Sukkot Hofesh Part II

The second part of the break was all about the beach.

On Friday we went with some friends to a beach just south of Haifa.  It was really nice and quite, not built up or commercial at all.  We basically just pulled off the highway and drove down a dirt road to get there.  There were tons of kite surfers on this beach.  I really want to try it now!  We just hung out, walked, slept. There was a huge sand bar just off the shore so we could wade out there and walk along the beach in the water.  It was a little windy and hazy but the water was warm so it felt nice to walk through it with your feet in.

All of those things in the sky are kite surfing kites, not birds

Right before we left the beach for the night

Saturday we decided to go to Tel Aviv.  As usual we didn't really have a plan of what we wanted to do there.  We just kind of walked around a little before stopping to get lunch.  We ate at one of those restaurants right on the beach, like where you sit down on the sand.  It was a beautiful day so we took our time with lunch, just sat enjoying the food, the weather, the view.  It was so relaxing.  Finally we got up and walked along the beach again for a while.  It was packed! They play this game here Matkot, it's like paddle ball kind of but with a smaller harder ball.  Everyone stands down at the edge of the water and hits back and forth.  Just trying to walk down there is kind of a game by itself--try not to get whacked by a stray ball or swinging paddle.

The two guys on the left are playing Matkot.

Eventually we made our way back home. We cleaned up and had Shabbat dinner and then went back to the beach with some friends.  We really wanted to go at night when there aren't many people there, it's quiet, you can't tell the difference between the water and sky because it's all so dark.  There was some folk dancing on the boardwalk so we had some nice background music to just sit and talk for a while.

Then Sunday we had to give the car back. It felt like I was giving up my freedom.  I'm really glad we decided to rent the car. It worked out great for these few days and now we know how it works so we can do it again just for a weekend.  Two great things about driving in Israel:  (1) there are almost no stop signs, lots of traffic circles and yielding, but almost no stop signs and (2) the parking...there are parking spaces but you can pretty much park wherever you want, just pull over and stop. 

Our little Hyundai

Now, a couple days of just work and then the real routine begins...