Festival Weekdays

This morning I realised that the time had finally come. We were officially "after the chagim" (Jewish Festivals) and I now have quite a long stretch of time to get down and do some work. In Israel everything seems to stop whilst we celebrate first Rosh Hashanah, then Yom Kippur, which is closely followed by the festival of Sukkot and the remaining days known as Chol HaMoed ("festival weekdays"). My husband had the week off work and we have had yet more time to explore our wonderful country.
Above you can see a sample of some of the places we visited. The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and the adjacent photo of The Western Wall might look like the real thing but were in fact models seen at Mini Israel. We saw recovering sea turtles at The Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, run by the Israel Nature & Parks Authority at Mikhmoret, and picked the tastiest clementines at Shvil HaTapuzim, or The Orange Route, near Hadera. We spotted the little kingfisher at The Jerusalem Bird Observatory, located in the centre of Jerusalem near the Knesset (Israel's Parliament), and followed the Burma Road, the makeshift route built by Israeli forces during the 1948 siege of Jerusalem, enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way.
The weather is just a little bit cooler now, though we were still able to enjoy a day on the beach, and the colours around me seemed more autumnal. We actually enjoyed a few drops of rain whilst we were birdwatching in Jerusalem, and yesterday we prayed for yet more rain during the Shmini Atzeret (the eighth day of gathering following Sukkot’s week long festival) service in the synagogue.
Once again we have had a wonderful week discovering incredible places all over Israel, and I feel so fortunate to be living in this amazing little country.