Eilat

Holidays have a magical effect on me. We were only away for five days, including the long five hour drive south and back again, yet, as you can probably see from my photos, we had a wonderful time in Eilat. We swam, we played, and we ate well... all the right ingredients for a good break, right?
Eilat is Israel's southernmost city, a busy port as well as a popular resort, located at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on the Gulf of Eilat. For various reasons we have not visited there for almost nine years, but the drive down was made easy with a break at Makhtesh Ramon, or the Ramon Crater, a spectacular 40 km long and 2-10 km wide geological feature of Israel's Negev desert. The ibex were happy to see us and came over to our car to say hello, and it made a great start to our little trip.
In Eilat itself we visited the Underwater Observatory Marine Park, which lets you enjoy the wonders of the Red Sea as if it were an aquarium. A first for me, I could have watched the dolphins for hours at the spectacular Dolphin Reef, where a group of “bottlenose” dolphins, including babies born at the site, maintain their daily routine of hunting, playing, courting and socializing. The kids let off steam at Kings City. We ate out every night, and there was no cooking or washing-up to be done!
Now it's back to routine and another month to go of school holidays. The kids returned to their swimming lessons today, refreshed and excited to show off their new skills. I have various cards to create, including a new baby card for a friend who gave birth to her first girl after three boys whilst we were away, but the fun and adventure of Eilat will keep me inspired for some time to come.