Safed / Tsvet

In Israel I quickly learned there is no right or wrong way to spell a city using letters I understand. In a mile-long stretch of road in front of the Kibbutz where I stayed the same town was spelled Naharia, Naharrya, and Naharyia. Okay I am making some of these up since I don't really remember how the beach town that looks a lot like Miami Beach on the Mediterranean Sea really is spelled. I do remember seeing a few different variations on the same theme.

Safed / Tsvet was even more confusing to me. The concierge at Abraham Hostels told me to not worry about it. The different spellings stem from whether the speaker is Arab or Jewish and that no one takes offense how a foreigner pronounces it.

I asked him how to get there. He looked at the mooveit app and came up with a simpler plan than I was finding through Google directions -- walk to a giant mall and take a direct bus for about 90 minutes. 

I'm sorry to say I was disappointed by Safed. 

Perhaps my expectations were too high. Perhaps I should have visited on a different day of the week. My big disappointment was on the Sunday when I went, the synagogues were closed. There were a few birth right groups, but not a lot of other people.

Mostly I wandered around the town. 

I had a vegetarian lunch at the Lonely Planet recommended Elements. In hindsight I should have had a bigger lunch since I was returning to Kibbutz food, but at the time I was still full from the enormous breakfast I had at my hotel in Nazareth. 

 

Safed is the highest point in Israel. A factoid I gleaned from listening to a birth right tour. It is also prone to earthquakes. On the side of the mountain behind the Old City is a windy path going through a cemetery. The graves are raised. The blue ones are of people well-known in the kabbalah faith. Back in Nazareth the guide said blue represented Judaism, so that made sense.



Perhaps the hardest part of navigating Safed was the lack of English. Many signs were in Hebrew only. It also did not help the tourist booth was closed. 

 












I am glad I went. I did enjoy wandering around the street with shops and seeing the various Judaica for sale from Mezuzahs to yarmulkes to menorahs, plus jewelry and art.


 













I did buy myself a pair of delicate silver earrings with a blue Roman stone which will always remind me of my time in Israel.