Vered HaGalil Ranch

We're packed and ready to go. Well, almost. We sit at the picnic table outside our zimmer, and review the road map and possible stops along the drive east from our western Galilee location to Vered Hagalil, our lodging for the next five nights. We decide on the northern route, Route 89, so that we can head for Bar'am National Park to see the ancient synagogue ruins dating back from the 2nd and 4th centuries. Along the way, we decide to visit Al Zeitun, an olive press that has a museum about t...

Before departing for Israel, I had read guidebooks and scoured the web for sites to see. In the Galilee, the number of interesting historical and religious sites as well as nature preserves and national parks is overwhelming. We could easily fill two weeks here! With the help of my on-line friends on TripAdvisor, a working list of priorities emerged. This list became a sort of menu that you see at a Chinese restaurant where you can choose 1 dish from column A and another from column B. As Har...

Today is our day in Sfat. This town, Israel's highest, is both an artists' colony and a long-established religious community. It is the center of the mystical interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures called Cabala (Cabbala, Kabala, and Kabbalah). In order to be prepared for a mystical experience, before leaving the states, we read a book on Kabbalah and also some material on the internet. We have scheduled a private tour of the city and a meditation experience with The International Center for...

Having opened ourselves to the mysticism within we are ready for another day of personal growth. Our planned itinerary includes Tel Hazor, Tel Dan and Tel Hai. We drive to Tel Hazor and arrive without incident. After a while it gets hard to tell one Tel from another Tel. They usually have the archeological digs of ancient civilizations. We seem to be attracted to the ones that have unusual water systems. Tel Hazor had one similar to Megiddo, but not quite as dramatic. Whereas Megiddo demonstr...

This is our last day in the Galilee and we have reserved this day for selected sites near the Sea of Galilee, or the Kinneret as it is named on maps and sometimes referred to. There are many more sites than what we'll have time for. We need to allow time for us to get lost and also our wandering, slow pace through them. I have the driving map spread out on the coffee table in our cabin and with the guidebooks as reference, we are reviewing the possibilities, letting our curiosity and what sou...