Travel Diary: Four Days in Cassis

On May 6, I celebrated my 30^th birthday.

It’s a big one. While I don’t feel particularly older than I felt on May 5, I do feel like in some ways I’m in a roller coaster car, ticking slowly up the Big Hill and reaching that moment at the cusp when (if you’re lucky enough to be in the first car), you just hang right over the edge, waiting for the rush.

When I think back just over even the last ten years, I can barely believe all I’ve done, the people I’ve met, the experiences I’ve had, and how much I’ve changed, in the span of my 20s. Of course, in some other ways, I’m absolutely stunned at how little I’ve changed, and how much else I would have liked to have accomplish that I haven’t yet gotten to. Despite pride or regret, time continues moving forward, and I have a sense that while the first 30 years were busy, they were a mere warm-up for the mad dash of the next 20. I’m mostly really excited about it, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous.

Whatever the arrival of my 30s heralds, though, I certainly celebrated to the fullest. Birthday festivities began on May 4, with a dinner party at Open Kitchen in Hoxton, complete with nearly all of my closest friends in London, and made more special still by guest appearances from my brother and his girlfriend (who are in town from Chicago), a high school friend and his wife (who drove in from Sheffield, UK) and our dear friends’ very new baby son (who arrived in the world 11 days prior, and spent most of the party obliviously snuggled in a Moby).

Signature cocktail of the night: the French Mule

In lieu of a birthday cake, I asked the chef for piles of fresh profiteroles (a new love I picked up in Turkey), and was very pleased with the results — in three different flavors!

On my actual birthday, Mike and I went to Oxford for the day, saw the staggeringly beautiful old campus, and had some elegant tea and scones:

The day after my birthday, we splurged on date-night cocktails and dessert at the posh dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental (oo la la).

But maybe the real reason that 30 doesn’t seem to sting whatsoever is the amazing birthday gift crafted by Mike: a surprise weekend getaway. He told me weeks ago to mark off the dates, and then stayed utterly silent about it, sneaking off into corners to make hushed phone calls and refusing to reveal a single detail to any of my friends, no matter how earnestly they swore to keep their mouths shut.

Thursday morning, May 17, we woke up at 4AM and headed to Gatwick Airport for our flight.

First stop: Marseilles, France.

From Marseilles, we hopped a train to the real destination: Cassis. It’s a small town, about 45 minutes east of Marseilles by train, hugging the coast, known for the local wine, and the breathtaking limestone cliffs and crystal-clear waters of the Calanques.

French Riviera. Le sigh.

We stayed in a beautiful guest house atop a hill, about 20 minutes’ bracing climb from the town … a walk that did us good after boozy long dinners, and which paid off in stunning views: of the terraced green of the wineries, red-tinged cliffs and bluer-than-blue Mediterranean water. We didn’t do too much … which was perfect.

View from the guest house

View of vineyards

View of delicious gelato

A constant line of customers streamed from the door of the Amorino gelateria and crowding the narrow sidewalk. I do love the way they artfully arrange your flavors on the cone like a flower (above: my pistachio framed with blood orange; Mike’s straciatella (I think?) framed with Ecuadorian chocolate).

Hiking the Calanques 

On Friday morning it poured, so we lazed around and read our books until the skies dried up. We caught the last few minutes of the weekly market and picked up a picnic to take out to the Calanques for an afternoon:

Market picnic

Look for the climbers, about a quarter of the way up, and also about halfway.

Sun for Londoners

On Saturday Mike had planned a day of kayaking, but it was called off due to high winds. We headed to the beach instead … the winds kicked up a few times and chased everyone off the sand, but we stretched out our towels a few meters from the water, near the seawall, where it was pretty well protected.

Marseilles

Sunday morning we checked out and took the train back to Marseilles, where we had a few hours to spend before heading to the airport. I thought Marseilles was fascinating, and I’d love to go back. The buildings have a weary beauty, the harbor overlooks more arid red cliffs in the distance. Marseilles is also undergoing a lot of restoration and improvement, as it plans to meet its designation as European Capital of Culture next year.

View of the city from Marseille train station

Double-decker carousel!

Hundreds — thousands? — of sailboats in the harbor.

Reminded me of Seattle’s waterfront … undergoing its own 7-year transformation.

Notre-Dame de la Garde, Marseille’s most famous cathedral.

