Hiking around Jerusalem

Taking advantage of the marvelous weather for hiking, I did just that with Jerusalem Mosaic. I've been on their e-mail list for years and even thought that their name - JR MOSAIC was Junior Mosaic (hiking on levels?), but I was corrected that day. I wasn't the oldest one in the group - there were others around my age, not only college-age kids.

We started off at Nes Harim, down hills and up hills, and seeing several hidden springs - like Ein Yona, and we ended up at a destroyed Arab village (destroyed in 1948 - population 540) called Beit Itab where the views were magnificent. We walked passed the sign that said "archeological site - danger - do not enter" and walked on the rooftops.

The Muktar's home was built on top of a crusader fortress. This entire area has layers of history on it, where the Jewish rebels fought the Romans around 130 AD and hid in various caves.

Of course I huffed and puffed up the hills, but I wasn't the last one holding up the group.

The only thing I saw which kind of ruined the views for me where these HOT Cable TV poles stuck in our path.

But I did survive the 5 hour hike, got a ride back to Jerusalem and managed to whip up a simple but festive meal in time for the Sabbath....