The North

The first full day of the trip started with a hike on Mount Arbel, which is the highest point in Israel. It was a hazy day, and we were not able to see as far as normal. Mount Arbel oversees the Kineret (Sea of Galilee) which is the main fresh water source for Israel.

We drove to the mystical city of Tzfat. The Sephardic Jews moved to Tzfat after being exiled from Spain in 1492. Kaballah – the study of Jewish mysticism is studied in Tzfat. We were told a story of a person who began to study Kaballah, but who was not ready to learn it. One must be extremely learned in Judaism and above the age of 40 before they can begin to study Kaballah. This individual eventually went crazy and committed suicide – watch out Madonna and Britney Spears!

We ate lunch in Tzfat. I had a falafel – it took long enough (6 years since I was last in Israel) but I finally ate another good one. They cram it full of falafel balls and other goodness. And to top it off they ad French fries! The fries are my favourite part of the falafel, which they don’t do in Canada.
We had a brief tour of a winery manufacturing and aging plant. After the tour, we got to do some wine tasting. We were instructed on how to properly taste the wine. They even had those sophisticated spit buckets for the wine. I however am not that sophisticated, so I drank the wine.