sweet & salty water

yesterday dek & i rented bikes in emeq hamaayanot (the maayan valley), where maayan means "natural springs" in hebrew and we biked to a pool to take a dip and relax. the water is sweet & refreshing we hope to hit up another spring before leaving this beautiful country on saturday.

before taking off on our bike trip, we stopped at a little cafe to share breakfast, israeli style. we love, love, love breakfasts here. they consist of eggs, typically omlet style with onions, mushrooms and seasonings, finely chopped salad of cucumbers, tomatos, onions and carrots with olive oil, fresh bread and a whole assortment of spreads like cheeses, pesto, guacamole, tahini, jam, etc with a little side of yogurt with granola. the breakfasts also come with your choice of juice and coffee. we love it! the meals are so big that we usually order the meal for 1 person and split it, but dek's mom gave us a giftcard for 1+1 so we didn't have a choice in the matter but def did not even finish all of this. it was amazing though!

the delishious spreads

 i chose fresh squeezed orange juice & dek took orange with carrot

we arrived to the natural springs, parked out bikes and jumped got in

 beautiful, beautiful place & almost no one was there!

  this rock was my favorite spot as when you would get in, first of all the water is freezing, second, little tiny fish would come nibble on your feet which really freaked me out. i did eventually get in the water, no pics to prove it, but it was fun!

 that view though..

i am a sucker for mountains...

after some time at the spring, we rode our little bikes back & went to have dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousins in ramat yishay. my cousin, danielle, made homemade pizza dough and we made pizzas in their outside oven. the results were mouth-watering!

i was in charge of making the pizza shapes

 toppings of tomatos, onion, zaatar, green olives, mozzarella & feta cheese. yum!

we made all different kinds, but i stuck with feta & olives

 my aunt, uncle and cousins :)

today dek & i went to the beach in haifa to play around, we swam and jumped in the waves, played matkot, shared a beer & onion bissili and tanned a bit before heading home to shower and meet my dad & sisters for frozen yogurt.

beach life

 in the austin flowerhalo

my dad & sisters, leonne and mai

best frozen yogurt ever! we love this place legenda, proof here. 

i got mine with candied cashews, coconut & chocolate balls.

  reppen' greenville avenue pizza company here in israel :)