It’s rather shocking, to myself anyway, that after spending several months in Israel I’d never traveled to Tel Aviv. It became obvious a couple of weeks ago that a trip to this extremely popular, very busy city on the Mediterranean was necessary. And when travel is necessary, it’s necessary. So I hopped on a bus [...]

I’ve always found much to love about the country of Israel: its most exciting city on earth, Jerusalem, its incredibly gorgeous nature of the north, and the open and friendly ways of its people. You can find excitement, beauty and friendliness all over the world, though. Israel has sights and qualities you can’t easily find [...]

The hot springs of northern Israel are one of the country’s least-popular sites for visitors. Understandably, most people who travel to Israel are interested primarily in visiting its hundreds of historical religious sites. These springs, though, with their healing qualities, are extremely popular with locals. Since I’ve already seen most of the religous and historical [...]

As I sit here listening to the sweet lullaby of a lawn mower, I’m reminded that springtime is lingering a little longer than usual here in northern Israel. Spring is short in this country, typically running from February through April. Aided by late season rains this year, its multi-colored hues are decorating the earth a [...]

The little city of Nazareth sits down inside a deep bowl-shaped area of land in northern Israel approximately midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Tiberias. I think it’s one of the most interesting cities in Israel, with its Christian sites and almost 100 percent Arab population. Just last year [...]

It is now Passover here in Israel. Like other Jewish holidays, I have heard of this particular holiday, known as Pesach in Hebrew. I believe back home in the U.S. it is marked in tiny print on calendars. When Pesach occurs in the States, I have never been remotely aware it is taking place. Now [...]

I am a nature liker, not a nature lover. But I swooned over and quickly fell in permanent love with northern Israel, an area saturated in pure natural beauty. Its rolling hills of dusty brown and deep green, its gracefully sloping deep valleys and its patches of tidy, multi-hued farmland, all interrupted only every once [...]

Just a few weeks ago, during my first several days in Israel this time around, I stayed at the home of an old acquaintance in the northern part of the country, in the rolling farmland hills just west of the town of Tiberias. When he would leave the house, I’d take my laptop upstairs, and [...]