THE WITCH AND THE MILKMAN

We have been away for a short vacation of a couple of days at the Golan Heights, celebrating my husbands birthday. Even so it was raining and stormy most of the time and even so I was and still am sick with the flue, our days were so rich with experiences that I have enough tales to fill three or four blog posts.
The Golan Heights are a real marvel in many respects. The nature is splendid and beautiful, displaying openly gorgeous wildflowers and other flora, and hiding a rich fauna of many animals, like boar, deer, jackals and wolves, and different birds of prey, like vultures and eagles. At this time of the year the waterfalls are rushing down in silvery and white foam, and in the wadis the water is splashing and gurgling and plentiful. The deep canyons and gorges are lush with green vegetation. There is a lot of evidence of human inhabitants at the Golan - mostly of the last 2000 years or so, but traces of prehistoric life was found as well. Many sites can be explored, and a lot can be learned about the people from the past, their culture and traditions, while visiting the small but wonderful archeological Golan Museum in Kazrin.
On Sunday morning we went to Mount Keta, a mountain in the north of the Golan Heights, where my husband was looking for orchids. It was cold and windy, so I stayed in the car, reading and listening to music. I will show the orchids my husband found too, in a next post.

It is very beautiful there, more than 1000 meters high up, on the slopes of mount Hermon. The panoramic view down at the landscape is breathtaking, with the Ram crater lake surrounded by cherry and apple orchards, with fertile fields, and meadows with grazing cattle. At the highest point up there is the "Witch and the Milkman" - and we went to have a late lunch there. 

In this restaurant very delicious gourmet food is prepared and served, and the ambiance is - how to put it - yes, enchanted might be the right word - and a little bit flea market style, a charming shabby look. The chairs never match, the floor is built up of many tiles of  broken pieces of marvel, the ceiling constructed of recycled lumber, in short, it is very special - the meals are tasty and the desserts ever so yummy!

 

Ah, and oh yes, the most important thing there: look at all those witches - they really make the atmosphere! They hang in the windows and dangle from the ceiling, they stand on the window sills and sit on shelves, they swing on swings and ride on animals and brooms, they grin at you from every corner and watch you eat, with fancy ragged dress, long claw like nails, red burning lips, elaborate hats and gorgeous hairstyles - some sweet, some creepy, but all graceful! A real witch must be the mother and creator of all of them!

The sun vanished, the sky darkened and the heavy clouds broke open, storm and rain accompanied us on the drive to the small village where we had booked a room. A lovely day ended in a wonderful thunderstorm! 

Photos like always by my husband Uri Eshkar.