So long, Klezmer, and thanks for the tunes!

Alleys in the night, Artists Quarter

Cotton candy everywhere

Street musicians!

More Klezmer 2014 pics

Street musicians on the medrachov

Fireworks at 22:00!

Beautiful ceramic art by my friend Iris who lives on the gesher.

Alleyway lights in the Artists Quarter.

Come join us this last night!

Beyn Hazmanim in Tsfat -- More guests than locals

A few street scenes of an evening during the summer yeshiva world recess. Couldn't capture the amazing clear skies with full moon and stars, or the cool breeze. And it's still quiet, even with all the guests.

Looking down the big stairs that divide the Old City from the Artist's Quarter.

Looking up the Medrechov, the main street. It's not even Klezmer festival yet, and folks are in the streets.

Looking down the main street. It's not blocked off from cars, just a quiet evening with most everyone out on foot.

In the Old City, everything is antique.

Buggy parking in the Gan Hakasum, the mystical park.

Street lights coming on. G'night!

 

Spring 2012/5772

Took a walk on Sunday afternoon Chol Hamoed. Spring is lovely after a good winter of rain.

Great colors in the Old City with flowers in bloom and blue pain renewed for Pesach.

The quiet of Tsfat may seem boring to some. I find it peaceful and restful and beautiful.

Leading to the Mayan Haradum square.

Flowers and the colors of the Artists's Quarter

Antiquities built into the rebuilt walls.

Even the mail boxes are artistic.

New figs are still small and unripe. I love the smell of the fig trees.

Old city wall with rose bush in bloom.

It's also bird migration season. Caught this glimpse from between the walls of an Old City alley.

Some trees in waiting for their spring green.

Leading down to the famous cemetary, all is green.

We notice the years as yellow, or red, or occasionally blue. Sometimes it goes straight to brown, if there haven't been enough rains. This year is a "yellow year".

The yellow carpet of the cemetary. Behind the tree in the center and covered with an overhead shelter is the Ari's gravesite.

Interesting sign

Funny, I always remembered it as "The Jewish Quarter" and "The Arab Quarter", but I have never been good at history.

Now well all live jumbled up together, Sephardim and Ashkenazim.

Summer Nights in the Old City Alleys

This shot is on the path down from the Rimonim Inn. There's a really nice bench to sit on at the bend in the path. I love Tsfat nights: the quiet, the cooler air, the stars.

Summer in the Old City of Safed

Unedited.

Walking through the Old City on the way home is such a pleasure (if it's not toooo hot!).

The new door at the Ari Ashkenaz synagogue in the Old City of Safed

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. -- Helen Keller

This is the new door of the Ari Ashkenaz synagogue.

The different fruits I can fit easily into Tsfat themes, but the eye and ear? One of each? Any ideas?

Abu Hav Synagogue

Under exposure does wonders in the afternoon on the bright stones of the Old City. Normally the stones look very flat due to how much light is reflected in full sun.

Managed to capture these pictures of the front of the AbuHav synagogue by underexposing the image.

Trinkets in Tsfat

In one of the alleys, I think it's the Yosef Caro alley, there's a bunch of galleries and stores in a row. And then at one junction, there's a trinket seller. Sometimes you can find some really neat stuff among the trinkets.

Doggie in Artist Quarter Alley, Safed

Reminds me of a joke. An Israeli is out walking his dog with his Anglo immigrant friend. After a few blocks, the Anglo immigrant has a very sad look on his face. The Israeli asks him what's wrong. "Even your dog understands Hebrew better than me."

Okay, it doesn't translate that well ;). I thought this doggie looked pretty cute in the Artist's Quarter.

If you're lucky, we might get snow pictures sometime in the next few days. However, the snowline will have to drop a few more hundred feet. Some cars arrived from the Canaan neighborhood today with at least an inch of unmelted snow on them, but it was only rainy here. By afternoon the skies were freezing blue again.

More Doors of Safed Old City

I hadn't seen this one before. A couple of galleries moved here, which is right across from "Gan Hakasum", the Enchanted Park. When our kids were little, we used to call it "suicide park" due to rock structures and sharp inclines.

Anyway, a couple of galleries moved in, and this lovely doorway leads into a courtyard with scultpures, artwork, and a cafe. Some beautiful works of art there. Coming back out, the door is just as lovely:

Kitty Cat in Safed

The life of a cat in the Old City!

Fall grape leaves, snoozing in the sun. Truly a cat's life.

Winter is late...

A few images of the last few weeks.

Some stunning days of clouds and sun.





















That's the view...












And on a sunnier day in the Artist's Quarter. You have to admit, painted utility cabinets are lovely.

Tourist Season in Tsfat

The tourist buses are a welcome sight in Tsfat. While the average tour bus only stops for less than 1/2 hour in Tsfat, which is a pity, it does help the local economy and lifts spirits to see folks visiting our little town.

Here's a couple of shots from above the main bus parking area. You see the General Exhibition in the top photo, renovated from an old mosque. In the bottom photo you can see a tourist group walking towards the Old City. There are two alleys leading into our little mystical Old City. Some people take the path less travelled...