February in Israel

No sooner would I tell people that I was moving to Israel when that 3 letter question would instinctively escape their lips: “Why?”

I have many answers, long and short, to that question, but among my top 10 is “because of the weather.” This past weekend displayed that exquisitely. I woke up Friday to blue skies and a very warm sun. Everyone was outside, enjoying the first day of the weekend. I spent most of it walking around the old city of Jerusalem with a good friend. Then on Saturday I went up North to see all of the flowers that are in bloom.

The “calanit,” or in English, the poppy flower, is one of the first flowers to bloom in Israel. Living in Tel Aviv I can experience many things, but seeing flowers grow wildly is unfortunately not one of them. Therefore, a friend and I went up North to remind ourselves that there is life outside of the big city. We walked in an area called Ramat Hanadiv, just south of Zichron Ya’acov, which is a nature reserve with trails to walk on. We hiked for about 2 hours, taking in the lush green of the landscape and the bursts of colors from the wild flowers growing all around.

Although it is not summer just yet, these poppy flowers remind me that spring is just around the corner.