Rolling in Black Mud at the Dead Sea

400 meters below the average sea level: the last stop of our road trip through all of Israel was the famous "Sea of Death" - or Dead Sea - the deepest hypersaline lake in the world! After visiting Masada, we seeked for a refreshment and went to one of the Dead Sea's beaches (beware of sinkholes!) to jump into the supersalty water...(the water was warm like a baby's bathtub, so far for the refreshment, lol).

Lilly, completely covered in black mud, enjoying the Dead Sea. (Washing that stuff off is another story *sigh*).

Very creepy experience (later funny): The high salt content (~ 34%) keeps you easily afloat. Swimming is not really possible, because the "water" is very thick. Never duck your head under, it literally burns your eyes out (not that I tried or something). Why the shoes? Well, you have to walk in and the underground nearly scratched our soles.

The shore of the Dead Sea (lonely beach^^).

Bizarre salt formations at the shore (try to walk on that!).

Rather typical Israeli breakfast: you realize something?? Yes, half of it is salad and vegetables. (That ratio also accounts for the rest of the diet here O-o).

Flower tree in En Gedi - I had to climb it!! (and I did, haha).

~*~

End of my Israel Road Trip =) I hope you enjoyed the travel report!

Love,

Nazareth: City of Mysteries

Lilly, with her third pair of sunglasses -.-

I broke my second pair of sunglasses in Nazareth (one screw is lost), so I was forced to buy a new pair at the Bazaar. This is how I got those fancy pink ones! Really, you cannot go out of the house during the day without sunglasses. Nazareth is a beautiful city, but the traffic is crazy...I would not dare to drive a car there. The food is amazingly delicious - I'd like to spent a week here, just eating through all the yummy restaurants!! We spent the night in an old convent (very calm place to sleep^^) - Galila had to be smuggled in. Here is an impression of our adventures in Nazareth:

HL, T. and Lilly after visiting a mosque, on our way to the Bazaar in Nazareth.

HL, bargaining at the Bazaar about buttons for a new DIY-project.

The Church of Annunciation: at this place Mary is supposed to got informed from the Angel Gabriel that she'll have God's child. It is the biggest Christian church in the Middle East.

Did you ever see an Arabic cemetery? Well, I didn't.

We found a great little restaurant at the Bazaar and stopped for a traditional lunch^^.

Israeli dishes: Falafel, pitta bread, lebone cheese (white), humus (beige), salad and more salad XDD. You drink mint leomande with it or/and water.

For dessert, there is strong black coffee and small pancakes with honey that are filled with white cheese or nuts. Super-yummy!!!

***Have a great evening, my lovelies!***
♥♥♥

Lake Kinneret: The Mount of Beatitudes

The Church on the Mount of Beatitudes, North Israel.

In the warm afternoon sun, we reached the famous Lake Kinneret (Genezareth) on our road trip through all regions of Israel. It was already a little late, so we rushed to visit a few of the many holy places along the lake (which close before 17h). At the place of this church, Jesus is said to have given the blessings from the Bible (~therefore Mount of 'Blessedness' would also fit as description). Isn't it beautiful??! Many pilgrims visit this cloister every day.

A look in the garden around the church (yaay, palm trees^^).

~An exotic blossom~.

Great view over the Lake Kinneret^^. It is the fresh water lake, which is most below the mean sea level in the world. Many events in the Bible are connected to the Kinneret!!!

Lilly at the shore of the Kinneret (I am in the middle of a monk cloister there, so swimming is forbidden, lol. And I only took the shawl of my shoulders for a second to shoot the picture).

We drove to this beach and jumped into the lake. YR complained that a fish bit him, maybe that is a lucky sign? He told me: "Lilly, you have to be careful; this is fresh water, it doesn't have much buoyancy!"- I laughed at him an explained that this is the only type of lake we have in Germany =))). [In Israel, swimming in the Dead Sea and the Red Sea is fairly comfortable, because the high salt content keeps you at the surface).

Look at our poor sweetheart Galila! I totally used this situation, catched her and washed her ears (still wet, hehe). After that she looked too miserable for my initial mission to train her in swimming a bit. Instead, she was more interested in drinking the water from the lake (out of my hands of course, spoilt dog!). She looks really like a baby German shepherd dog, does she?

***

Only a few more weeks left in Israel. I feel very happy here, but I am also looking forward to go home and see my friends and family again. Hopefully they will still recognize me (tanned as I am, haha) *-*. Love,

Nimrod: Castle in the Sky

The boarders to Lebanon and Syria are in sight from here! The Golan heights don't only have the most beautiful waterfalls (here), they also surprise their visitors with a castle in the sky =). Okay, but at least as close to the sky as possible! Nimrod is a famous fortress in Israel - initially build by Muslims, later taken over by the Crusaders that came to the holy land and a few hundred years later it got destroyed by a severe earthquake.

