Itching to Climb Again

Nimrod's Fortress 800 years old - not bad!

Shalom Aleichem,

“A passport,” we answered, “but we are only driving the car to Northern Israel. We know Syria and Lebanon are close by but unless we take a wrong turn, we can’t see us visiting over there. And by the way, we walked here in 95 degree heat, high humidity may we add; we now have to walk back and return once more.” Car rental firms require a driver’s licence, passport and of course, money. Our editor was most gracious about our oversight—not even a slight rolling of the eyes. She really is a great one.
We ‘swam’ back to the hotel in our perspiration and returned to collect our car. While we were at the hotel, our editor thought she should check the directions to the kibbutz. By the way, the hotel had been prepaid so we were sure of a place to sleep. (Our editor couldn’t wait to get us on a trail again; we were starting to whine and that happens when we are inactive.) She put down the phone and mentioned that the arrangements had changed. ‘Back to Grindelwald,’ we exclaimed. Not a wise comment at the time, of course. The hotel management had overbooked so arrangements were made for us to stay elsewhere. Close by obviously. Sure, about 20 miles close. We are still wondering what would have happened had we not have checked. We are most impressed with ourselves. Our attitude differs in Israel. In fact, it has to, if one wants to survive.

We need a lot of glue to fix this!


An uneventful drive, only one wrong turn, brought as to Ami’ad along highway 90, above the Kinneret. It’s a great position. After eventually finding the reception at the kibbutz, we met the charming receptionist. She explained that we were only booked for one evening but she encouraged us to stay for the original three we were supposed to be elsewhere. Life was becoming quite complicated. Long story short, we actually liked the place and could not say ‘no’ to the pleading eyes of the receptionist especially as she served us breakfast in our room the next morning.

Who made this mess?


We headed for Nimrod’s Fortress, followed by an attempted hike up Mt. Hermon and then an afternoon hike along a stream to a waterfall. The visit to the fortress, along the ‘Road to Damascus’, was fascinating.
On Guard

It also allowed us to climb on the rocks and boulders like two children. The fortress is one of the largest in the Middle East. The civil engineers of the period were outstanding.
Drapes will make a difference!

It makes one think that if man would devote his energies to the positive rather than death, destruction and mayhem…sigh….. Room with a view

When we arrived at Mt. Hermon, the highest point in Israel and close to the borders, we met with ‘red tape’. We were stopped from climbing the route we wished to undertake. A soldier pointed to his ‘insignia’ and told us that’s how his battalion trained—climbing that impossible ‘hill’. We didn’t need to burst his bubble. We wanted to mention that our editor would be up and down that ‘hill’ before he could finish breakfast. We admit it was steep but we know our editor.
The afternoon hike, in dry heat climbing boulders and rocks, brought us back into the groove.



We enjoyed the day thoroughly, including driving through quite a few Arab villages. We caught a glimpse of the color of the north. The previous evening we had spent in Safed, which has its own charm. Too much has been written and not much said but we should stop and let you go.

Sunset in Safed

Shalom,
J & J