Gorgeous cathedral doors.

More views from the port.

Inside the Marche aux Puces on flea market day

This greasy fry-bread, right off the griddle, was … heavenly.

Dodging springtime downpours outside the Marche aux Puces

Gare de Marseille-Saint-Charles is a gorgeous new train station. Trees grow indoors and the station’s retail shops are built as independent single-story buildings within the huge daylit structure.

I love this man.

The trip was blissful, the birthday, perfect. I wonder how many more trips we’ll take together before 40?

Travel Diary: Weekend in Berlin

We spent the last weekend in April visiting Berlin, where we met my sister and her boyfriend (who were ending a 10-day trip to Europe and getting ready to head home to L.A.) and my brother and his girlfriend (newly arrived from Chicago to begin their own 10-day trip). We picked Berlin for a few reasons — it was a city none of us, except for Mike, had visited, we were interested in the history because of our own family’s links to WWII, and we had all heard good things about the culture and the art scene.

Day 1

Our home base for the weekend, via airbnb again, was a perfect 3-bedroom flat in the trendy Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood. Unlike other airbnbs we’ve rented, this one wasn’t someone’s home; it was privately managed by a property company. As a result, it had the appeal of a home-y, authentic feel in a residential neighborhood, but also felt very polished … no clutter or signs of daily life, no handwritten list of personalized recommendations for exploring the neighborhood. In my experience, both styles of management have been good for their own reasons, but the location and midcentury decor made this one a standout among all we’ve seen this year:

Mike and I took an early flight from London and arrived in Berlin just after 10am, then hopped a bus and a train to Prenzlauer Berg. After all of us dropped our things in the rooms and changed clothes for the unexpected weather (Berlin was experiencing a heat wave, nearly 80 degrees all weekend!), we took off to begin exploring the city.

First stop: the Turkish Market. This huge, crowded open-air market fills a few blocks of canalfront streets in Kreuzberg. It was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people, from young locals out to enjoy the sun, cigarettes and street musicians, to elderly Turkish women in babushkas doing their weekly shopping for produce, fish and classic Turkish foods like fragrant, greasy börek. My first purchase: a plastic cup of orange juice, squeezed right in front of me.

We walked the length of the market a couple of times gathering goodies, then found a picnic spot in some shade past the end of the stalls.

Afterwards, we got on the train and made our way to Museum Island to visit the Neues Museum. A few cool sights along the way:

The Berlin Cathedral

I really liked how this boardwalk divided up the big park.

This kiosk on the street played audio messages for tourists. Melissa dutifully demonstrates for the photo op.

This conspicuous building, the Humboldt Box, turns out to have a pretty interesting story. It looks solid, but it’s actually meant to be a temporary structure, expected to stand for a total of 8 years while the new Humboldt Forum, an arts and cultural center, is redeveloped on the site of the former Berlin Palace. The Humboldt Box has a viewing platform from which you can see the construction site of the Forum, and will also showcase exhibits and events of its own, so that the building will help to build momentum for the activity that will eventually take place at the finished Humboldt Forum.

Looking up at the the Humboldt Box

The Neues Museum was a treat mainly for its stunning architecture. The original Neues Museum was destroyed by bombs during WWII. British Architect David Chipperfield redesigned the museum for its 2009 re-opening, thoughtfully combining the remaining elements of the original with new, light-bathed, modern spaces. It’s the kind of old-meets-new design that I like best in the world, and I really loved wandering the halls, stairwells and beautiful galleries (I think I managed to even see a few pieces of ancient Egyptian artwork from the museum’s collection). I didn’t take any photos inside the museum, but if you’re interested, you can see images in this article posted to ArchDaily.

We headed back to Prenzlauer Berg for dinner at Gugelhof, a cozy Alsatian restaurant that Mike found on unlike.net. We drained a couple of bottles of red wine between the six of us, and Mike and I shared a Raclette — melty cheese grilled on a tabletop warmer, drizzled over potatoes and pickles. Comfort food in ever sense of the word.

After dinner, we set about exploring a little bit of Berlin’s famously quirky nightlife before picking up a few pints of Ben & Jerry’s on the way back to the flat to ring in Melissa’s birthday, which started officially at midnight.

I loved these windows in Prenzlauer Berg.

