Last Israel Itinerary

Dear Sir or Madam,

Well, I only have fifteen days left in the holy land. Today I planned out how those fifteen days are going to look like.

On Tuesday I leave for the North - to Safed (Tzfat, Zefad) in the Galilee and Qasrin (Katzrin, Kasrin) in the Golan Heights. [Israel has a funny habit of transliterating Hebrew cities into multiple English spellings so that on your way from Ra'anana to Kefar Saba (Kfar Saba, Kfar Sava) you could see road signs with several different versions of the city.

I'll be spending one night and day in Safed visiting family friends. Like many of you recall, Safed was one of the first stops on my birthright trip four years ago. If I recall correctly [you may need to check a source outside of Wikipedia for this one because I'm not sure] Safed is a city of historic Jewish importance. Currently, a large elderly and religious population resides there.

After the 3+ hour bus ride to Safed, I take another (2,3?) buses to get to Qasrin in the Golan. The city is considered the capital of the Golan even though only an estimated 5,000-10,000 people reside there. Here I hope to stay for two days and two nights with my grandmother's cousin, his wife, and their son. I am, of course, excited to see family and friends of the family I have never met, but also to experience the beauty Northern Israel. From the pictures I put up four years ago on Webshots [Wow, haven't been here in years] one can see that Northern Israel is bucolic (take that SATs/high school English), with pastures, rolling hills, and lots of vegetation.

Following my adventure through the North, I am making one last stand in Jerusalem [Strength and honor!] staying with Brandon, one of Justin's good buddies from back home. There are still several major things I have not done/seen in Jerusalem such as going up to the Temple Mount (where the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque stand--the third most holy site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina). I also hope to see the Israel museum, which is supposed to be one of the best in the country and get up to the Mount of Olives where many significant Rabbis are buried and where Jesus allegedly ascended to Heaven.

Post-Jerusalem I take two days off and then Friday the 19th Benji and I rent a car for three days and "freewheel" (as Frommer's describes it) around the Sea of Galilee. We don't have any concrete plans yet, except swimming in the Galilee and this walking trail called the Jesus Trail which supposedly recreates how he would have walked from Nazareth to Cana (first day which is free and what I am interested in) and further on as well. I have noticed that as a Jewish guy (keep it on the DL) with no real interest in Jesus I've done a bunch of Jesus-related stuff here. Regardless, the guide for the trail is free and the countryside is incredible.

Finally, on Tuesday the 23rd (at 6 AM) I fly home. I'll certainly be in touch with everyone when I get home and in the meanwhile you guys can stay up-to-date with the posts and the twitter feed on the sidebar of my blog. Take Care; I'll be seeing you (plural) soon!

With Warmest Regards,

Pavel Leykin