St. Sylvester

St. Sylvester 12/31

I woke up the next morning feeling happy and loving the fact I had a room and a jacuzzi to myself. The last day of 2012 was here but compared to previous years I was in no hurry to get out about. I was happy right here. I made my way to breakfast where I was seated on the terrace overlooking the valley. Simply breathtaking! The view marveled some the panoramas I’ve seen in France and Italy.

Beautiful breakfast panorama!

Snow capped Mt. Hebron

Again the waiter (a new one) took me under his gustatory wing and picked out my breakfast of shakshouka (eggs in tomato sauce), freshly made bread, and a huge cappuccino. I was in heaven. I took my time, enjoyed breakfast, the view, and a second cappuccino before convincing myself I really should go explore Tzfat.

Final views of the panorama.

A very happy Coley!

I eventually tore myself away from Rosh Pina, which will no be known in my head as my little slice of heaven on earth, and wound my way through the mountain hills into Tzfat. I don’t know what it was, but this town didn’t blow me away like I thought it was going to. Everyone raved about it, but frankly I thought Rosh Pina was better. It was an interesting town with the center of Kabbalahism, but every shop had cheesy tourist crap selling around this theme.



I trekked through the artist colony absorbing the art and colors. I happened upon the Fig Courtyard, climbed the stairs to the top viewing platform to appreciate the vista then turned around and walked into the Kabbalah center. I watched a 15 minute video on Kabbalah and kept waiting to hear more from the girl behind the counter, but she seemed to care less about the customer than her txts. I continued my self-guided tour into a weaving shop and then stopped to have “the best food in Israel” at the Yemenite cafe. It was pretty damn good. With the sun setting I walked back to the car and checked into my hostel, where Christina was waiting for me.

The best food in Israel!

Street life in Tzfat.

Local art.

We went out for dinner and then back to the hotel. Bubbly was supposed to be at midnight. Christina passed out. I barely made it, but I got my champagne, and homemade apricot liqueur courtesy of the owner. Happy New Year! Happy Sylvester (that’s what it’s called here since Israel uses the Hebrew calendar)! Lights out!

Happy New Year!

Good bye 2012!

Loved this!