Amazing new game spotted at a hipster bar: Ping Pong in the round. Everyone grabs a paddle and keeps the circle moving around the table; hit once as you pass the playing side. If you miss your shot, you’re out, down to the last two standing.

Bier and ping pong.

Testing out curious flavors of Ritter Sport.

Busily dishing up birthday ice cream.

On the phone with Akron.

Day 2

10 am: Quick stop for croissants and coffee en route to the Reichstag. The seat of German Parliament was redesigned in 1990 by Sir Norman Foster following years of disuse which began in 1933, when the original building burned in a highly suspect arson case linked to Hitler’s rise. Worth seeing for the architecture alone, the dome also offers outstanding 360 degree views of the entire city, and the audio guide gives you the lay of the land (if you visit, make sure to book online before you go).

Visitors walk the wraparound ramps to the top of the glass dome.

That’s us, reflected in the mirror. The mirror symbolizes transparency of government, but also conceals a giant tube that captures rainwater from the roof of the dome for re-use in the building.

Looking up at the sky through the open roof

Next up: Third Reich Walking Tour. The nearly 5-hour tour was excellent, giving the background leading to the rise of the Nazi regime with a wealth of details that few of us had ever heard. I’d recommend it to anyone.

2,711 concrete slabs on a sloping field form the striking and solemn Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which opened in 2005.

A sparrow nests in one of the imposing T-34 tanks mounted on either side of the Monument to Soviet Soldiers.

Gravel creates permanent barrenness at the “Topography of Terror,” a permanent exhibition at the site of the former SS headquarters.

The New Synagogue, built in the mid-1800s, still stands in Mitte. Our guide shared a moving story of the courageous scholar who saved the synagogue from rioters during Kristallnacht, when other synagogues across Berlin were looted and burned.

After a few hours winding down in Mitte and walking along the canals in Kreuzberg in the evening, we had a memorable last dinner together at Stadt, Land, Fluss, an absolutely wonderful farm-to-table restaurant in Prenzlaeur Berg (We toasted Melissa, who’d been an extremely good sport allowing the grim historical tour to dominate her actual birthday). Post-dinner: more wine and Scattergories back at the flat.

Day 3

No museums and no tours on our last day. We had a lazy late breakfast, wandered the Sunday Flea Market, the East Side Gallery (an art-covered stretch of the remaining Berlin Wall that runs nearly a mile), and more of Kreuzberg, including some grownup-friendly outdoor playgrounds.

Quirky “beach” bar along the Wall

Ziplining.

Travel Diary: Masada, Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea

One of our favorite days in Israel was our daytrip from Jerusalem south to Masada, an ancient mountain fortress near the southern tip of the Dead Sea. We hiked the mountain in the morning, then spent the rest of the afternoon visiting Ein Gedi National Park and, of course, floating in the legendary lake’s salty waters.

We arrived at Masada around 9:30 in the morning … a little behind schedule because we got woefully lost in the winding, unmarked streets of Jerusalem. The first time I hiked Masada (in 1999), I started the climb around 4:30 in the morning, in order to reach the top before sunrise. It’s typical for summertime tourists to do this, not only because sunrise reveals a breathtaking view, but also because the heat after the sun is up can make the relatively short climb into a nightmare.

For whatever reason — either the added toughness of being awake before dawn, or (likely) because I was not a very tough 17-year-old, I had really exaggerated the difficulty of the hike in my memory. Ascending the switchback- and stair-laden Snake Path (about 1,000 feet elevation gain, beginning at about 1,000 feet below sea level) took only about 45 minutes.

View from a short distance up the Snake Path

My Swiss Army Knife of a husband (prepared for anything!) wore his zip-off shorts/pants.

At the plateau top of the mountain are the ruins of King Herod’s palace/fortress (built between 37-31 BC). The palace and surrounding village were later occupied by Jewish rebels and their families, the last outpost of the Jewish-Roman war which took place around the year 70.  It’s incredible how much remains of the original structures, more than 2000 years after they were first built.

We spent a few hours exploring the ruins, among a good-sized crowd of other tourists from around the world (we overheard Australian English and Russian, as well as Hebrew and English). We also saw a family gathered in the mountaintop settlement’s old synagogue for a bar mitzvah — it was amazing to hear the chanting coming from within the ancient walls.

Looking across the ancient palace storeroom walls, desert and Dead Sea in the distance

Original columns and the paintings created for Herod's palace by Italian artists were remarkably still intact.

