Emily's Musings

Israel, Day 11

Today was our first day in Eiliat, a resort town at the very southern tip of the country. We got up and had breakfast at our hotel (which is pretty rundown but did have a nice breakfast buffet) and then headed to Timna Park to see King Solomon's mines! I have a million photos to post later because it was a spectacular landscape and the first day that I could be out and about in the sunshine after all the rain that we've been having everywhere else. We saw old rock drawings, climbed up cliffs, poured colored sand into souvenir bottles, rowed paddle boats (though the tiller was broken so we went around in circles for a while and then gave up), had tea and sweets, and just enjoyed the park. I even drove for a bit of it (my first successful stick-shift driving -- it seemed like a good place to learn given that it was a deserted desert road and a rental car...)!!

After the park we went to the famous Yot Vata dairy store for ice cream (I had frozen yogurt with dates) and to take photos of cows (Ran's mother lives at the Kibbutz but we didn't have a chance to make contact this time around). Then home to the hotel for a rest, out to do some much-needed laundry at a laundromat (with a falafel and pita snack while we were waiting) and now we're about to see a 3D IMAX movie (mostly an excuse to use the free wifi in the lobby so I could post a couple of quick things).

We'll hopefully carve out some time tomorrow to post another round of photos as well...

thank you every one for following along and the nice comments! More postings to come over the next few days of our trip!

Updated with some photos (1/9):