Pauline
Forums Admin
Monday March 18
We had to leave Amirim. Our time was up. The cat that visited us twice a day came to say goodbye. He has the loudest meow that I have ever heard on a cat. What a great week we had!
They day started out misty but by the time we left the sun was breaking through. Our next place was only an hour north, up into the Galilee Panhandle. We drove the backroads through the mountains to get there instead of taking Highway 90. We went through a large wine producing area, with big fields of grapes. There were other crops – almond trees in bloom, other smaller trees that looked like nut crops. The road was a bit narrow but there was not much traffic and the hills were beautiful. Everything is carpeted in bright green and yellow.
We arrived at the Hula Valley and first went to the Hula Nature Reserve. This is in the Israel Parks system. It is a large reserve but only a small part is accessible to visitors. They have a 1.5km walk into the marshes on the edge of a lake. We saw many turtles, catfish, those strange water-rat things (Nutrea), and ducks. One egret. A few pelicans but they were not close. Also a herd of water buffalo. We saw some migrating birds in the sky. There were a couple of loud school groups but they finished and then it was quiet.
We had our sandwiches at the picnic tables. Another school group was arriving as we were leaving.
We drove a few miles north to Agmon HaHula, in the same valley, but not part of the park. This was a very different atmosphere. Free entry, no school groups, but more people. They have an 8.5km walk around a large lake. The birds stop here because there are crop fields in this valley and they eat the crops, which was causing problems for the farmers. Now they grow crops just for the birds and they found that the birds don’t destroy all the other crops.
The 8.5km walk is paved and you can walk it, but that would be long and boring (and hot today), or you can rent bikes or electric golf carts. Itamar told us about the golf carts and I said “no way” (I really, really, really hate golf and everything associated with it), but when we got there the bikes didn’t look great and I realized that I had never driven a golf cart and they were electric! So we rented the golf cart and took turns driving. They don’t go very fast, but it was fun.
We saw a field of cranes at the start but we had a better view of them from the other side of the lake. We stopped several times going around the lake, where they had platforms built out into the lake. We saw a group of pelicans at one. At the last one, we walked out to a blind and had a great view of the storks. We watched for a long time. At one point they started flying and that was beautiful to see.
The day was sunny and hot enough (not too hot – only low 60sF I think).
We checked into the hotel around 4:30 (Pastoral Hotel, Kfar Blum, a kibbutz hotel). (@joe was right, it is not as nice as the Ein Gedi Kibbutz hotel.) We walked out to the Jordan River – yes, the Jordan River! It runs through the kibbutz. There is a lovely paved promenade along it and we walked for an hour.
This hotel is used by tour groups. There are several large groups of Americans. One woman I spoke to was here with a group from her synagogue in Connecticut. We had dinner at the hotel, a buffet with a lot of vegetarian options (not labelled, you had to ask). It was a Kosher meat meal and the food was good.
We had to leave Amirim. Our time was up. The cat that visited us twice a day came to say goodbye. He has the loudest meow that I have ever heard on a cat. What a great week we had!
They day started out misty but by the time we left the sun was breaking through. Our next place was only an hour north, up into the Galilee Panhandle. We drove the backroads through the mountains to get there instead of taking Highway 90. We went through a large wine producing area, with big fields of grapes. There were other crops – almond trees in bloom, other smaller trees that looked like nut crops. The road was a bit narrow but there was not much traffic and the hills were beautiful. Everything is carpeted in bright green and yellow.
We arrived at the Hula Valley and first went to the Hula Nature Reserve. This is in the Israel Parks system. It is a large reserve but only a small part is accessible to visitors. They have a 1.5km walk into the marshes on the edge of a lake. We saw many turtles, catfish, those strange water-rat things (Nutrea), and ducks. One egret. A few pelicans but they were not close. Also a herd of water buffalo. We saw some migrating birds in the sky. There were a couple of loud school groups but they finished and then it was quiet.
We had our sandwiches at the picnic tables. Another school group was arriving as we were leaving.
We drove a few miles north to Agmon HaHula, in the same valley, but not part of the park. This was a very different atmosphere. Free entry, no school groups, but more people. They have an 8.5km walk around a large lake. The birds stop here because there are crop fields in this valley and they eat the crops, which was causing problems for the farmers. Now they grow crops just for the birds and they found that the birds don’t destroy all the other crops.
The 8.5km walk is paved and you can walk it, but that would be long and boring (and hot today), or you can rent bikes or electric golf carts. Itamar told us about the golf carts and I said “no way” (I really, really, really hate golf and everything associated with it), but when we got there the bikes didn’t look great and I realized that I had never driven a golf cart and they were electric! So we rented the golf cart and took turns driving. They don’t go very fast, but it was fun.
We saw a field of cranes at the start but we had a better view of them from the other side of the lake. We stopped several times going around the lake, where they had platforms built out into the lake. We saw a group of pelicans at one. At the last one, we walked out to a blind and had a great view of the storks. We watched for a long time. At one point they started flying and that was beautiful to see.
The day was sunny and hot enough (not too hot – only low 60sF I think).
We checked into the hotel around 4:30 (Pastoral Hotel, Kfar Blum, a kibbutz hotel). (@joe was right, it is not as nice as the Ein Gedi Kibbutz hotel.) We walked out to the Jordan River – yes, the Jordan River! It runs through the kibbutz. There is a lovely paved promenade along it and we walked for an hour.
This hotel is used by tour groups. There are several large groups of Americans. One woman I spoke to was here with a group from her synagogue in Connecticut. We had dinner at the hotel, a buffet with a lot of vegetarian options (not labelled, you had to ask). It was a Kosher meat meal and the food was good.
