Another early wake up and we reluctantly leave the beautiful Dan Carmel in Haifa. It was nice to live in paradise for one night, I have a feeling it will be back to reality in Tel Aviv!
We stopped shortly to see the Baha'i Gardens in Haifa, a beautiful garden that goes from sea level up to near the top of Mount Carmel and best viewed from atop. I have been there before but it is a wonder to see. It is also a vast panoramic view of the city below, with it's German Colony of red roofed homes all in a row.
Our next stop was Ein Hod, which is an artist village also in the mountains and on the way to Tel Aviv. We visited a music box museum, which at first did not seem very exciting, but the collector of the music boxes was there to give us a lecture, well, more like a stand up comedy show. He is an approximately 80 year old man who did alyiah to Israel 20 years ago. He was a documentary film maker, and his passion is music boxes. He found a house for his collection and has been here happily since. It was magical, and this man reminded me so much of my late father in law, it was as if I was watching him!
We stopped for browsing and coffee in Ein Hod proper, a colony of artist who ply and live and sell their wares. Very pretty.
Our next stop was the Druze village called Sfia (sp). We were met by a Druze guide (secular, he looked like you and I) who took us for a short walk, passing by schools full of playing children, to a Druze home. We sat in the living room of the house and listened to our guide tell us about the history of the Druze both world wide and in Israel, the culture, the religion, and the modern Druze. All the while, the woman who's house this is we are sitting here, is quietly preparing our lunch! And finally, 5 trays of unbelievable salads, kabobs, Druze pitas, and rice come out!! What a treat. It was one of the best meals I had here, everything fresh and spiced perfectly. Topped off with coffee, tea, and a cookie with a date in the middle, we thanked her and left for our walk back to the bus.
Now that our bellies were full, and we were very sleepy, we were off the the Carmel Winery in Zichron Ya'acov founded by the Rothschild family 120 years ago. Our Scottish/Irish? hostess gave us a tour and explained the wine making process, and we sampled a dessert wine, two red wines, and an ice wine, much more than I had anticipated, happily, I was not driving, so I didn't do the spit thing!
We drove to Cesaeria for the sunset on the beach by the aquaducts, and then past Netanya to our destination for the day, Tel Aviv. Our hotel, the Dan Panorama, is well situated, but not nearly as nice as the one in Haifa. Oh well, its a roof with a view of the sea! How bad could it be?!
Emily had her friend come by the hotel with some jewelry to sell, and as I got off the elevator I almost literally ran into Gadi!!! who was the tour guide we had 5 years ago when my family came on a tour with Kol Emeth!! It was fantastic to see him, he had absolutely no recollection of who I was, but was sweet none the less!
Dinner last night with some members of the group at a restaurant by the pier. The food was wonderful but the planes flew by very low, so it kept startling us!! Back to the hotel to prepare for our last full day in this beautiful country.
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