The ridge leading down from the mountain was a ramp built by the Roman army in the year 72-73. The Romans ascended the ramp and breached the fortress walls at the end of a 2-year conflict with the Jewish rebels living atop the mountain. According to the chilling legend, the Jewish rebels and their families executed a mass suicide and burned the settlement before the Romans could capture them.

Palace ruins, crows and desert

Around noon, we took the fast cable car down from the moutaintop and drove to the Dead Sea. There are many beaches where you can access the famous salty waters, and several of them are extensively developed, with spas where visitors purchase the legendary Dead Sea mud to rub on their skin for its reputed healing effects. Without much premeditation, we turned in at a sign for the public beach in Ein Gedi National Park.

Being the off season, the beach was pretty relaxed, which was nice. What I hadn’t expected, though, was the complete absence of muddy shores. Instead, we approached the water by treading carefully across red rocks, which were heavily encrusted with beautiful white salt crystals.

We had a great time floating in the briny water.

We used up the last few hours of daylight walking through Ein Gedi. The national park is a real oasis — streams and waterfalls flowing naturally through the desert, producing an incongruous burst of green on the landscape, and providing a home for native wildlife.

The animals are free to roam around the park … and they are not in the least bit bothered by their human audience.

A pair of rock hyraxes, munching on acacia leaves

Baby ibex!

Mike watching the babies

On the drive back to Jerusalem, we stopped to try to get a last view of the Dead Sea. We attempted to stop at a small beach called Kalia, but turned around when we found out the private operators charged a fee for entry, since we hadn’t planned to stay. The surroundings were a little eerie– a collection of gutted concrete bunkers strewn around the landscape outside the gates to the private beach. I couldn’t help but see an opportunity … what if those structures could be refurbished and turned into guesthouses, right on the shore?

We were more successful just pulling off to the side of the road. Views of the sea are gorgeous and otherworldly … notice the colors of the puddles of water just out of reach of the tide.

More on Israel: 

Eilat

Negev Desert

Tel Aviv/Jaffa

Nazareth, Northern Israel and the Galilee

Tags: dead sea, ein gedi, Israel, jerusalem, masada, tourism, travel

Travel Diary: Eilat

On Monday afternoon we drove south through the desert about 95 miles to Eilat, the tourism-driven coastal city at the southernmost tip of Israel.

Map of our drive from Mizpe Ramon to Eilat

Desert hills on one side of the highway

... stands of palm trees on the other.

People often have less-than-flattering things to say about Eilat; it’s known for seedy nightlife and tacky over-development. But it’s situated in a gorgeous natural setting, where reddish-purple sand cliffs approach clear waters. Standing on the shore, you can see the beaches of Egypt and Jordan in the distance.

Did I mention we saw another camel?

We were most excited about the coral reefs in the Red Sea. Not only are they beautiful and full of interesting life, they’re also just steps from the shore. Divers and snorkelers can walk into the water right off the beach and see incredible things — brilliantly colored parrotfish, anemones and clown fish, spiny sea urchins and tons of other underwater life.

The beach where we went diving and snorkeling

We tried out “snuba,” which is an option that lets swimmers without diving certification spend time deep underwater. We wore wet suits, eye masks and mouthpieces which were attached to an oxygen tank that floated directly above us on the surface of the water. With the help of a guide, we went down about 10 to 15 feet and stayed there for about 30 minutes. It was really strange at first, and harder than I had expected to get used to breathing through the tube and regulating the pressure in my ears. But once I got the hang of it, it really was incredible to stay underwater and have so much freedom to explore. I loved the bright colors of the coral itself, and the colors and movements of the fish, and the layers of activity beneath and between the rocks and the growth. We even saw an octopus! We both enjoyed it so much that we’re planning to work on diver certification when we get back to Seattle so that next time we can actually scuba on our own.

Our half-hour dive went by quickly, but it was good that the time finally came for us to get out of the water, because we were freezing. We sat in our wet suits in the sun and drank hot coffee to warm up, then spent another half hour or so snorkeling in the same reef before we were really too cold to consider staying in. On the upside, the nice thing about visiting Eilat in winter is that the temperature on land is much more comfortable — in the 70s and 80s, versus well over 100 degrees in the summer.

Later that afternoon, we rented a glass-bottom kayak and paddled onto the water to get some final views of the sea, the coral and the mountains looming from Jordan. It really was gorgeous.