Lilly, enjoying the view over the valley below the castle. (shirt+belt noname, pants hm, necklace+earrings souvenirs, hat outdoor shop).

A hidden water cistern in the castle. We found doves and bats there! Magical, hu??!

What the earthquake left of this gigantic fortress... (walking there is only allowed on special trails).

On this day, Galila (our rescued puppy dog) was strong enough to follow us around the castle by herself. She messed with other dogs, got lost between the rocks and was too small to climb some of the huge stone stairs.

Portrait of HL, YR and Gaaalilaaa!!!

During a road stop at a small café...we smuggeled Galila in and she was patiently sleeping under the table for an hour. She is the most well-behaving puppy I ever saw! (sleepily opening an eye for me =)).

***

The Nimrod castle was the most Northern point of our road trip. That day we headed back to the South, in search of new adventures along the way =). More soon. Love,

High Seas at Rosh Hanikra

It was a perfectly sunny day at the Mediterranean coast: We arrived at Rosh Hanikra during our Road Trip through Israel one afternoon. Rosh Hanikra lays in the very North at the boarder to Lebanon. It is famous for its grottos: during storms or high seas the waves crash into caves at the cliff - spectactular! We luckily catched high seas and experienced the grottos at their best!! =) (And of course we got splashed with sea water a lot!).

View over the coast line next to Rosh Hanikra. WOW!!

A small cable car brings people down the cliff to the grottos.

Seriously bleached hair - and new jewellery^^: pearl creoles and frog necklace from Jerusalem.

Waves crashing against the rocks!! Huuu =). Inside the caves the day light can be completely blocked out with a big wave rolling in! Some of the paths and tunnels inside the rocks were closed because they already got to slippery to walk on them savely!

Found this ring at the Old City Bazaar in Akko!

After Rosh Hanikra we drove to the mountains and had a dinner picnic on the rocks and watched the sunset^^. You can see classical Israel food here: Lebone (white sour cheese), salad, more cheese and bread as thin as skin.

This evening somebody special literally crossed our way! Galilas whole story soon^^.

***

The work project is finally over! All in all it went pretty well and there will be some follow-up work with it still, but generally I will have more time from tomorrow onwards =). Great weekend to you all and cordial greetings from Israel!! Love,

ATLANTIS

Caesarea gave us the possibility to shoot these pictures. They came out like I hoped^^. So, a kind of extraordinary 'daily outfit post' today =). H. volunteered to take the photos, thank you honey!♥

White embroidered dress, borrowed from H. I suppose, the red veil is left from a play that took place here.

The feeling of the warm wind coming from the Mediterranean Sea, caressing through my hair can only be described with the wish to Fly away...

Waves softly crushing against the rocks.

What must life have been like at the time this building was created initially?

Close-Up on the pearl creole earrings from Jerusalem. Ring from Six Jewellery. I tried to find a dress with a similar embroidery - not successfully :(.

Seriously, one I day I want to live in a house at the sea. That's all I need to feel happy. Really really happy.

Picnic in Caesarea

On the Road again... Now we are driving north along the coast and pass Tel Aviv and Haifa on our way. After a few hours, we reach the ancient port of King Herod: Caesarea! Directly connecting his kingdom to the Mediterranean Sea, it is an amazing old (archaeological) city with even a palace, bath houses and an huge amphitheatre. There were even a few actors enacting the times of King Herod. We roamed through the ruins and imagined life 2000 years ago here! Later we had a picnic on the rocks, enjoying the breath-taking scenery and the fresh vegetables.

Our picnic place =).

A typical meadow in the dry and hot climate there.

View over the southern storage facilities in Caesarea.

The wooden stairs were build for the visitors of course (else they would have to climb around the ruins, not such a good idea). Here are my lovely T. and H.!♥♥

Hidden between the rocks. Look at those fleashy leaves! They store water for the flower (after 2 months I saw it raining here exactly one time!! Imagine!).

More from Caesarea.

I will try to have a calm evening today, in order to prepare for the upcoming workload the next weeks! At least I will fill the fridge with delicious food and go swimming as often as I can! I hope you guys are well and the fashionistas among you have the possibility to pull their new flower print dresses out of the closet with the first summer days! You wanna know what I really miss right now? It's actually hilarious: a few German/English glossy magazines to flip through. My town is so small, I could not find anything else than stuff in Hebrew... so it means more style blogs then I guess?!♥ Haha.
Love,