Greetings From Israel

Shalom!! Greetings from Israel. Welcome to my new blog and what I hope will be an on-going chronicle of the business and antics of Scott Kasper Photography. For the moment, however, it will serve as the daily log of my family’s trip through Israel.

We just arrived yesterday and this morning I am sitting on the patio at sunrise of our first full day in Israel. From our patio I am able to see across the Sea of Galilee, the Golan Heights, and into the country of Jordan. Our trip over was easy and uneventful….aside from a 90 minute delay leaving Newark.

Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv is perhaps the nicest and most convenient airports through which I have traveled. We had our luggage in no time, grabbed an easy shuttle to the car rental place and hit the road to Yavne’el. Yavne’el is a small village in north east Israel by the shores of the Sea of Galilee….the area is known as the Kinneret.

On the way we stopped at some random strip mall….we simply needed a bathroom. Upon driving into the parking lot, we were immediately stopped by a security office with one hand gun on his belt and another in a shoulder holster….after demanding that I open the trunk and show my passport he graciously allowed us into the lot….that is where we had our first meal which was AMAZING!!! We could not come close to finishing the table full of salads….tabbouleh, roasted egg plant, hummus, tahini, hot peppers, etc…it was a veritable smorgasbord of  middle eastern cuisine at its best….then the falafel came out with fresh, hand made pita, still hot from the oven…..OMG!!!!!

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful…..relaxing, unpacking, grocery shopping, and off to bed. Today the adventure really begins. We have a guide who will be staying with us for the next few days. He will be here later this morning and we will be off to hike Mount Arbel and see a few sights here in the Kineret. He has lots in store for us over the next few days.

I will try to update this blog either in the evening or first thing in the morning with some of the highlights from the day…..I will also load slide show photos on my main web site….as far as yesterday photos, just a few…nothing special. Of some interest, is this panorama of the landscape of the hills next to out house….when we arrived we noticed that there was a sort of brown haze. It was once we got to the patio of the house that we were able to see that the haze was caused by the wild fires that were burning in the hills just to our south. The photo was taken when we drove into the village and shows the smoke coming from the hills…we were told not to worry…the prevailing winds blow the fire in the opposite direction!!