When the almonds blossom it is the sign we are all waiting for.

Winter can be cold in some parts of Israel, particularly in the mountains of Judea, Jerusalem, the Galilee and Golan Heights. When we have good winters, the rain comes, and interspersed with sunny days.

It is also the time when the country goes green. Finally the trees have been washed clean of the summer dust, and grasses and wild plants sprout. The fields are also sprouting, and there are sometimes so many different shades of green that I find it hard to name them all.

Many tree, especially the fruit trees, stand bare without leaves. Then comes February with its good tidings. The almond trees are the first trees to burst out in flowers, like pink or white cotton candy scattered over the country side.

This is what we have been waiting for. Now we know we have reached the peak of winter, and spring will soon come, with its new abundance of colors.

We were on our way back to Jerusalem from touring Masada. What we experienced yesterday is one more reason, why I never get tired of touring to the Dead Sea.

We were lucky, just as we started heading back toward the cable car, we had one of the rare experiences – it started to rain. To begin with just dripping, but before we got to the cable car, it was pouring.

The shelter is built to give shade, not against a desert torrential downpour, so we and all the other people waiting to go down got pretty drenched. Still, an experience, so we took it in our stride. We also knew that within long we would be indoors, and heading toward the car.

It kept raining, but I was not worried. After all it had been dry the better part of the day.

Some fifteen minutes north of Ein Gedi I noticed loads of cars parked alongside the road, and people scrambling on the mountain side. This got me a little worried. Was there a flash flood, so we could not get back to Jerusalem? Then I saw it – the flash flood coming over the mountain. A 400 meter high waterfall in the desert.

One of those extremely rare moments. We stopped, just like all the others. My photos do not make justice to the magnificence of these moments.

And then I saw the second waterfall – even bigger than the first. The first one was absorbed by the ground close to the road. This second one was flooding the road.

Then the police came and chased us all away – no stopping on the side of the road.

Actually it can be dangerous. If the water intensifies you can get swept away. Neither I nor my two tourists cared. The view was spectacular.

Unfortunately in the end we had to move on, as did all the other spectators, but we really had an exceptional day on Masada and at the Dead Sea.

There are things that can only be experienced at certain times of the year in Israel. You have to know when and where to go for these special experiences.

Nahal Saar is one of those experiences. Nahal Saar flows between the Hermon Mountain and the Golan Heights in the north of the Israel. The word nahal means stream, and as with many streams in Israel water can only been seen in late winter and early spring. This on condition that there has been a good amount of rain through the winter, and hopefully also some snow on the Hermon Mountain and the northern Golan Heights.

This year has been like this. I was fortunate that the other day I was touring up in that part of the country with my tourists, and I had the time and they had the interest to stop for this special experience. The day was glorious, way too warm for this time of the year, but we made the most of it. So we stopped at Nahal Saar, where it has created a fairly large waterfall.

I have to tell you that we were not the only ones there. Though I did not film it, I could hardly find parking place on the other side of the road. Some people even hiked up for an even better view, but we made do with the low view. This is what I am sharing with you here.

As a tour guide I am always on the road. I see the same places again and again. But every so often land and nature give me surprises.That happened yesterday, as I was touring Masada and the Dead Sea.

On purpose we had chosen yesterday to go to Masada and the Dead Sea. Weather forecast was for rain and storm, and the previous days had been just glorious. It’s always good to get out of Jerusalem, when there is that kind of forecast. At least down at the Dead Sea there is less chance of rain. After all, it only rains 5-10 days a year in the southern part and a little more in the northern part.

Despite the extraordinary strong wind we were able to see Masada in all its glory. And this time the starlings played along, and I was able to get a lot of good shots.

Just as we had finished seeing the model of the water collection system, a jerbil decided to come out and get some sun, and allowed me to take a picture of it.

But most spectacular was the view traveling back up northwards. Most of the time the water of the Dead Sea is smooth as a mirror, but yesterday the strong wind ripped up the water, so that small white tops appeared. A rare sight I could not catch in on film, but there were even small whirl winds on the water, as if the beginning of a hurricane.

The clouds were heavy over the mountains of Jordan, and I was happy that Jordan also is getting some much needed rain. There were still some sun coming through, and it lit up the clouds. Enjoy the few photos I was able to get of this.

I just love it, when new experiences are added to the map of exploring Israel and the Holy Land. That is what this latest development is all about.

The Jesus Trail is a hiking tour through the Galilee that Jesus would have known. The moving force behind the development of the trail are Maoz Inon, an Israeli entrepreneur, and David Landis, a Mennonite from the US. The idea behind the trail is to allow visitors to Israel the opportunity to experience the Galilee scenery in a new way, as well as helping businesses in out-of-the way places to make more money.

But there is more to it than that. As reported in StarTribune.com | Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minnesota:

Though the venture is called the Jesus Trail, the appeal is meant to be broad. Nazareth and the Galilee are important to Christians, who regard the area as the setting of Jesus’s boyhood, adult ministry and initial miracles. However, the route is a layer cake of “narratives,” covering Christian holy sites, small Arab towns typical of northern Israel, the remnants of Palestinian villages empty since Israel’s 1948 war of independence, ancient Jewish sites, modern kibbutzim, Crusader battlefields and Muslim shrines.

