I talked to David in Tel Aviv this morning and again this evening. We always find interesting things to talk about because we are both interested in many of the same things, especially Hebrew, languages, Israel, Zionism, and gay culture and history.
I started a pot of barley, lentils, and pasta (a mix someone gave me) in my crockpot this morning. Later, I cooked a vegetarian "breast" in the microwave, chopped it into small pieces, and added it to the mixture. Finally, I also added some rice that I had cooked a couple of days ago. The whole thing made a good lunch. I ate about half of it, and then ate the rest in the evening.
After lunch, I set out on my walk. I headed up to Harim Road and then went south, stopping at Nakhal Shakhamon to take a short video (less than a minute) showing the spectacular views both down the nakhal to the sea and up the nakhal to the Eilat Mountains. It's today's pic of the day:
Then I continued almost to the end of Harim Road, where I turned right and went through a cut to start down Nakhal Garuf. I only went a very short distance down, though, before turning right to follow a trail into the hills the other side. Very soon, the trail began following a dry stream, and then it became quite beautiful, with quite a few acacia trees and some other foliage, as well.
At one point the trail went up the hill to the right, leaving the dry stream, but I continued to follow it. A while later, I came to where I could see the sea, but there seemed to be a hill before it. I wondered which side the stream would go on. As I got closer, though, I saw that it was actually an earthen dam, and when I went up on it, I saw that it was protecting giant oil tanks of the port from flooding. I walked to the northern end, hoping to get around it that way, but I quickly discovered that it would not be possible, so I checked out the southern end. There, I found a channel that I'm pretty sure had been cut to provide an overflow for the catch basin so that the water wouldn't fill up too much behind the dam (of course, there was absolutely NO water there today!).
I followed the stream through the cut. At one point, there was a dry waterfall that was almost as tall as I am. I managed to get down it without too much difficulty, but I was REALLY hoping I wouldn't have to go back UP it! Luckily, I didn't, and eventually I reached the road next to the sea quite a bit further south that I had hoped for, in the area where they can fuel the ships or offload oil from them, I think (though I've never actually seen either of those happening there).
I didn't see anybody else for the entire walk from Harim Road to the coastal highway. It was so beautiful and peaceful!
Next, of course, I walked up the coastal highway, past Dolphin Reef, past the port, past Dekel Beach, and past the naval base, all the way into town to the mall. I went in, bought some Coke Zero, and sat on a seat, drinking my soda and cropping the many photos I had taken. After that, I took the number 2 bus back home.
I wore a short-sleeve black t-shirt all afternoon and evening. It was actually a little hot in the sun at first, but I was never too cold, even after the sun went down (although I might have been if I had attempted to walk home at the end after dark).
I walked a total of 12.4 kilometers today.
No comments:
Post a Comment