Trip Day 11 - Safed or Tzfat

Official (adjusted) itinerary:

Haifa • Wadi Nisnas • Safed

Drive to Safed. Due to it’s elevation of nearly 3,000 feet, the northern city of Safed is Israel’s highest city and known as the center of Jewish mysticism (Kabbalah). We’ll visit a local synagogue and then have lunch on our own. After, our group will take a walking tour of the city, ending up at a Kabbalah center, where we’ll meet with a Kabbalist for a discussion on the principals of this religious practice.

Late this afternoon, we’ll head back to Haifa, where dinner tonight is on our own.

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Monday September 11

Breakfast in the morning is where happy hour is in the evening. All is nice. 

We are supposed to be at the bus at 8:30 am. I have a little time for some hotel photos. 

We are driving a lot today. Looking out of the window is quite interesting. There are smaller towns, olive tree farms, dessert land, and an ugly accident with two ambulances. 

Then we arrive in Tzfat, the old name for Safed. 

The driver lets us out of the bus where we have a nice  view over the valley. 

And we walk the narrow streets. Most of them seem to be for pedestrians only. Up and down and sometimes steps. Lovely. 

I think this fence is special. 

Yael takes us into the candle store. Most are not for burning. The biblical figures are all made from wax. 

I liked the chess set best. 

Then we walk to visit the Abuhav Synagogue. 

Brief stop for Yael to explain to us that excavations are ongoing. I think I mentioned before that civilization seems to be in layers. Things were built, somehow got destroyed (earthquake or war) and new buildings were built on top. Sometimes there is a surprise when an entrance to something underneath is found. Here people (mainly young people) from all around the world come for a little while to do some work for free. 

The Jewish synagogue had lovely paintings. Yael explains a lot but I really can't repeat. 

Here a note though: this is for baby boy for the circumcision. 

Pomegranates in the courtyard. 

After the synagogue we met the musician Amram here. His instruments were beautiful and he played for us on each. Unfortunately the kindergarten right behind the wall just had a music lesson at the time too. 
VIDEO intro   (1:18)       VIDEO   (0:38)     VIDEO playing the Ram's horn   (0:26)

On to the next appointment. 

We visited an artist who translates his thought about his religion into paintings. I found it a bit difficult to understand but there are explanations here on his website: 

https://www.kabbalahart.com/

It is lunchtime. We walk towards the bus and then further. Lunch is on our own. Yael brings us to a square where we can buy falafels. 

In the afternoon it gets very hot. But Yael brings us to one of the excavation sites. It feels like we are going several stories down. Very interesting. The blue light is where a ritual bath is proof that Jews were here that long ago. 

Why a weaving loom here nobody knows except that it used to be an important part of daily life. 

It was quite a drive back. Here we could even see the Sea of Galilee in the distance. But it is a very hazy day. 

Happy hour back at the hotel. A vine gives the room with the glass ceiling an outdoorsy feeling. Suddenly I jump because I saw something fall from high up. 

It was a pashionfruit. The attendant cut it open for us and brought some spoons. Not quite ripe but pretty good. 

Nibbles were quite good too. We didn't need supper. Happy hour is excellent chatting with other travelers. 

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Today is Thursday and I am finally able to finish this blog. WiFi was weak and uploading could only be done in very small portions. Wish me luck with the other days.