Spring in The Desert

 Spring is a beautiful time when everything is bright, clear and new. I always liked this time of the year and wanted to see how it feels in different parts of the globe.

Flowers in the Desert

 Today I want to show you spring in one of the most arid places - Timna valley,
that is located on the western edge of the southern Arava desert, about 30 km (some 17 miles) north of Eilat, Israel. 

The desert has some green color now

 The climate in the southern Arava is extreme desert, characterized by very high temperatures in the summer, minimal precipitation (annual average of 20 mm.), intense radiation and relatively low humidity. The rain comes in short powerful bursts, leading to frequent flooding in spring and fall.

 Timna’s animal and plant life are typical to arid zones. The most common tree is the acacia, an important food source for animals.

Tiny Flowers of Acacia

I will be happy to see your photos of spring and get familiar with new places :)

Snowy Jerusalem

  Israel is a tiny country, however you can find there up to 18 climate zones. The weather can change dramatically within 30 minutes car ride. One thing is common though - it is not snowing often here.
 Today was one of the fairy days when almost everything stops in the Holy City.


 Snow in Israel is a rear commodity - people admire it but they are not used to the consequences.












  Almost all traffic stops when first snowflakes reach the ground. People stay at home and try to make as much photos as possible to impress their unlucky neighbors who live 30 minutes away and clearly don't have this happiness to see the snow.

They may try to drive to the place, but as I said - we don't drive in the snow, so they probably won't reach it :)

The snow won't last long - 2 days at most, and it is suitable for sculpturing only for the first few hours, so the enthusiasts in need of making a snowman must hurry!

Top 10 places your dog must visit in Israel

 It is so important to plan your trip carefully, so you can enjoy the new country. Experienced tourists advice is always appreciated. This is 'top 10 must to go' places from one of the Israeli experts in dogs attractions - Jarna, the Great Pyrenees.

 Historical and cultural sites:

1.  Knesset of Israel: A very important political site, pool and jogging tracks are open to the visitors at all seasons of the year.

 

    2. Mishkenot Shaananim neighborhood: This is quite a boring place, however it is good if you need to walk your family out.

 

Discover Israel: Beauty of Kineret

Few last weeks were full of holidays and we had a lot of days for traveling. Though we used only half or even less of them, we really enjoyed the places we did visit. One of such sites was Lake Tiberius. We spent two days camping there. Lake Tiberius is a very popular tourist attraction, so I will not tell about it (I simply don't have anything intriguing to add to the well known facts about Sea of Galilee), but I want to show photos that I took at night and very early morning.

Night fishing and stunning view of city of Tiberius:

 This is the same view just early in the morning:

P.S. Children slept much better in the tent than they usually sleep at home :))

More places to visit, find here. 

Discover Israel: Salt Desert

There are a lot of places in our tiny country that are worth visiting though they don't appear in a tourist guide. I met my husband in one of those places, and we visited together many other stunning sites. We used to climb mountains and descend into caves which became almost impossible for us after our first child was born. It is quite a hot place even at winter, and at summer I can travel there only during the night hours, which makes it even more difficult for visiting with small children. Our dog Jarna also never had been at Judaean Desert.


This is why we were very happy when our friends organized a small BBQ between the salt rocks and invited us to join. It was late and we wisely decided to take only Liya with us :)
Jarna was mad about everything and galloped from one hill to another,  but only in the morning I could really understand how high she had managed to climb. This view is zoomed in, since she was really far and I wanted to see her on the picture :)

Liya slept well in the tent (she is 2 month old here :)) Can you see her there?:)

 In the early morning we walked towards the mountains while it was not too hot.

We spent the hot hours in a deep gorge with just enough shadow and even a small pond, where some of us could even swim :), others slept or climbed. Unfortunately not me this time :(

More places to visit, find here.