Odem Mountain, Israel: Odem Mountain Winery/Har Odem Winery; things to do

Odem Mountain Winery/Har Odem Winery 

12473 Moshav Odem, in village of Odem Mountain, +972 4 6871122. Sun-F 10-4. Tour/tasting 10 sheckels; call for reservations.

Established in 2003, this infant winery does still observe the kosher rule of the Bible that dictates leaving 10% for the poor, the widow, and the stranger. Tradition lives on, but though they make kosher wine at this family-run boutique winery, they no longer boil it! The dry Volcanic Chardonnay and light Merlot are favorites, and I loved the rich Cherry Liquor dessert wine made with sour cherries and sweet blackberries. Root stock comes from France and California.

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video c2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Eastern Galilee, Israel: breakfast buffet at Hotel Mitzpe HaYamim, Israel; hotel review

Hotel Mitzpe HaYamim  

In Rosh Pina, (+) 972-4-6994555. 99 rooms. No children under 10. Indoor pool; outdoor & indoor hot tub; fitness room; dry & wet sauna; health spa; 1 tennis court. 

breakfast buffet at Hotel Mitzpe HaYamim in Eastern Galilee, Israel

In the Upper Galilee at the foot of Mount Canaan, near the artist village Rosh Pina and the Kabbalah city of Sefad (and rumored to have hosted celebrity Madonna), the romantic Hotel Mitzpe HaYamim resort/health retreat is spread over 37 acres. It opened in 1968, when this property was mostly barren, hot, and dry desert, but is now lush, like an oasis, and features fragrant gardens, walking paths, and ponds. It is well-known for its organic fruit and vegetable gardens as well as an organic dairy farm with herds of sheep, goats, cows, and chickens. Because the soil is considered sacred, no one poisons it with pesticides. Rock mounds in the vegetable garden attract and protect insect eaters. The 30-acre organic farm grows 100 different vegetables and 70 kinds of fruit, and in spring there is an amazing bloom of wild flowers. The owner works twice a day in the fields just because he enjoys doing so.

Each guest room here has a unique decor, heavy on English style. Mine had a large bathroom with vintage white marble floors, a pull-chain toilet and pedestal sink, and an oversize whirlpool tub with separate glass-walled shower. Furniture included a desk and armoire, and the bed faced an upper wall of windows that looked out into trees and over a duck-pond below. Guest rooms are spread between the main building and four other stone buildings. Oriental rugs and charm reign throughout, and a central atrium holds a 7-story-tall Washington palm tree that hugs the ceiling (it is NOT dead). One person I chatted with said, “I come for the silence.” 

The freezer-less Vegetarian Restaurant serves everything fresh, including fish from the Sea of Galilee, while Muscat Restaurant offers refined dining and menu items such as beetroot ravioli filled with goat cheese and hazel nut oil, and organic duck with pomegranate-caramel sauce with five passion spices and organic vegetables. The morning breakfast buffet is beautiful, bountiful, and an organic delight. A daily activity program includes classes and tours—perhaps bread making and a healing workshop or a guided tour of the farm. In addition to hundreds of cows, the hotel has 200 goats and 100 sheep. View my video of the baby goats:

The hotel has been leading the trend of ecotourism and sustainability here for almost 40 years. A house bakery makes everything fresh daily, and the dairy provides all the organic dairy foods and some meats.




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image and videos c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Kiryat Shmona, in Upper Galilee, Israel: HaGoshrim Kibbutz & Resort Hotel; hotel review

HaGoshrim Kibbutz & Resort Hotel 

12225 M.P., Kiryat Shmona, in Upper Galilee, 972-4-6816000.  161 rooms.  No children under 14; no pets.  

HaGoshrim Kibbutz & Resort Hotel in Kiryat Shmona, Israel

Located on the ruins site of Emir Fa'ur 's winter palace (the Emir controlled the northern Hula Valley in the days of the Ottoman Empire), in the Galilee Hills a few miles from the Lebanon border, this simple but comfortable hotel lies in the center of a valley facing the Golan Heights and the snows of Mount Hermon.  It combines ancient and modern architecture with a pastoral landscape, splendid views, and crystal-clear air.  

Facilities include two swimming-pools (outdoor and indoor), sauna, Jacuzzi, gym, basketball court, squash court, and spa.  Guests can visit the property’s flour mill, horsetail plant reserve, and nature reserve with springs, babbling streams, and the tributaries of the Jordan River, and a tractor-drawn wagon tour of the kibbutz is offered in spring and summer.  A mini zoo on a Dan River tributary is home to a variety of birds and animals.  

