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,

Pik'In: Visit in a Druze Village

Arabic dessert: looks like coloured carpet and tastes sweet like the sin... =)

The Druze people are a minority in Israel, living in their own cities and villages in the north. Pik'In reminded me of an Italian mountain village. People were very friendly!

My friends and I were allowed to visit the first family of Pik'In during our road trip. This is how their living room looks like. (Yeah, that's Kennedy on that poster!). I bought a pair of green chandelier earrings from them =))).

We spent the night on this Israeli version of a camp site: an outdoor living room with carpets... XDD. There was no electricity and no warm water, so we had a fire in the evening and drank whine while looking into the stars.

This cute yard belongs to a wavery in Zafed, a city in the north, widely known for its popular art galleries and the ultraorthodox (strongly traditional Jewish) people living there.

*** Okay, now finally Galilas story :D ***

This is my friend HL, carrying around the newest travel group member: puppy dog Galila^^.
The night before, we were driving at a deserted mountain street and Galila directly ran in front of the car. HL stopped and little Galila was so miserable, that T. picked her up and we decided to leave her at the farm where we planned to spend the night.
Just that they did not want her! We gave her sugary water and she throw it all up again during the night. The next day we took her to see a vet (who also did not want to keep her). She said that the little one was just two months old back then! YR made the best name suggestion for her:

We named her after the region that we found her in: the mountains of Galilee (Galiläa). For the rest of the week-long travel, she was sitting in a small basket on the backseat and we would take turns to feed her and cuddle her. What a strenous travel for such a young dog! By this point, it was still not clear what would happen to her. She was like our baby and enjoyed the affection not only from us, but from random people in the street that stopped to pet her and love her. However, there is an happy ending for the abandoned puppy dog... HL and YR took Galila to live with them ( for happy ever after of course). Doesn't it sound like a true fairy-tale?!

Love,PS: Check out this turtle!! I was so excited that I jumped out of the driving car ("Lilly!!!")...

... More soon from the Holy Land ...

Road Trip: First Day in Jerusalem

Hi =)

I am finally back from the streets of Israel from our big Road Trip. Our first stop was the Holy City: Jerusalem! We spent three exciting days there and I cannot say what impressed me more: the Old City, the crazy traffic, the shops, the people?! It is an amazing mixture of history, religion and different cultures. A mixture which derives from the heart of the city: the Old City of Jerusalem. Divided into four quarters (the Christian, the Jewish, the Armenian and the Muslim quarter) and thriving with life, it had to be our first destination!

In the video, I am standing right in front of the main entrance area - the Jaffa Gate. Behind it lay all the secrets and sanctuaries that so substantially influenced the world as we know it today.

The stones beneath my feet are 2000 years old. They are slippery from the centuries. (I tripped over three times...).

Oriental bracelets in the markets on the side-streets of the Old City.

The shiny Dome of the Rocks. We'd love to enter but did not find it open for Non-Muslim visitors. Such a pity =(.

Delicate flowers on a roof top.

An arcade in the Armenian quarters.

Properly dressed in Jerusalem =). The dress is borrowed from H., she bought it in South Africa. Just the right thing to deal with the dry heat! My Mam bought me the black scarf. Sun glasses are obligatory.

Yaay, of course my favourite new necklace had to come along!

In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (by the way the most important Christian Church): Candles next to Golgatha...the place where Jesus was crucified and died. People queue up here to pray and cry and/or take pictures. I'd like to respect them, therefore I generally never took photos of praying people (regardless of which religion).

The window over Jesus' tomb. Amazing light ray infall =). On a side note: The key to the Holy Sepulchre is (traditionally) owned by a Muslim family, to prevent any arguments between the Christian communities who have access and responsibilities in the Church.

Our small travel group was made up of four people: H., T., Y. and Lilly. Above is T., in a similar outfit than mine (very modest). Her skirt is from India^^. The red guy just happened to stand there, lol. Before this trip I never considered travelling in a dress or a skirt convenient, but I found myself surprised how well it works with the hot climate.

More from our road adventures soon^^. Back home since Monday, I was overly busy with all work-stuff and everyone wanted to hear about my trip, so I am still in the process of catching up to the recent events offline and online. Love,

Big City Girl: Lilly on Tour

Lunch at an organic food café!

View through their window...a pink house!!

Can you spot that gigantic disco ball in the store?

They have adorable pink fluffy changing cabins - love!!

And today's outfit (oops, with glasses).

Love that disco shirt (by Tally Weijl), the hat is my current favourite key piece (by H&M).

Cute plaid mini skirt (currently on sale!!), seen by New Yorker.

Golden glitter butterfly with perfume bottles^^.

My shopping trip started with lunch at a newly discovered stylish organic food café, where I had cauliflower curry with coconut and a latte macchiato! The food was exceptionally delicious, it tasted like something my mam would have cooked. So I will definitely be a returning customer! I spent some time chilling out  there while browsing through a few local scene magazines and listening to Beyoncé (they played it there, that was awesome).
For the rest of the day I was lucky that only few people were shopping in the city...having free changing cabins is something a fashionista really appreciates! I picked up the last Christmas presents (I have outdone myself this year, finishing that matter before December the 1st^^). The city is all prepared with Christmas decoration (only a few real snow flakes missing). Seems like I am a little into red and black lately^^.
Love,

PS: I am currently looking for a rose shaped ring in black or red, any useful suggestions?

*********************************************************
Attention girls, if you are located in Germany, you might love to take part at the following blog lotteries:

• Celebutante Set from Benefit by Nadine
• Manhattan 'Colour meets Elegance' by Innen & Aussen
• Make Up Set (including The Body Shop, Weleda, Dove etc.) by Laila

Good luck everyone^^!!