This is going to be a double whammy covering days 2 and 3 of the ride!
Day 1:
Yesterday was without a doubt the most visually stunning day of scenery I have ever experienced in my life. It was almost beauty over-stimulation! Seriously though, it was so beautiful that I was moved to tears on many occasions. And Eli Eli has been on repeat in my jukebox upstairs.
We left Kibbutz Nachsholim bright and early at 8:15 and rode on the Carmel Beach, alongside the shoreline. It was spectacular. Gorgeous. We ran into a cute group of kids who looked like they were re-enacting the Exodus from Egypt. Sure enough, they were fleeing Egypt! I thought that only happened in religious schools in the States! Silly me.
Next, we biked through some fish farms and passed by Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, one of the largest in Israel. We rode by the Taninim (crocodile) Stream which thankfully, no longer boasts crocs. That would have been dangerous! We biked through many open fields and fruit groves, sampling many of the edibles along the way. Passion fruit, wild mustard flower, and the best grapefruit I have ever tasted in my entire life. Talk about sweet and juicy! And the orange groves were awesome- the smell of the orange blossoms is intoxicating. I could bottle that and wear it as perfume. We also passed sprawling wheat fields and grape vineyards. It was so lush and green, I may as well have been in Ireland.
We stopped for a lovely little nature walk led by our bike guide, Arnon. At this brief stop, there were also two monuments dedicated to a murdered family and 3 murdered children from many years ago. There are monuments practically everywhere you go in Israel. Wonderful to commemorate these losses, but also sad that this is the reality Israel faces.
We stopped for lunch at a place in Hadera where there was another monument- this one dedicated to the boarder police.
Turns out I left my spare iphone (which I use only in Israel) at the location of the lunch break. I only discovered this missing item at the end of the day and I had a hunch I might have left it in Hadera. Hadas, the Saint/Organizer of the R4R drove me all the way back to check it out last night during dinner. FOUND IT! Did a happy dance when I spotted it on the ground
After lunch we biked through some more beautiful green fields and saw (and smelled) many cows. The second to last leg of the day was along the Alexander River, all the way to Netanya. Lovely. And the last section was biking along the beach, watching the sunset. It was awesome. I didn’t even mind biking on the sand. (which I now know is much harder than it looks)
Last night we stayed at Seasons Hotel in Netanya. After dinner we took a brief walking tour of the city with one of the members of the Reform Netanya Congregation. I had no idea Netanya is such a beautiful city!
2 interesting facts about Netanya: 1- the most spoken language is French! Lots of French Jews make aliyah to Netanya and even more own vacation homes. They come to Netanya for “vacances.” Lots of Russian too.
Interesting fact #2- a large terrorist attack happened at the Park Hotel in Netanya during a Passover Seder in 2002. 30 people were killed, 140 injured. It was the most sever attack against Israel during the 2nd Intifada. We walked by the hotel and our ride coordinator and her assistant were both emotionally shaken by seeing it for the first time in person since the attack in 2002.
Long day. Didn’t get to the hotel until 5:30.
Day 2 was phenomenal. Can’t wait to share the pictures.
Better move on to day 2 before my exhaustion completely takes over…
Day 3:
Today started and ended with a big bang! Despite one early afternoon section that was unpleasant in my opinion, I enjoyed the day.
First of all, I was a bit worried this morning because my left knee was swollen from yesterday. Turns out that the swelling went away when I started riding. Whew!
The beginning of today’s ride was fabulous- we rode through along the tayelet (promenade) in Netanya with spectacular views of the ocean. Who knew that Netanya had a tayelet just as nice as Tel Aviv’s?! The second part of the morning was an off-road dirt/sand section, partly along the water. Again, I very much enjoyed the scenery, especially the beautiful colorful flowers at this time of year.
Lunch was fine, but it started getting very windy and we were all shivering. Thankfully, that subsided. We did some group mixer stuff after lunch and then headed off on the leg of today’s journey that is not my cup of tea. My Grandmother taught me if you don’t have anything polite to say, then don’t say anything at all. Well, I only sometimes take her advice.
This leg of the journey was VEERY hard for me to appreciate. First of all, the scenery was lacking and second of all, its nearly impossible to enjoy riding when you are constantly having to get off the bike to walk it through areas that are too challenging to ride. IE- mud, water, crazy inclines, giant holes in the ground and excessive bumps. Eek. I was not happy during this leg, but was able to get back in the game (so to speak) after that section was over. We rode along the Yarkon River and eventually, passed through the high-tech area of K’far Saba, continuing towards Tel Aviv.
We rode directly through the town of Ramat HaChayal, a newish city just outside of Tel Aviv- clearly from how they dressed, a religious place. We stopped at Beit Daniel, the largest and most well-known Reform (or Progressive) Synagogue in Israel. One of their 6 Rabbis spoke with us about some of their programming (180 B’nai Mitzvah in 2012!!!) and challenges. It seems that we are all facing the same Synagogue challenges, despite where we live/work.
From Beit Daniel, we completed the last stretch of today’s cycling through HaYarkon Park (along HaYarkon River) as the sun was setting, all the way to the namal/promenade- AKA, my favorite place to walk and take in the ocean views in Israel. This last stretch of the ride was pretty spectacular. It was fun to take in so much pulsating life along the way. It felt like a very alive area. Lots of energy. Kids playing on the playground, rowers in the river, canoes, bikers, joggers, a petting zoo. My eyes hardly knew where to look first because there was so much action going on.
After the HaYarkon Park segment was finished, we segued right onto the Tel Aviv Namal. (one of my absolute favorite place) It was awesome to ride there and it was my first time visiting on this trip. I have taken a million pictures on that namal of the sun setting and it never gets old.
We had dinner at a restaurant in Old Jaffa called Dr. Shakshuka. The food was eclectc and interesting, not again, not exactly my cup of tea. Heavy on the mystery meats if you catch my drift. The Shakshuka was stellar!
What else can I tell you? The ride is amazing. It’s a different and creative way to see parts of Israel that we would not normally see. I had no clue that the promenade in Netanya is as gorgeous as it is! I’m having a ball. It’s so fun to be reunited with a few of the 1st year HUC students that I know from last summer. And it’s always great to meet new people on the ride. Very friendly bunch this year. There are aways lots of Canadians representing. They are so proud. It’s adorable.
The past two days have included a wonderful variety of terrains and scenery. Today I especially liked the opportunity to ride directly through so many cities and to get a feel for life among the people that live there.
That’s all I’ve got for now. It’s time for Zzzzzz’s. Got a tough day coming up tomorrow with a steeeeeeeep ascent.
Thanks for tuning in and Happy Birthday, Vlad!!
Lila Tov to all,
Leslie
