Monday in Eilat

[cellio]

We had a free morning today. I slept in (first time this trip) and then walked around the "prominade" for a while. Eilat is on the Red Sea (my rabbi commented that during this trip we've done the Med, the Dead, and the Red), and of course every hotel wants waterfront property. We're on the water but not technically on the sea; they call the small set of canals they've built the "lagoon". I can see the sea but didn't walk out to it today because I know we'll be there tomorrow.

It was bright and sunny and warm today; in retrospect it might have been cold enough that I should have worn a sweater, but it wasn't\ a strong-enough feeling to go back inside. I think walking around outside on new year's day in a t-shirt is a first for me.

I walked along part of the main drag. The stores are as apt to have English signs as Hebrew ones. There are upscale (Walnut-Street-esque) store next to Burger King and SuuperPharma. There is a small amusement park with four or five rides. There are flowers in bloom, and there were some sidewalk vendors this morning (not as many as I saw last night). The lagoon is full of boats; I imagine some are for hire. Maybe tomorrow I'll walk the entire length of the prominade and/or take a boat ride; we'll see. (We did walk down the prominade Sunday night, but it was after dark so it was a different experience.)

Today my rabbi treated us all to lunch at a casual restaurant on a kibbutz (I forget which) that specializes in dairy products. Their cheeses were yummy; too bad it's not possible to bring some home. They also grow dates (and make derivatives like spreads), which apparently we are allowed to bring back. Oh, and milk chocolate. :-) (I was mostly at a loss to read the labels on the chocolate bars. I know "milk", of course, and I inferred that mem-reish-vav-reish was probably "maror" and meant dark or bitter chocolate. Beyond that I picked a couple things at semi-random, and we'll find out what I got when I get it home.)

After lunch we went up the road a bit to Kibbutz Lotan. It's connected with the Reform movement, and one of its leaders is the daughter of one of our congregants, so those were both reasons to go. Kibbutz Lotan does a lot of environmental work; they work to find new ways to be green and teach that more broadly. They are already completely off the power grid (solar energy), and they've developed and started to deploy composting toilets. They don't do a lot of their own recycling, but they hit the "reduce" and "reuse" phases pretty hard and collect the rest to ship out to recycling plants. While their original homes were pre-fab housing (like on most kibbutzim), they're doing a lot of their own building now with mud/brick they build themselves. This isn't just for walls, either; we sat on benches and at tables made this way and walked through a plyaground that was, fundamentally, mud. (I asked. The traditional sealant is linseed oil, which is expensive and has to be imported, defeating the purpose. For outdoor use they are currently collecting the used vegetable oil from restaurants. It takes about three days to stop smelling like french fries, and then you have no idea if you're not told.)

On the way back our guide offered to take folks to the shop where they process and make jewelry from "Eilat stone". This is a mix of malachite and, err, something blue. We didn't get an explanation of the geology; we got a demo of some of the processing (from raw rock to polished stone for a necklace). It's pretty but all of their stuff was very expensive.

There was a bit of time when we got back before dinner, so I had part one of my attempt to get tech support for the internet problems here. That I said "part one" should convey how successful that was.

Tonight was our last formal meal together. We said goodbye to our bus driver, who then headed back to Jerusalem where he has another group to meet tomorrow. Our guide is staying with us tomorrow until he sees us all get safely checked in at Ben Gurion. (We're flying from Eilat to there, so he'll fly up with us.) Both the guide and the driver have been great to be with for the last week and a half. I would gladly tour with either of them again.

Tomorrow after we check out of the hotel and stash our luggage, we're going to the underwater observatory. It's sort of like an aquarium except that the people, not the fish, are in the glass tanks, which are in the Red Sea. This sounds nifty. Later in the afternoon we fly out of Eilat, and then we'll have a few hours sitting around Ben Gurion before we fly home. If there's internet access at Ben Gurion you might see this entry before I get home; if not, not.

Comments

[cellio]

Eilat seems worth seeing once. I enjoyed being there, but I don't know how much of a hurry I'd be in to go back again. It's pretty noisy, at least on the main drag. That's not as much of a problem if you're running around doing lots of stuff and didn't want to sleep in anyway, but if you go there to have a relaxing stay at a resort, well, get a hotel off the beaten path. :-)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Noted :-).

Btw, when I saw your new icon, my first thought was that you were Chaiya. Strange, I know.

[cellio]

The scarf really change one's appearance. :-)

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

It does! :)