The City of David.

Artistic rendering of what the City of David looked like in the 10th century BC.  (Image from Who Moved the Temple)

The City of David is the birthplace of the city of Jerusalem, the place where King David built his palace and established his kingdom.

Birthplace of Kabbala. Safed.

Old Safed (Image by צילום:ד"ר אבישי טייכר)

On this trip, I will get to visit the town of Safed. Located in the mountains, with views of the Sea of Galilee and Mount Hermon, Safed is a picturesque city. Since the 1600's it has been a center of Kabbalah (also known as Jewish mysticism) and in the 1950s and 1960s, Safed was known as Israel's art capital.  I can handle the art part and will enjoy wandering through all the galleries.  The Kabbalah part?  Not so sure I will even understand it but I will remain open minded.'

Happy Purim!

If all goes as planned - that is, I don't get derailed, by bad weather, leaving DC, then I will land in Israel on Purim. Fingers crossed I will be there because I really do want to experience Purim and in Israel nonetheless!

Packing List. Israel.

Image from Travel Philippines | Entertainment

Who says you can't cram a lot into a backpack? :-)

As with my past few trips, the backpack is staying at home and I'm taking my Eagle Creek wheelie with me. It's a soft sided suitcase, small enough that I can put it in the overhead compartment. The trick is to not to pack in so much stuff that the suitcase is too heavy for me to lift, above my head, into the compartment.

Since I'm only going to one country and the weather will not change much from one location to another, I should be able to keep things light.

The plan will be to bring mainly lightweight clothing that I can wash and dry overnight.....the usual travel gear for me.  

I will need some good walking shoes though as I'm hoping to make a side trip to the Judean desert and that will entail doing some walking on unpaved ground.

The weather won't be terribly cold in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv though nights will be chilly.  I think a thick cotton sweather and my lightweight winter coat should do the trick.  Worse comes to worse, I will have to buy some warm clothing.