Tel Aviv, Haifa Dec 30-31

RSC's sister is in med school in Tel Aviv, taking part in an English language program. She's not the only one. Our good friend and the brother of another good friend, both from Boston, are also there. Seems like everyone and their mother was in Israel over winter break. 4,000 birthrighters, us, half the young Brookline, MA community (who all got together at Cafe Rimon on Ben Yehuda Saturday night to complete our cliched existence), and bunches and bunches of others, some visiting, some having moved permanently. [ For the uninitiated, to move to Israel is to make "Aliyah", or "ascent"]
Then it was back up to Haifa as a home base to the north of the country. We hiked Haifa, a rolling, hilly city if there ever was one. Think Athens or San Francisco. Searching the internet for something of the beaten path, we found a nature hike in one of the many wadis (gully or gorge) that have been set aside as nature preserves to create a green link from the top of Mt. Carmel to the ocean.

In true Israeli fashion, the trails were painstakingly marked but the instructions as to how to get there were sketchy: Wadi Siach (SEE-ach, meaning bush), walk along the top of the Carmel, make a left at the Rapapport sports auditorium, make another left onto Lotus. Between 12 Lotus street and the elementary school there are steps onto a dirt path. Of course, this is Israel, so it worked after a few stops and starts down what were clearly private entrances.




The view was amazing. In the photo, you can see Kabrir, an Arab section of the Carmel (not a village, a neighborhood), at the top, and a Crusades-era church at the bottom. The church was made of the chalk rock found in the valley, lending it a beautiful white tone. But, like the chalk, it was infused with black flint seams shaped like twigs and branches. I can't imagine what it must have looked like when complete.

Towards the end of hike, I learned why they call the Wadi "siach." I have a weak ankle from a recent injury and I turned it stumbling on a loose stone near the bottom of the run. I leaned into the turn to avoid a serious sprain -- and planted my hand full force into a short, dry bramble bush -- a siach. Two minutes of cartoon-like yelps later, I had most of the 25 thorns out of right hand. Two minutes after that, I had recovered five more that had announced themselves. I held my hand up above my heart, but to no avail. Two minutes again passed and suddenly every nerve in my hand was atwitch in a sensation of pain-scratching that was distracting in the extreme. Of course, my ankle didn't hurt.

We hiked the remaining two clicks to the coast. At lunch, bussed back to the top of the Carmel and hiked down about 6-7 miles to Wadi Nisnas, the Arab-Christian quarter that was celebrating "Sylvester", the other name for New Years. For those who have seen only the Bahai gardens and the beach, you now know what to hit next time you are in town.