Living the retirement dream

On March 11 we departed with Dick & Andrew for our adventure to Petra.  We cabbed to Sde Dov, which is a small domestic airport only 3 Km. from our apartment, and boarded a flight on Arkia Airways for the one hour flight to Eilat. Eilat is a resort city and Israels only access to…

Monday night March 19, on a whim we decided to book a room at The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem and run in the Palestine Marathon 10K.  The only room available was the Presidential Suite and registration was closed for the 10K but we were determined, so we boldly booked for two nights in the…

Friday, March 9 is our last day of touring with Zvi.  Jim is up early and takes a very short run/walk along the Sea of Galilee in Tiberias.  The haze has cleared and the views across the sea to the Golan Heights are beautiful. After breakfast and hotel checkout we head out to The Church…

Our airbnb host Guy came over on Sunday to do some work and he suggested that we explore the north and east of Israel by driving along the Lebanese and Syrian borders, saying that it is very beautiful and interesting.  He also gave us some specific suggestions of things to see, so we rented a…

Zvi picked us up in Tel Aviv on Thursday March 8 for a two day tour of northern Israel.  First stop was Caesarea which we visited a few weeks ago with our airbnb host, see the blog “A day with Guy . . .” so we will not reiterate but instead show pictures of us…

Our plan for today was to tour Jerusalem on our own in the morning, see Bethlehem in the early afternoon and then head back to Tel Aviv.  We all like Jerusalem and our hotel so much that we decide to stay an extra night.  Everybody but Tina gets up early and go directly to the…

Zvi let us sleep late and we did not leave our hotel in Jerusalem until 8:30 heading west and then south to the Dead sea and Masada.  The views changed rather quickly from lush green Jerusalem and environs to the spectacular dry mountains of the Dead Sea area and the Judean desert.  In less that…

On Sunday March 4 at 7:30am our tour guide Zvi Levran picks us up at our Tel Aviv airbnb.  We drive to Jerusalem for an old city tour which includes Mount of Olives, Via Dolorosa, view of Temple Mount from the Austrian Hospice, Western Wall, Southern Wall excavations, Arab Quarter, Jewish Quarter, Christian Quarter and…

During four months in Paris we had visitors almost every week.  We have been waiting almost 7 weeks for our first friends to arrive and experience Israel with us.  Margaret Deutsch, our friend and neighbor who lives on our block in Boston, and Tina Scarlatta, a friend from work arrived on Friday March 2.  Dick…

No, we did not run the marathon but we did run the 5K.  We just like being involved with marathons even though it has been 7-8 years since our last marathons in New York & Athens.  In Israel you have to fill out a long health form when you register and then sign it at…

We planned on celebrating Purim as it is just our kind of holiday.  Celebrating, costumes, dancing and mingling with the locals.  The festival of Purim is observed every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). Purim 2018 was supposed to begin on Wednesday night, February 28, and continue through…

Our airbnb host, Guy Camrass,  offered to spend the day with us and drive north to see some ancient Roman ruins.  He drove us to Caesarea National Park in the Sharon plain  along the seashore of Israel half way between Tel Aviv and Haifa.  It is the site of one of the most important cities…

Monday February 19: What a wonderful day we had.  Several weeks ago our airbnb host Guy was giving us tips on what to do, where to eat and sights to see.  He suggested that we rent a car some day and drive to Mitzpe Ramon which is a town in the Negev desert of southern…