RE: kibbutz et al

Hi Braham

We stayed on a vegetarian moshav – a small village called 'Amirim'. I have relatives that have lived there for almost 40 years. It is a very pretty place situated on a mountain and my cousin's bakery serves the BEST bread, etc. (even though i have to say that, thankfully it is true!). Amirim is about 20mins to Tsfat and is centrally located in the North, which allowed us to explore the entire top-end of Israel for a week using Amirim as our base. Other suggestions of places to use as a base in the north are: Tsfat, Tiberias & Rosh Pina. They are all beautiful and special in their own right. Amirim is perched on the side of one of the first major 'hills' of the Galil, so you will see from the photos that we had breathtaking shots of the Galilee, Kinneret and Teverya.

Amirim Google maps location

Amirim Photo Album

 

Sukkot we were in Jerusalem, and our landlord gave us a Sukkah which was excellent. (see our album pics online). I cannot impress upon you how important it is to be in Jerusalem for Sukkot.  Everywhere you walk, on every street, for houses, shops, businesses, etc, there are Succot for private/public use everywhere. It is very touching. Of course the BIGGEST event of Sukkot, and one of the biggest events of our trip was Birkat Cohanim at the Kotel (on Chol HaMoed). Over 40,000 people came to the Kotel to receive the blessing from the hundreds of Cohanim. This is exactly why Sukkot (as one of the shalosh regalim) is called a 'pilgrimage' festival. Awesome, just awesome.

 

For tourist attractions all over Israel, i recommend you consult our "GoogleMaps Tourist Attractions" below. Prior to leaving I made a map with markers all over Israel marking with precision the exact spots (useful for my Nokia phone GPS) of the major attractions from which we chose our daily activities. The list is specifically geared towards sights more suitable for children our age.

 

Don't forget to get a quote from Shoshi at Eldan, and perhaps you might like to try another car rental company as a comparison for the Eldan prices. I recommend 'SixT' as a possible alternative. Don't worry about the rest honestly – a waste of time...

Also, make sure you take with you something like a Nokia phone which has a GPS. When you get to Israel, you will buy a SIM card from Cellcom (at the airport) for 150 shekels (yours to keep forever) and then get a 60 shekel per month data plan for the sim card, which will give you access to Google Maps and interacts with the GPS on your phone – an absolute necessity for travelling around Israel. Melways on steroids.

 

 

Keep the questions coming – everytime I answer I re-live the memory. Enjoy.

 

 

Regards

Paul Steinberg

Mob. 0413055718

Web photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/steinbergpicasa

Blog online: http://steinbergsinisrael.blogspot.com

GoogleMaps Tourist Attractions: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=101845790702321945414.00046ae3bb9b8c8d66f12

Skype Paul username: 'paulsteinberg'

Skype Steinberg Family username: 'prsteinberg'

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: Braham Goldberg [mailto:fbgold@aapt.net.au]
Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 9:49 PM
To: prsteinberg@optusnet.com.au
Subject: kibbutz

 

Hi Paul,

 

You told me towards the end of your trip you based on a kosher kibbutz in the north – which kibbutz was it?  Was it kibbutz lavi?  Also, where were you for sukkot?  Other than J’m, where would you recommend to go for that time?

 

Thanks Paul,

 

Braham

Melbourne

Gday Batya
Just lying in bed with Hannah and Rochelle on a lazy Tuesday morning, trying to raise enough energy to get outa bed. Slept for 19hrs on Sat'y night because i think i was well over-tired.
I'm back to work - kinda - having meetings with people but haven't really sat down at my desk to do anything serious... Outside the birds are making squawking and chirping noises and the background hum of traffic is relatively quiet thankfully.
I went to play golf with my dad yesterday and i parred the 7th hole which was awesome considering the rest of the time i couldn't hit the ball more than 10metres (or if i did crack the ball, it flew into the next fairway!). Israel doesn't really have golf courses so that's at least 1 thing i missed about Melbourne.
Many of our friends and family are still on vacation now, so as much as we wanted to return to Melbourne and regurgitate the tales of our travels, there haven't been enough people around to satisfy that urge. Still there are people around, even though at xmas/ny time, Melbourne seems to reduce itself to a backwater hick town because people have evacuated elsewhere.
Definitely miss Israel, and it would be great if we had some magical teleportation porthole through which we could walk through and spontaneously arrive to see you, Nahlaot, the Shuq, Ben Yehuda, Har Ha'Bait, and all of Yerushalayim. Amirim too.
Instead of someone suggesting to you that perhaps you should come back 'home', i think its all of us that should come home... to Israel.
Although a few golf courses would be nice.
Missing you and lotsa love
Paul