Israel in a week! Pamela and Brian's Visit Part I.

As the new year approached, two very special visitors arrived in Tel Aviv: my brother, Brian and my
cousin, Pamela. They had about a week to see all
of Israel, which made for a very busy visit, just the way we like it. Brian, Pamela, and I met at the Ben Gurion Airport and from there headed to my apartment in Tel Aviv. The first thing we did was have a delicious falafel dinner! It was some of the best falafel I've had so far. After satisfying our falafel cravings, we headed out to a bar to meet up with lots of camp friends that were also in Tel Aviv.
New Year's Eve Day was a warm, sunny day in Tel Aviv and we took advantage of this by walking from Tel Aviv to Jaffa to get the best hummus I've ever had! We walked through the Nachalat Binyamin arts market and we bought some hand crafted jewelery. We continued our walk to Jaffa, searching for Abbu Hassan, the hummus place we heard was the best in Tel Aviv. We were not disappointed! It was incredible! The hummus was warm and the chick peas melted in our mouths. After such a heavy meal, we took our time walking home, checking out the Old Yafo port and walking along the beach back to my apartment. Not long after we rested and showered, it was time for New Year's Eve in Tel Aviv!!
We had a party for all the Harlamites in Tel Aviv and barely made it to a bar in time for midnight! We got to be outside as the new year came in! Brian even managed to get a free bottle of champagne at one of the bars.
Even though we were out late for New Year's we had to wake up early on New Year's Day so we could catch a sherut to Haifa. We wanted to check out the Holiday of Holidays festival, a celebration of all the religions in the area, which turned out to be a festival with music, food, and some crafts for sale. We walked around for a bit, then realized we didn't really know where we were or how to get to Ariel and Dani's. So, we walked back up the hill to where we got off the sherut, waved a few down only to be rejected, and finally found a driver willing to take us to the Horev Center. Exhausted, we collapsed onto the couch at Ariel and Dani's and watched TV for a while. We were excited for dinner (our trip really did revolve around eating) at The Wok, a Thai restaurant with really good honey chicken stir fry. Before dinner, we met up with Pamela's friend Mayaan, who took us to meet some friends at a waffle bar. Even though we still had The Wok to look forward to, we managed to eat waffles with ice cream, strawberries, and bananas on top. This didn't stop us from enjoying our dinner. We had dinner with Guy, Tom, and the Haifa boys! We were very full by the time Mayaan took us to a bar to relax after dinner. We sat by the bar, talked to the bar tenders, who gave us some free samples, and had a relaxing night in Haifa.
I spent most of the day Sunday at cafes, since Brian and Pamela split up to hang out with their friends in Haifa and I wanted to meet everyone. I started with hot chocolate with Brian and his friend Naama, who he met on his Israel trip 5 years ago. After a short break, I met up with Pamela and Mayaan, and we went to another cafe for lunch. I had already eaten my leftover honey chicken from The Wok. Pamela and Mayaan ate shakshuka, and I tasted some, of course. On Sunday night, Brian, Ariel, Dani, and I stayed in and watched movies/ relaxes. Guy stopped by to say hi and it was great to see him! We went to bed early, since we had a big day of hiking planned for Monday.

Danger! Cliff Edge

On Monday morning, we woke up early, got some burekas, and headed to Kiryat Shmona to meet Ira and drive to the Golan Heights. We drove to the northernmost point in Israel and got to see snow on the Hermon! We hiked for a bit, checking out lots of waterfalls and the beautiful view from the Golan Heights. We even saw the largest waterfall in Israel! It was great to see Ira and spend the day outside.After saying goodbye to Ira and Mayaan, we caught a bus to Kfar Tavor, where Guy Waks picked us up and brought us to his kibbutz! We had a pizza dinner with his dad and saw some of the kibbutz.

We woke up early Tuesday morning to begin our tour of Kibbutz Gazit. We walked all over and Guy explained how the kibbutz used to be and what's changed over the years (moving away from a 100% shared culture). We walked for a while, up to the orchards where there is a great view of Mt. Tavor and the area around the kibbutz. We walked to the pomela trees and picked two to share and ate in the picnic area. Pomela is my favorite citrus! It's like a sweet grapefruit. After our yummy treat, we walked back to the farm to visit the cows. We got to see a just-born newborn calf!! It was so adorable. We also got to milk the cows- well, we put the suctions on the udders that milk the cows. It was really weird and I was worried I was doing something wrong. But my cow got milked so it's all good.

Since it was raining, we headed right to the dining hall, scrubbed our hands, and ate schnitzel and potatoes for lunch. We went back to Guy's parents after lunch and watched TV a little, but we decided to go back to Tel Aviv since it was raining and there wasn't much to do inside.