making several trips throughout the country. We were originally on the fence about shipping our car here, but it turned out to be a smart move. Israel is only the size of New Jersey, so most of the country is accessible after only a few hours in the car. In those hours, you’d be amazed at how fast the landscape can change. Whether it’s sand and deserts (south), luscious green hills and mountains (north), or leafy forests (east), I’m always amazed by what I see so soon outside Tel Aviv.
Now, we don’t want this to be a travel blog per se. Although we’ll share pictures and some of our favorite moments with you, we’re going to refrain from taking a deep dive into historical context or overanalyzing local cuisine. There are enough amateur food and travel critics in the Foreign Service without us adding our voice. If anyone has or is planning to travel to Israel and is interested, we are certainly open to further discussion.
First Trip: The Desert
In our first adventure outside the city, we took a trip with some friends south to Wadi Ze’Elim (נחל צאלים). This hiking trail is located outside the city of Arad and in the middle of the Judean and Negev Deserts. The stream dries up in the summer months, leaving little pools of water in the canyons. We hiked to one of these pools and had a nice little lunch. Misha got in the water. I did not.
Also included in this batch of pictures is a bedouin village called Kfar Hanokdim. It is a very tranquil place that offers camel rides, but was mostly deserted when we were there.
Second Trip: Jerusalem
We’ve been to Jerusalem twice now. Since the second visit was for a small gathering with friends on July Fourth and didn’t actually include any exploring, I’m going to lump both trips together. There’s little I can add that hasn’t already been said hundreds of times on the internet. One thing we can say that not many people can is that we saw the city while the streets were nearly empty. We took a guided tour in the middle of June, and due to the coronavirus, we could go pretty much anywhere without having to wait in any lines. We were able to walk right up to the Wailing Wall, throughout the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and all around Temple Mount with our endurance (and food poisoning for Misha) being the only thing to slow us down.
Third Trip: Sea of Galilee
For our most recent trip, we escaped city life for a relaxing weekend up north to celebrate my birthday. We stayed at the Ohn Bar Guesthouse in Amirim, a vegetarian moshav 30 minutes from the Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Tiberias. A moshav is an Israeli town or settlement with a cooperative agricultural community. We ordered a homemade breakfast from one of the locals that came with bread, eggs, cucumber salad, various spreads and cheeses, and two little parfaits. It was delicious and totally lived up to the hype of staying in a moshav or kibbutz.
It was too hot for us to do much hiking, but we took a drive down to the water and took a quick dip in the Sea of Galilee while watching wind surfers repeatedly fall off their boards. We also had a very nice dinner at a restaurant named Little Tiberias in the town of Tiberias, which was just as deserted as Jerusalem. However, this was because we went out on Saturday, or Shabbat.
On our drive back, we stopped at Netofa Winery. We had a little trouble finding the place because the tasting room is located in a small room underneath a synagogue, but we persisted. We were not disappointed. Netofa is highly rated on TripAdvisor, which is how I found the place. They make all French style wines yet refrain from planting Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, which they find are popular enough here in Israel. Everything we tasted was delicious, in particular their “Latour Rosado”. Needless to say, we bought several bottles.
With the heat of the summer turned up to 11, it’s probable that we won’t be doing too much traveling in the coming weeks. We’re always open to ideas, though, so if there is somewhere in Israel you think we should visit, give us a shout!
Beer and Diplomacy 
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