New favorite flower

This is my new favorite flower!
They smell great and their purpleness is wonderful for the eyes. But does anybody know what it's called?

When I once get a garden I want such flowers (if they can survive in Denmark).

Bike trip to Galilee - day 3

We started the day with listening to a Christian service down at the lake's shore. They sang on the melody for "Dejlig er Jorden", a pilgrimsong. Very beautiful in the morning light.

Our first detour on our way around Lake Kinneret was a up on the Mount of Beatitudes (where Jesus is believed to have given his speech "blessed are the..."). There's a relatively new Italian church, a monestry and a wonderful garden, even moreprety right now with all the flowers.

We had found a map at the hostel with smaller biking and hiking paths than what our own map had. We tried to find these biking paths, but apparently they had gone, maybe because of the rain season. So in the Jordan River delta we faced a lot of mud and paths washed away - or just blocked by trees.

After lunch we took the main road to feel we did move. Then we tried to find yet another bike path on the map, and ended up climping a hill of the Golan Heights, on a path which was overgrown with flowers.

But it was maybe the most beautiful view we got from the top, and there were so many different colourful flowers and plants. We could se the city of Tiberias on the other side of the lake, the mountains behind, and see to both the north and south end of the lake.

We caught a bus from the south tip of the lake back to Jerusalem. We would have liked a swim before going on the bus, but all the beaches were private and locked up. So all our fellow passengers had the "pleasure" to share our odour of 3 days hard work in the sun.

Back home with sore legs the treat was bacon! I'm pretty proud of us, it was a tough trip, but really wonderful!

Bike trip to Galilee - day 2

Getting out of Nazareth onto the biking path we had seen on the map was almost as difficult as finding our way in. But on the way we passed a butcher - who sold pork! Or more important: bacon!

We found something that could be the biking path, got a bit lost, but ended up in the right direction. We went on parts of the Jesus Trail, a hiking route from Nazareth to Capernaum, and a very beautiful one on mountains and lots of green nature - and right now also with loads of flowers.

We came out of the mountains and drove down a main road to Lake Kinneret (also known as the Sea of Galilee) - down from above sea level to 200m below sea level at the lake's shore. Our legs got some rest from all the climbing, and I enjoyed the speed and the gorgeous view over the lake and the mountains.

We spottet a fruit plantage and "accidentially" some grapefruit fell down in our hands, and we had to eat them. Nice and juicy - and a welcome variation from all the water we had to drink (the Sun was baking us; thanks to time of year and the light clouds that it wasn't hotter!).

We arrived at the Karei Deshe Hostel, where they had failed to find a receptionist for the day, and the sleepy cousin was put on the job instead. The place looked wonderful - almost too much for us - but the service was non-existing. Though, we got our room and food, and a dip in the lake.

Bike trip to Galilee - day 1

With the bus at 7am from Jerusalem, which dropped us off in Beit She'an at two hours later.


We biked up into the Gilboa Mountains, climbing 400m up over 15km in 2hours. Tough work, but the view from the top was gorgeous. An Israeli soldier pointed out Mount Hermon for us.



After lunch in the green forrest amongst flowers of every colour and shape we free wheeled down from the mountains, heading for Nazareth. We managed to get lost in a city we had to pass through before we could look up to Nazareth. And start another 300m climp up to the city.

We had a bit of problems finding our way in the city (or road atlas is not detailed enough for city navigation), but we finally arrived at the Old City and Fauzi Azar Inn and was greatly welcomed.


After a wonderful shower we rested with a cup of coffee/tea and cake in the beautiful hall of Fauzi, before hunting for food in Nazareth. We feared it would be closed for Shabbat, but mainly Arabs (Christians and Muslims) live in Nazareth, so we had no problems in finding a place. We also listened to a Greek Orthodox Mass in St. Gabriel's Church, in Arabic! I got the text and could follow it, and we both enjoyed the music and to see how the church got more and more full of people joining.

Hiking in Ein Gedi

We spend the second day of our little trip on hiking in the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, leaving the bikes at the entrance.


We saw the David Waterfall (apparently David should have hidden there after fleeing from king Saul, the brouchure quotes Samuel I 23:29 - and then continues to say no archeological proofs of this have been found) together with other flocks of tourists, then walked of to the paths "for fit hikers only!", to the Dodim Cave, which is not the cave of doom (as we read it several times) but the Cave of the Lovers. The Wadi David (David's valley) in rich in water compared to many other places in the area, and with the Judean Desert just next to it, and we saw this in all the waterfalls and pools and dripping wet rocks hanging over us. Again, it was good we went here in the winter, cus already now it's hot [for a Dane], and we we're thankful for all the little clouds shading us.








Then on to a high point with great view over the Dead Sea, though still not the hight of the Desert Plateu (200m above sae level, which means 600m above the dead Sea), where we enjoyed the silence of the wild and could look down on ravens gliding far above the ground. We also saw the outlines of a 5000 years old Chalcolite temple up there, one of the earliest remnants found in Ein Gedi. Another old treasure is the "Oldest Synagoge" down from all the hills, with its marvelous mossaic floors.


We took the bus back to Jerusalem, luckily there were no problems in taking the bikes on the bus. The trip went too fast compared to our speed yesterday - but I was happy that I didn't have to bike up to Jerusalem. And also happy we biked the other way, and hence had the option to stop and enjoy the view.