Tuesday, May 6 Kiryat Shmoneh

Tuesday, May 6 Kiryat Shmoneh

With the country essentially closed so that Israelis can all attend family BBQs, I spent the morning catching up on this blog and thinking about BBQ. While I had an invitation from my third cousins, it would be a 90 minute one-way drive (without holiday traffic) so I decided to slow things down.  Instead, I took a drive to Metulla, the actual border town that is north of Kiryat Shmoneh.  They have a famous steak house, Tachana, that certainly qualifies for the day!  (and they were open).

With all due respect to vegetarian Shayna and vegan Weiss family, this is a carnivore's heaven.  They start with a plate of various salads, punctuated by the knife through two different loaves of bread.

I came to this restaurant four years ago…and know not to fill up on these salads because…

..here's the steak. Ruben, are you with me on this one?

With lunch finished and Metulla essentially empty, I took a drive around to see the views. Even as Metullah has been in the center of war zones too many times, it's situated on a mountaintop in the midst of a lush green valley, with rolling hills on all sides. (it's just that Hezbollah vehicles drive back and forth on some of them). 

Here's the nearest Lebanese town..

I headed for what was “the good fence,” an opening in the border with Lebanon that let folks through for medical care, education, and jobs.  It closed in 2000 when Israel withdrew from Lebanon and the power shift among southern Lebanese wasn’t all that good for Israel.

What do you do when the sign definitely tells you to stop…but it’s a very old looking sign and the gate is open..??   

A single tourist in a rental car driving on Israel’s independence day?  I turned around J

Back to Kfar Blum to spend some hours in the Kfar Blum spa.  Sauna, Turkish bath, steam room, water cave (with water jets everywhere that are triggered as soon as you walk in), cold water barrel overhead (skipped that one), and a one hour massage.  Happy Birthday, Israel!

With some stores opening after sunset, I took a drive back to town to explore one of the new malls. Shopping, dinner, and back to K’far Blum.