The Jesus Trail is still in its infancy, but is constantly being improved. From the website of the Jesus Trail:

The Jesus Trail offers an alternative for travelers and pilgrims to experience the steps of Jesus in a way that is authentic, adventurous and educational by trekking through the rugged and beautiful landscape of the Galilee.The main Jesus Trail route is 65 km and begins in Nazareth and passes through Sepphoris, Cana, Kibbutz Lavi, Arbel Cliffs, Tabgha, Capernaum, and the Mount of Beatitudes. An optional return loop to Nazareth passes through Tiberias, the Jordan River, Mount Tabor, and Mount Precipice.

The trail is made up of several journeys that can be hiked individually or in full. The organizers will rent out GPS, organize guides and more.

At present only the first section is guided by volunteer guides. There are daily tours that start at 8 am from the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, except Sunday.

For full article on The Jesus Trail – A Spiritual Journey By Howard Schneider, Washington Post

For the Jesus Trail Website.

This is a little outside my normal range – The Israel National Trail (INT). I have never done it myself – hiked the Israel Trail, but this blog is also to give information for a different type of visiting Israel.

Hiking in early spring

The Israel Trail was officially opened during Passover of 1995. It was the brain child of Avraham Tamir, a journalist and writer, who had hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1980. He proposed the idea of an Israel National Trail to Ori Devir, Director of the Israel Trails Committee, a subsidiary of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.

Because Israel already had a network of hiking trails, the Israel Trail is patched together from all these already existing trails, but with its own unique additions. The trail system is also a part of the protection of the environment and the special character of each region it passes through. Although originally intended to be a hiking trail only, due to the onslaught of jeeps in Israel, some parts of the trail is accessible to private vehicles.

The trail runs from Dan in the north to Eilat in the south. It crosses historical places, archeological sites and unique landscapes. It consists of some 1000 km of trails, is extremely well marked and has informational signs along the route with maps, background on the regions and on interesting sites, trail route and emergency numbers.

The trail is set up in such a way that it can be done either in its full length, or in smaller sections. There are various options along the trail as for overnights, either out in the open, under the brilliant southern night sky, or sleep in the homes of trail supporters along the route.

Thousands of Israelis and visitors hike the Israel Trail or parts of it every year. For many schools it has become one of the popular tours, giving the youth a new knowledge of the special nature of Israel, of historical sites and the importance of preserving both. Most of the people hiking the full trail advice to start in the north and end in Eilat in the south. Since the north is at a higher elevation than the rest of the country, this makes sense.

For the visitor to Israel who wants something different, this could be the tool for getting in touch with a different Israel. Maps and trail information can be obtained through the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.

Should this be of interest to you while visiting Israel, we here at Your Guide to Israel, will be happy to help you get the information you need, and supply any other travel services you may need.

Late winter and spring months are the most spectacular months in Israel.

Israel being a semi-arid country with long  dry summers, six months, the other seasons tend to be short. There are some years, where fall is almost non-existent, where the country goes from warm to rain and cold.

Winter months are generally rather pleasant, and we all bless it, as the rain falls. Without the rain there wont be much here. It all begins with the first rain in October or November, when suddenly the country is all green again. Not that anything has sprouted yet, but everything has been washed clean from the summer dust. With proper rain in its season the grasses and wild flowers will start to grow.

From January to April are the months when the country blooms.  It begins with the cyclamen in light lilac and white, it goes in to the almond trees looking like fluffed candy amidst the green, and then it goes into a brilliance of all colors, red, blue, purple, yellow. It seems as if every two weeks the country changes color.

It’s a time all enjoy, not just because of the colors, but also because we have received the rains in their seasons.

Please enjoy this little collection of a Taste of Spring in Israel.

What do you think? I love to hear what you,  my readers, have to say.

There are foods that are an integral part of a country or regions lifestyle.

Date Palms

Dates are one of them. The date palms grow abundantly in all parts of the country and of course the Middle East. There are in fact several types of dates. The most common is the big dark brown almost black date that most are familiar with.

Dates have been a staple of the Middle East cuisine and cooking from who knows when and is used extensively in many dishes. It’s one of the fruits mentioned many times in the Bible, such a great source of information of bygone days.

One reason the above mentioned type of date became so popular was its high sugar content. After all it was not until the sugar cane that sugar became a commodity. One of the products from the dates was a syrup, maybe the biblical honey.

dried dates

Today dates can be bought all year round, not just in its well-known dried from, but also as fresh frozen dates. They are absolutely yummie.

Date Cake

When I first came to Israel I learned a recipe for date cake which has become a staple in my family. It is based on packets of pitted, crushed dates that can be bought here. But you can try any type of unsweetened date paste. (I’ve used that as well and it works well).

1 cup boiling water
1/2 pack dates, pitted, crushed
Dissolve the dates in boiling hot water, but do not boil (takes 10-15 minutes for dates to soften)

200 g margerine
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups crushed nuts
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar

Melt margarine over hot water. Add sugar and mix. Add all other ingredients and mx. Finally add softened dates and mix well.

Bake in medium oven for app. 45 min.

B’teavon (good appetite)