Back to Safed

Back to Safed

It doesn't sound like a terribly tiring day, but it was hot (remember you are closer to the equator here and wearing a hat and high-numbered sunscreen is a must), there was all the schlepping in and out of the car to see different churches, we had to undergo the rigor of choosing the right falafel stand, and then trying on all those sandals, made us feel as if a rest was in order. We headed back to the hotel and took a nap for an hour--what a great thing to do on vacation---nap in the middle of the day and not at one's desk! We had been given a card for a complimentary desert and drink by one of the goniffs (kind word for a store owner who lied about the VAT) in the market. So, upon waking from our shluf (nap) much refreshed, we headed off to a small cafe called MacMillians. The owner is very nice, well traveled, and aimed to please as his cafe had opened only that week. Rae-ann and I shared a piece of the darkest, densest, richest chocolate cake and fresh whipped cream that I have eaten anywhere, and topped it off with a glass of ice cold, freshly squeezed red grapefruit juice (could have had oj, coffee or tea). I know that a glass of cold milk would have been a better alternative in most spots, but the juice was tangy and sweet---and hit the spot! YUM!!! :) A bit more shopping followed this treat, though the protestations from both of us that we were "shopped out" seemed to have fallen on deaf ears---our own! I think Rae-ann was a bad influence in this area because it was her first trip, she wanted to bring back interesting gifts for her mother and sons, and I had to help her navigate the foreign language/money/and shopping rituals--hence much more time exposed to the beautiful Israeli handcrafts resulted in my accumulating more stuff (like a unique hand-woven, woolen, royal blue tallit--prayer shawl ).
All this "activity" got us in the mood to walk and we headed off to explore the "old city" that lay a few feet from the end of the market road. On the first day in Sefed we had noticed that many of the homes and stores had brightly painted decorated or carved doors. Being the inveterate photographer that I am, I decided to "shoot" a few of the doors that first day. Well, once the idea and the visual imagery was firmly ensconced in my brain, it didn't take me long to decide to continue with this concept. As we meandered through the warren of narrow streets, sidestepping the boys at play during an evening recess from their yeshivas (religious schools still in session at 7pm), or the groups of girls giggling amongst themselves or running after their younger siblings, I found numerous doors of interest to photograph and have included some of the more interesting shots here.
The sunsets from Safed are lovely to behold. As the sun slipped below the Galilee mountains, the sky took on hues of red, purple, and orange, and the house lights twinkled in the cool night air. There are no large, bright or garish street lamps to destroy the serene view. The last songs of birds settling in for the evening, the wind whispering farewell to the golden sun,
the laughter of children at play-- all overshadowed the occasional noise of a car or truck straining to make its' way up the winding mountain roads.
After our unfortunate dinner experience the previous night, we chose not to eat our hotel and instead drove down the mountain about 3 miles to another nearby artist colony called Rosh Pina, a more secular but nonetheless lovely community.
We ate dinner in the old part of the town, at a place called Rafa, and had a lovely and unusual repast. I'll get to the unusual in a moment, but as for the meal, we started off with delicious stuffed vine leaves (not usually a favorite of mine) and corn empenada, then moved to a salmon dish cooked with potatoes, cream and a mustard sauce and a vegetaraian casserole filled with veggies (what else?), polenta, cheese, and plums (a novel but very tasty way to add some flavor to what might have been a somewhat bland dish). The wine for the evening was a crisp 2003 Gamla Chardonnay.
It was the wine that made the meal so unusual, though the food was really quite good! We ordered a half bottle and the waitress proceeded to open it at our table; she poured a small amount in my glass for tasting (which I appropriately smelled, swallowed, and noted "tov ma'od--very good) and then filled up both of our glasses. Rae-ann and I were engaged in a conversation and didn't immediately drink any wine. A few moments later, as we were about to take a drink after making a toast, Rae-ann noticed something floating in her glass that looked a lot like some sort of tiny winged insect. We called the waitress over, who was very apologetic and offered Rae-ann a clean glass that she refilled from the remainder of the open bottle. Well, much to our surprise, out of the bottle came yet another tiny winged creature. It seemed that our univited dinner guests had somehow fallen into the wine during bottling and presumably drunk their way to oblivion. Needless to say, the waitress then brought us a new half bottle of the same wine and stood carefully by as both of our glasses (yes, she gave us new glasses) were filled. Fortunately, nothing but delicious looking and quite pleasant wine flowed out of the bottle this time.
We were both surprised the waitress didn't offer the wine to us complimentary, but perhaps she'd never encountered this sort of problem before or just didn't think of it. Anyway, we didn't make a fuss about the cost of the wine as it was only about $10. The dinner, with the wine and the tip, came to a total of around $40.00.