On 'Tour'

We started our trip driving heading North to Ma'alot Tashiha, about 13 miles from Israel's northern border. For such a small country the landscape changes significantly from region to region; it's much greener in the North. Whilst there are no foreign tourists in Israel, the hotels are full, especially at the weekend, of Israelis who cannot travel abroad. Having spent a relaxing Shabbat at our hotel we set off to the Jordan river on Sunday for our first adventure.

On seeing our pictures the children commented that it looked like we were on Tour (Tour is the term used to describe the four weeks in Israel with a youth movement which has become de riguer for Jewish 16 year olds after GCSEs). We continued our tour theme when we moved on by going south via Sefat, but sadly all the old synagogues and most of the shops were shut due to Covid 19 and the lack of tourists.

Our next stop, Tel Aviv, is a city we've visited many times but never really got to know. We spent a lovely few days exploring, and other than the Rabin Museum which was almost empty, the city was lively through the day and night. We celebrated our 34th Wedding Anniversary with a meal at the top of one of the tallest buildings in Tel Aviv, but I have to say that the highlight of Tel Aviv for both of us was picking up a scooter and whizzing along the promenade with all the crazy locals. Although you're supposed to leave the scooters in an allocated area they can be found abandoned all over the place. Don't tell the children we didn't wear helmets! We stayed in a lovely boutique hotel near the sea with a garden terrace for breakfast. As if Covid 19 isn't bad enough, we saw signs everywhere saying what we should do in the event of a Tsunami!

From Tel Aviv we headed south to the Dead Sea, staying at the Kibbutz Hotel in Ein Gedi. We were overwhelmed with the beauty of the area. The kibbutz is an oasis with sandy mountains on one side and the Dead Sea on the other. I think the swimming pool had the most beautiful setting of anywhere we've ever been. One of the themes that has run through our holiday has been the heat wave hitting Israel. There were a few things we couldn't do because it was too hot which we will definitely go back to in the spring and I'm sure we will be revisiting Ein Gedi.

Our last stop was Jerusalem. It was very upsetting to see the souk so empty with so many stalls closed. The Kotel (Western Wall) was set up for social distancing which was very strange and every where we went we had to remind ourselves that this would normally be peak holiday season.

The other theme of the trip was, of course, covid 19. The hotels all had differing ways of meeting the requirements insisting on plastic gloves when using the buffet, moving everything outside, putting the buffet behind a clear screen with staff serving, and, strangest of all, individually packing each croissant.

We spent a lovely few days with our machatonim (our son in law's parents) in Efrat and then finally on Sunday 30th we moved into our new home. I won't bore you with all the details of why we didn't actually get the keys until 6pm nor would I recommend moving during a heatwave, but fortunately all our belongings were already at the house and I knew where I had put the kettle and my PG Tips. The builder started taking out the hot tub from the middle of the house the next day with Gila and a friend turning up to help us unpack, books first of course! We were excited to receive an email telling us that our shipment of furniture and contents of the Barn were on the high seas, due at the end of the month. It's a 'smart' house so we are still figuring out how to switch the lights and the air conditioning on and off! Gila and Tzvi joined us for Shabbat with a friend and so a week after moving in we finally feel settled.