I recently dragged Bertrand and the kids up Pico Basilé, the imposing volcano that sits behind Malabo. As the volcano hasn’t erupted since 1932, we surmised that it would be utterly safe to visit the national park on top of the mountain. On our way up the winding and narrow road, we stopped at a… Read More Pico Basilé – Bioko Island’s Biggest Volcano
Saturday morning, we drove to the Mount of Olives and picked olives as Jerusalemites have been doing for thousands of years. The technique of harvesting olives is simple. Wait until the olives begin to ripen, then rake the lives out of a tree. In our case, at the Lutheran World Federation, the caretakers had spread… Read More Olive Picking on the Mount of Olives
Old City Akko is a tiny fishing village slash crusader fort, about half an hour outside of Haifa. Over the past thousand years, there has understandably been a great deal of development outside of the ancient walls, but the tourist attractions are all in the Old City itself. I rose bright and early to walk… Read More Solo Travel to Akko, Israel
Haifa’s a neat town. Traveling alone, I wasn’t looking for bars or a music scene—just beautiful scenery, the sea, and museums. Given that, it’s possible to see everything in a day, provided you’re traveling alone and don’t have to worry about potty breaks and naps and mealtimes like you do when traveling with children. I… Read More More Solo Travel in Haifa, Israel
Traveling alone is a surprisingly communal experience. After years of relying on Bertrand’s charm and ability to make instant friends, I found is startlingly easy to find good company and conversation while exploring Northern Israel on my own. When Bertrand abruptly left for Benin with the girls after his father passed away, I found myself… Read More Visiting the Bahá’í Gardens in Haifa, Israel
Saturday afternoon, we’d finished puttering around the house, and didn’t really want to waste a beautiful afternoon indoors. It was also late enough that we knew the kids wouldn’t last long, and we didn’t want to commit to a long expensive excursion if a breakdown were eminent. With small children, it’s easy to get caught… Read More Ein Karem – a Tiny Oasis in West Jerusalem
We finally had a spare moment to be tourists in Jerusalem, and we took advantage of the free afternoon by visiting the Mahane Yehuda market in downtown Jerusalem. We spent the afternoon shepherding our kids (the only kids at the market who weren’t in strollers) between vendors and trying to keep other shoppers from tripping… Read More The Shuk in Jerusalem – Mahane Yehuda with Kids
I got up early this morning and went for run with a fellow FS runner (she actually IS a runner, as opposed to my shuffling and whuffling) around Teddy Roosevelt Island this morning. I repeated last week’s mistake and dragged my toddler along, which was fun, but detrimental to our plan to get a good… Read More Teddy Roosevelt Island