Tzfat

We checked out of our kibbutz early. When I boarded the bus I didn't envy the girls. Dressed conservatively in long skirts and t-shirts I imagined how uncomfortable they must be in a bus sitting under the Israeli sun. We drove through the hills to Tzfat, one of Israel's four holy cities and center for the Kabbalah religion. We walked in pairs through the narrow, stone roads admiring the houses built into the mountainside.

Eilam led us to a small courtyard where he explained the history of Tzfat and the Kabbalah religion in detail.  As we were preparing to leave an orthodox man carrying a large, leather case joined us in the courtyard. After some rapid Hebrew with Eilam he introduced himself as one member of a trio that played music inspired from every country in the world. A second member joined him shortly after and they sat down and began to play for us. We were hypnotized by two songs showcasing a steel drum, a sitar and other instruments whose names I could not pronounce. After their show, with their wonderful tunes stuck in my head, I couldn't resist the lure of their CD. My first souvenir...

We carried on happily down the narrow streets until we reached a rather unimpressive building. We went inside and were given a view minutes to take in the view. The city and the mountains from the top of the building were breathtaking. We took in the thousands of years of history before us and headed inside for our next activity. Separating into groups, we were told to debate the decency of man. I played devil's advocate and argued that if a person is completely selfish and unsympathetic then they are unable to change. We took a quick break for lunch and wandered through another one of Israel's open-air markets.

Back in the bus we drove to our tour of the Galil Mountain Winery. The tour was rather mundane and we walked through lifelessly until we reached the exciting part: wine tasting. The process was explained to us: swirl the wine, sniff it, sip a little, drink the remainder. We followed this algorithm for several varieties. Swirl, sniff, sip, drink. It was amazing how drastically the taste of the wine changed from this, it was wonderful compared to the eight dollar bottles I drank back home.

Back at the hotel, right on the sea, we were given a small area to walk for our night out. Sitting on a patio next to the beach we had another night of our favourite group activity.

 Hebrew word of the day, wine: יין (yah-yeen)