The hotel is kosher and has a synagogue.  An expansive breakfast buffet is served in the lobby restaurant, and the fish-and-cheeses Gosh Restaurant on the banks of the Koren Stream flowing just below the hotel serves a refined cuisine.  



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image c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Sights to See: Zippori National Park, Lower Galilee, Israel

Zippori National Park  

In the western Lower Galilee, 04-6568272. 

Zippori National Park displays the remains of a large ancient city that is believed to be the home of the parents of Mary, mother of Jesus.  Rosemary grows wild here, as it does almost everywhere in Israel.  The site has a small amphitheater dating to 20 BC and glorious mosaics.  A small fortress offers a panoramic roof-top view that includes the main excavation, Nazareth, and Hosaya--a modern orthodox village with a nice B&B and the ancient Kefer Kedem tourist village. 



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image c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Nazareth, Israel: Basilica of the Annunciation; things to do

Basilica of the Annunciation 

A modern Roman Catholic church in Nazareth holds Mary’s Well--the grotto on its lower level that was the cave home of Mary and the site of the Annunciation (when an angel told Mary she was going to bear the son of God).  This is the largest Christian church in the Middle East.

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image c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Nazareth, Israel: Mary’s Well; things to do

Mary’s Well  

This famous site is believed to be where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would bear the Son of God (an event known as the Annunciation).  Located just below the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, Mary's Well is positioned over an underground spring that was for centuries a local watering hole for the Arab villagers.  It is now like a city park.

Mary's Well in Nazareth, Israel

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videos c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Nazareth, Israel: Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation; things to do

Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation/Church of St. Gabriel/St. Gabriel's Greek Orthodox Church  

Probably established in Byzantine-era Palestine, this Eastern Orthodox church was rebuilt during the Crusades and again in the 18th century.  It currently serves Nazareth’s Arab citizens.  The church is located over an underground spring, which according to Eastern Orthodox belief is where at the time of the Annunciation the Virgin Mary got her water.  Water from the spring still runs inside the church apse and also feeds into the adjacent Mary's Well, located 150 yards from the church.


church interior:

well:   

 

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videos c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Capernaum, Israel: St. Peter Fish & Grill Restaurant; restaurant review

St. Peter Fish & Grill Restaurant

Not only does the large and popular restaurant St. Peter Fish & Grill Restaurant overlook the Sea of Galilee, but visitors here dine at long tables on an assortment of delicious shared salads plus their own farmed whole talapia—almost like folks did back when the fish actually came from the Galilee.

talapia at St. Peter Fish & Grill Restaurant in Capernaum, Israel

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image c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Capernaum, Israel: The Yigal Alon Center; things to do

The Yigal Alon Center  

Kibbutz Ginosar 1490, 972-4-672-770. 

"Jesus Boat" reconstruction at The Yigal Alon Center in Capernaum, Israel

A decade ago, a 2,000-year-old fishing boat (from the 1st century A.D.) was discovered buried in the Sea of Galilee mud.  Nicknamed the “Jesus Boat,” it is displayed in a protected environment in the grand new Yigal Alon Center where it is still undergoing conservation.  Jerome Hall, from U.C. San Diego, is documenting the boat.  “I’d like to get into the mind of the person who built the boat,” he says.  “Laying under here for 16 years I’ve heard everything,” he adds.  Hall is currently finishing a book about the boat.  “The boat has its own story to tell in its wood.”  He thinks the boat was built from pieces of other boats and that it was sitting on the shore being taken apart when something cataclysmic happened and it was covered with mud.  He thinks the boat builder was brilliant but limited by what was available.  “He built the boat he could, not the one he wanted.”



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image c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers

Nazareth, Israel: Tishreen; restaurant review

Tishreen 

 56 Spring St., 04-6084666.

Owned by two Arab men,  serene Tishreen serves Palestinian cuisine. A large stone oven left by previous Italian tenants is used to prepare oven-cooked Arab dishes. One of our guides’ favorites restaurants, he just gives the owners a budget and says, “Spoil me.” Delicious dishes we sampled include stuffed mushrooms, eggplant and cauliflower salads, a brilliant lemony-mint tabbuli that was wonderfully heavy on the parsley, and a spectacular hummus. From the oven, we enjoyed flat kofta meat patties, the house’s signature coffee chicken (recipe here), and Arab pizza (chicken and caramelized onions on flat bread).



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image c2012 Carole Terwilliger Meyers