The Golan

On Tuesday we went up to the Golan. It is absolutely magnificent. Our first stop was Banias Falls.

 The hike down to the falls was hot but thankfully short!

It was much cooler when we got down to the falls.

Like one of those giant misting fans

The hike back up

I can't imagine how beautiful the Golan is in the spring.

Our next stop was a very quirky Israeli petting zoo/ play area in Odem. This was the sign to the petting zoo/play area. Most of the signs that I see in Israel have Hebrew and English this one was just Hebrew. I think we were the only non-Israelis there.

All Hebrew sign in Odem.

T on a pony!

This was a giant tricycle ramp/course

Cute Goat!

Cute goats with their lamb best friend!

Soft Chicks!

The turtle on the bottom was the fastest turtle I have ever seen. He was walking so fast that he's a blur.

Fluffy bunnies!

This was the trampoline and giant inflatables area. I love that the floor is covered in old oriental rugs.

The kids playing on giant inflatable. Z looked ridiculously large on them!

They had 3 trampolines for the kids to jump on. Unfortunately Z was too old and big to play on them. I can't imagine that there would ever be a public place in the States with trampolines because they are considered too dangerous. 

The girls having a blast!

It was definitely a wacky kind of a place but the kids had a great time. The whole time I was there, though, I kept trying to figure out where I had heard the name Odem before but I just could not remember. As we were walking back to the car I noticed some barrels and a grape press. There was a small building so I ran up to see what it was and it was a winery! Now I knew where I had heard the name Odem before. J and I told the kids to wait outside while we went in to check it out. 

Grape press and oak barrels

The Odem Winery

Hipster, foodie, Israeli wine guy.

We returned to the kids very happy and with 2 bottles of wine that we have not seen in the states. As we were about to leave J suggested that we try and find the OZ 77 War memorial at the Valley of Tears. I was not entirely enthusiastic about making this stop. I imagined that it would be just a statue or stone memorial but I was wrong. It was breathtaking.

First we saw these beautiful vineyards

 And then parts of the memorial

 They had 3 groupings of tanks. Here's Z in front of one.

An amphitheater was part of the memorial too. 

You could see all the way to Syria.

After we left the memorial we stopped at the De Karina Chocolate factory in Ein Zivan. We missed the last chocolate workshop of the day but the participants who had just finished looked very happy, especially the kids who were carrying the chocolates that they had just made! We did buy some chocolate and it was delicious.

That evening for dinner we ate at the fabulous Macom B'Sejera restaurant at Moshava Ilaniaya (5 minutes from Kibbutz Lavi). All of the food served at the restaurant is either grown or raised at their farm. Everything was organic and the meat was pastured. The food was simply prepared with lots of delicious home grown herbs. 

We started with the hummus made with sprouted chickpeas and sauteed mushrooms served with just made whole wheat pita bread, a vegetable salad and stuffed grape leaves. R had fresh pasta with freshly made tomato sauce which was excellent. Z and T had the tenderest boneless rib eye, D had boneless grilled cornish hen (yum!) and J and I had kabobs made from a mix of lamb, beef and duck (wow!) Amazingly they had delicious lemonade made with fresh stevia (not the yucky processed white stuff). I let my kids drink as much as they wanted! We were to stuffed for dessert but my guess is that it would have been excellent.

Macom B'Sejera delicious and beautiful.

Next up Hebron....