Tiberias, Tsefat (Safed), Golan Heights, Kibbutz - Day 4

Today was a completely exhausting day. Partially, this was a result of not enough sleep but mainly the result of walking all day.
Breakfast at this restaurant was just as lovely as at the Sheraton in Tel-Aviv; just as many choices except for the omelets, but they had scrambled eggs instead. Their tea baggies were nearly intolerable, but I suppose I expected loose leaf tea in a middle-eastern country.

Our first stop this morning was Safed (Tzefat). It has an artist colony but is known as the home of Kaballah. This town reminded me of a town in Portugal that I visited a few years ago (but I can't remember the name of the town, just that it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Safed has narrow winding streets, cobblestone walkways, multi-layered houses, courtyards in some houses, and general charm (if you can ignore the dirt).

This town is high in the hills and you can really feel your ears "pop" when getting there. It was also colder there than in Tiberias because of the altitude difference. Driving up the hill (mountain) we got amazing views of Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley. It's breathtaking. We could also see the snow-capped peaks of Mount Hermon. Apparently, there is even a ski resort there! This little postage stamp sized country continues to amaze me.

There are lots of artists and lots of galleries. Safed is also known for microcalligraphy and some of the pieces are really pretty. Painting galleries, sculpture galleries, wieving galleries as well as jewelry shops were aplenty. Some painting were absolutely gorgeous, but there's no way I'm shlepping a painting, no matter how small, in my suitcase. Some were really small, and I even considered it, but none were of the design that I really wanted in the size I wanted. Oh well.
Aside from the galleries, we visited two synagogues. One was an Ashkinazi and one was a Sephardic synagogue. Both were beautiful but you can clearly see the differences. The Sephardic one also had numerous Torahs that were hundreds of years old. Some were even older than 400 years.

After the visit in Safed, we were on our way to a Kibbutz for lunch via Golan Heights. We really did see quite a lot of the Hula Valley.

*Well, I'm off to dinner. Will continue this post later.