Mini Summer Staycation In Israel - R2BC

The view from the top.  Mediterranean scrub.  It is what it is.

On Thursday we set off for our annual mini-holiday with our friends. This year we were only 4 mothers and 4 children aged between 5 1/2 and 8 1/2. Also, we left it too late to find two consecutive nights in a kibbutz guest house so we only had one night away.

We set off early on Wednesday morning for the obligatory hike and picnic. I described the Israeli obsession with hiking here and gave my views about it. I don't need to go into it again. Suffice to say I've not changed my mind but we don't have a car so we have to go with the flow to some extent.

We went to Guvrin National Park which is a full of ancient ruins, houses, cisterns, and caves in the Judean Hills. We trekked a bit and every so often there was a ruin where everyone climbed down into the underground cistern to look. I don't do climbing so I stayed above ground and sat under a carob tree to wait.

This solitary house was once part of a whole village in the hillside.
That's a carob tree on the right. 

Lunch was trying to balance plastic boxes and human bottoms on a series of rocks because the picnic tables at the first stop were all in the sun. I ate a bit but it wasn't lunch as I enjoy it. More of a quick snack and not worth all the cool boxes and flasks that came out and were packed back in the cars after 15 minutes. DD didn't eat at all.

My friend showed me that you can pick a carob pod, break it in half and chew the inside (you discard the beans). It's delicious. I always thought you had to cook them somehow first.

Some of the solitary houses we saw were once part of a whole village built into the hillside. Originally each house had an underground cistern to catch the rain water and the cisterns were connected by tunnels. This meant that the water was shared and also that the people could walk between the houses without going outside.

DD in a carob tree.

After two ruins with underground cisterns, DD and I opted out and sat at a shady picnic table to eat our real lunch and read a chapter of Harry Potter. This is why I like to take our own food. We had it with us, we sat at a table, it felt like lunch.

From there we drove to our kibbutz guesthouse and spent the afternoon at their beautiful pool which we had almost to ourselves (probably because all the other Israelis were out hiking in the mountains). And in the evening we drove to a nearby town for shnitzel or felafel and chips. The children played and eventually went to bed. We sat outside and drank coffee until late. I love this part of our trips the best.

The Soreq caves are magical.

Day two started with our Israeli breakfast (though not nearly as good as last year's). Then we set off for the the Soreq caves on the way back to Jerusalem. The Soreq caves are full of natural stalactites (with c for ceiling) and stalagmites (with g for ground). It's beautiful like a fairy cave. You go round in groups of about 20 with a guide on a purpose built path through the structures that are lit up to show the different shapes and formations.

I went to this cave about 25 years ago and DD went last year on a school trip. It's a strange concept that you know every Israeli adult on the tour had visited this place before. Imagine if you went to Cheddar Gorge, for example. You wouldn't assume that every British adult you saw there had been there before. Israel is a small country and it's part of the education and national psyche to visit and learn about every inch of it.

These formations are between 1 million and 10 million years old.
One drop of water can take two months to drip.
One mm of rock can take about 100 years to form. 

It used to drive me mad on my gap year that one week we'd go and climb a mountain in the Mediterranean scrub and two weeks later we'd go and climb another similar mountain. What was the point? To the Israelis it was obvious - that was Mt. Tabor, today we are climbing Mt Nebo. Next week we will climb Mt. Gilboah. Different history, different parts of the Bible innit?

And then home for a rest before a birthday party in the park down the road. There was food and beer for the adults. Home at 7.45, straight into bed for a chapter of Harry Potter, and asleep by 8.30 - both of us.

Pool dude

I'm linking up with Reasons 2B Cheerful over at Lakes Single Mum.