Incredibly clear water

Both nights we stayed in Eilat, we had dinner at the same low-key diner-style restaurant called (unfortunately) Duda. In a touristy town it can be hard to know which restaurants have good food and which are just overpriced, and we were really happy to find a very reasonable place that served Israeli classics like hummus and falafel, and some surprises like malawach, a very tasty fried bread that I remembered from my summer volunteering in Kiryat Gat. A bonus — Duda played the Fashion Television channel on multiple tvs mounted around the dining room, and I really liked watching the runway shows … though it made me a pretty poor dinner conversation partner.

Finally, Eilat was the only place on our trip where we stayed in a pretty typical hotel, the Dan Panorama. We took other travelers’ advice to sign up for a Dan Hotels membership (a free loyalty club), which gives discounts and allows you to request a room upgrade. We booked a standard room, but when we arrived, we were automatically upgraded to a better unsold room, which boasted a balcony with a hot tub. While the chain hotel experience is still more about convenience than charm, it was still pretty nice to end our first day with a glass of wine in the hot tub overlooking the city (our balcony, being a free upgrade, overlooked a less-stunning view of the airport runway … but still, it’s easy to pretend otherwise after dark).

Balcony view at dusk

On a less celebratory note, sitting outside on just one in a row of identical oversize balconies, listening to the roar of passenger jet engines compete with the mechanical hum of the jacuzzi-for-two (amid a row of identical jacuzzis-for-two) and looking out over the landscape of neon signage and gas stations, blinking runway lights and car headlights, and resort swimming pools — in the desert — makes me wonder that the planet has lasted this long. Eilat is just a pinprick of a city next to Tel Aviv, let alone Shanghai or Tokyo.

Sunset on the beach

Tags: Eilat, glass-bottom kayak, Israel, red sea, snorkeling, snuba

Travel Diary: Negev Desert

We left Tel Aviv early, after one last morning run on the beach, and drove south to the Negev. It was fun to watch the landscape change drastically, from urban to agricultural to desert.

A map of our drive -- about 100 miles in 2 hours.

The desert is an incredible place — our goal was to spend as much time as possible just taking in views of the scenery. We spent the afternoon hiking in Ein Avdat National Park, known for its icy desert streams, which are fed from an underground water source.

Ibexes! (Or ibices)

In the Wadi Zin, which floods in wetter years, but is dry now due to the current prolonged drought.

We had dinner in the small, laid-back and artistic town of Mizpe Ramon, and spent the night at the charming Carmey Avdat farm. It’s a vineyard and winery, and also rents out small and comfortable guest cabins. It was cozy and peaceful, and in the morning they brought a cooler to our cabin door, packed up with a perfect fresh Israeli breakfast.

Eggs, hummus, olives, salad, cantaloupe, avocado, labneh, fresh lemonade ...

After breakfast we spent a half day hiking in the beautiful Makhtesh Ramon, the world’s largest natural crater, with the help of an excellent guide, Dariya. The crater, formed through tectonic shift and erosion, is so vast that we would have had a hard time knowing where to start. Dariya, a devoted desert dweller of several decades, knew exactly where to take us, and pointed out interesting natural forms. She called the crater “a window into the history of the world” because of the way the minerals build up in layers, now visible in the cutaway sides.

We stopped for a coffee break under an acacia tree, interrupted quite a few times by training fighter jets from the nearby army base whizzing (disarmingly closely) overhead.

Acacia leaves

Desert coffeemaker

Before saying goodbye to Mizpe Ramon, we stopped at one other attraction we’d read about — the alpaca farm. We didn’t take a tour, but we did get to say a quick hello to some of the animals.

Hello, camel.

Hello, llama.

Hello, alpaca.

On Monday afternoon, we began our stunning drive south to Eilat.

More on traveling in Israel: 

Nazareth, Northern Israel and the Galilee

Weekend in Tel Aviv-Yafo

Tags: alpaca farm, Carmey Avdat farm, Ein Avdat, Makhtesh Ramon, mizpe ramon, Negev, Wadi Zin

Travel Diary: Weekend in Tel Aviv-Yafo

We left Nazareth early on Friday morning, and drove about 2 hours southeast to Tel Aviv. The coastal city is Israel’s second-most-populated, and a hub of innovative entrepreneurial technological and creative activity.

We arrived just in time to experience the last few hours of the Carmel Market, which was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people buying fruits, bread, sweets and more in anticipation of the weekend. Many of the city’s businesses close early on Friday and stay quiet during the Jewish Sabbath, so each Friday afternoon sees a busy, happy rush of activity as people stock on up on last-minute ingredients and fresh foods for Friday night meals with family and friends.

Pomegranates are the size of cantaloupes!

Fresh pomegranate seeds by the glassful

We've developed a serious addiction to halva, a sesame-based sweet that's often marbled with chocolate, nuts or fruit. We bought a chunk of chocolate-flavored halva studded with cocoa nibs... delicious.

After leaving the market, we checked in to our Airbnb rental apartment. It had a lot of character — it’s a one-room, stand-alone house with a yard, just a stone’s throw from the beach. The friendly owner had given it a cute, clean and simple style, the bed was comfy and it was just about all we needed for a weekend getaway, with a location that would have cost hundreds per night in another arrangement.

We spent the afternoon walking through the historic neighborhood of Neveh Tzedek. The area looked so interesting, full of gorgeous, creative shops and cafes and a beautiful mix of old and new buildings. As the sun began to set, the streets grew quiet and we could hear the chanting of Sabbath prayers through open windows.

At 10 we met my friend Metin (we worked together as camp counselors in 2000) at the restaurant in the boutique Hotel Montefiore, where we had some of the tastiest food and wine on our whole trip.

We started Saturday by joining the highly recommended free Bauhaus architecture tour, which the municipality provides because of its World Heritage Site designation. It was a bit long-winded, but fun to walk along Rothschild Boulevard and see it filled with people enjoying their morning … taking kids on walks and bike rides, reading and sipping a coffee on a park bench. The main street had a great, laid-back, social vibe. We also learned some interesting things about the founding of the city, the rush to build housing as the population exploded, and the fundamentals of Bauhaus, which were new to both of us.

This original carved window latch flips over to reveal a woman's face on the other side.

Here she is!

Gorgeous old trees lining the Boulevard ... I think they are Ficus?

We spent the rest of the day on the waterfront. We started with a few hours on the beach — not swimming weather, but still so nice to lay in the sun. Then we walked a few kilometers along the waterfront promenade toward Jaffa. The waterfront itself is a gem — packed with lookout points, play equipment, bike paths, open spaces for kite-flying, and other perfect invitations for public enjoyment. We also loved the old city of Jaffa, which is full of artistic charm and winding stone alleyways.

Lounging on the beach

Walking along the waterfront promenade toward the historic center of Jaffa

Love this -- public exercise equipment right on the seafront. I'm on the elliptical and you can see the seat of an arm press behind me.

Original home, preserved as a museum on the waterfront.

Looking toward Jaffa

Looking back over the promenade toward Tel Aviv

Jaffa's beautiful old port

Narrow old streets, lined with apartments and artist studios

We stopped in Jaffa for some amazing hummus and pickles, and a beautiful view over the water. This photo was taken around 5 pm … the only sad part about wintertime travel is that it gets dark so early.

Looking toward Tel Aviv

Back in Tel Aviv a few hours later, we found our way to 24 Rupees, an awesome Indian thali restaurant where we kicked off our shoes and lounged on pillows on the floor. We shared some delicious chai, thali and momos (steamed dumplings) — all vegetarian and very yummy.

Thali of the day

Momos

Photo taken after the hot chai fogged up our camera lens

Anita Cafe, a gelateria we had walked past and ogled several times throughout the weekend, was still open at 11:30 as we made our way back to the flat, so we stopped to share a cup of pistachio-chocolate. We were only sad that we were too sleepy to visit all of the bars and club that were just getting started in Neveh Tzedek. Tel Aviv has tons of charm, beauty and great creative energy, and we were only here long enough for a tiny taste. We will definitely be back.

For more on Israel, see these posts:

Nazareth, Northern Israel and the Galilee

Tags: 24 Rupees, airbnb, Anita Cafe, bauhaus, Carmel Market, Israel, Jaffa, Neveh Tzedek, Rothschild, Tel Aviv, travel, waterfront, Yafo

Travel Diary: Nazareth, Northern Israel and the Galilee

On Tuesday night we flew from Larnaca to Tel Aviv to begin our 11-day trip through Israel. I’ve loved this country since I first visited on a camping trek as a junior in high school, and have been wanting to show Mike around here since we first met in 2004.

An amazing thing about Israel is that, for a country of such tiny size, it has huge geographical diversity. We planned an ambitious itinerary for a relatively short trip, with the help of a few friends who shared travel advice, and also by my own memories. We’d start in the north near Haifa and the Sea of Galilee, then stay a few nights in Tel Aviv, then head south to the Negev and the Red Sea, then to Jerusalem where we would visit with some dear family friends at their home there.

We chose Nazareth as our base for the north mainly because we found such excellent recommendations for the Fauzi Azar Inn, a relatively new hostel that has been working hard to build a market for tourism in Nazareth. This was a great find. The inn is a converted historic mansion, owned by a Muslim family and managed by a Jewish entrepreneur, which we were told is unusual the somewhat divided city. The staff is cheerful and full of recommendations. Each morning begins with an absolutely amazing breakfast spread – fresh dates, olives, salad, spiced scrambled eggs, Labneh with spices and olive oil, fruit and fresh hot flatbreads smothered with Za’atar spice. Throughout the day we always found fruit, tea , and freshly baked honey-and-coconut cake for snacking in the common kitchen, which is one reason the common areas were full of activity and guests being social at all hours.

Looking down into the open courtyard of the Fauzi Azar

Views of Nazareth from the kitchen balcony:

The common room (this was where I wrote most of my final paper for a class at LSE, which was due on Friday during the break!)

A gregarious, American-born volunteer named Linda gives a daily free tour of Nazareth, and on Wednesday morning, while I stayed behind to get my work done, Mike was lucky enough to be the solo guest on a private guided tour of the city (there are some perks to traveling in the off season, for sure).

The floor of the White Mosque, where Mike met the Imam

Here's Mike stirring a vat of sesame seeds (to wash them) at the spice market

On Wednesday afternoon, we drive west toward the coast and found an entry point to the Israel National Trail, a hiking/cycling route that runs the length of the country from north to south. We hiked around the base of Mount Carmel, and ran into several groups of pre-teenage scouts finishing up a day-long trek. They were excited to practice their English on us, with mixed results (I am pretty sure they also practiced some pretty filthy Hebrew on us, for one another’s benefit).

On the recommendation of several people at Fauzi Azar, we decided to try out the local Turkish Bath. This was awesome. We were treated to a sauna, then hot tub, then told to lay on the heated marble slab (which you can see in the photo) while we drank fresh mint lemonade and ate fresh dates. Then the attendant, who was a very petite girl dressed demurely and wearing a headscarf, escorted us into a hot steam room, where we sat for a few minutes. She came and got us out, and applied soapy lather all over us, then put us back in the steam room and scrubbed us – hard – with a rough loofah sponge. Then she rinsed us off by pouring bowls of water over our heads. The rinse water became increasingly cooler with each rinse, until finally she said “Ok, close your eyes now. One … two … three!” and doused each of us with a bucket of icy cold water.

It was amazing.

Next day: we drove to Tiberias and rented bikes to ride along the Kineret (Sea of Galilee). This is a beautiful area, and some of my fondest memories of my first trip to Israel involve camping in Bedouin tents on the shore of the Kineret. But we found it was less user-friendly to find the shore on our own via bike. We biked along the boardwalk in Tiberias for a while, then on the shoulder of the highway for much longer than either of us really wanted to … until finally we found a more welcoming bike trail which actually took us to a nice spot on the water’s edge.

The shore is literally covered in tiny shells – each one is about as big as a fingernail

Our last night in Nazareth, we enjoyed dinner at a local woman’s home.  Our host, Raita, had just started doing the dinners, which she arranges through the Fauzi Azar, for hostel guests. By extreme coincidence, we were joined by two other travelers from Seattle and their friend from Amsterdam. Dinner was delicious – we had Arabic onion soup, a vinegary, fresh salad, stewed okra with lemon and garlic, rice and perfect roasted chicken. Afterwards we stood in Raita’s courtyard and watched a long display of fireworks over Nazareth as the city celebrated the lighting of the town’s Christmas tree.

And after that, I was so full that I had to go to bed immediately and sleep for 10 hours.

Tags: Fauzi Azar, Israel, Kineret, Mount Carmel, Nazareth, Sea of Galilee, Tiberias