Adventures in Israel: Safed

At Hebrew University, after Ulpan (six weeks of intensive Hebrew, which I will write about at a later date) students get a brief break before school officially starts. My roommate Rachel and I decided to do a bit of traveling over break to see more of Israel. Our first stop was Safed.

We started out early in the morning, around 8:00, to get to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. After buying our tickets, we headed back out of the station to stand in the hot sun to await our bus. Unfortunately, the bus to Safed does not stop in the Central Bus Station itself, but across the street. We waited for a little over half an hour before the bus came and we were lucky to get seats because it was surprisingly crowded.

The bus ride to Safed (also spelled Tzfat, Tsfat, and Zefad according to various signs on the way) took about three-and-a-half hours. When we got their Rachel and I decided the best course was to take a taxi to our hostel since it was uphill a ways and neither one of us trusted the street signs. So we hailed a cab and I saw my first female cab driver in Israel. She was very nice to us and asked where we were studying and what we were doing in Safed. She even recommended a few sites.

Then we checked into our hostel, which was surprisingly nice. The Safed Inn, also known as the Ruckenstein B&B offers private dormitory rooms. It's a bit secluded and about three miles from the center of Safed (the old city, the artists colony, etc) and about 3/4 mile from the nearest restaurant. However, they serve a terrific breakfast for 25 NIS (two eggs, toast, homemade jams, pastries, orange juice, and coffee or tea). I would definitely recommend the place; it's affordable, close to the bus to get into town, and the owners are incredibly nice. They also have parking for those with cars.

Anyway, after a short rest, Rachel and I decided to explore the village. Unfortunately, neither one of us had a very accurate map of Safed and so the first day we wandered aimlessly, checking out various shops and restaurants and talking to the locals.

On our second day in Safed, we decided to go to the artists' colony, the Old City, and visit the Davidka Monument. The artists' colony is fascinating and spread out, through various alleyways and stairs. Most of the shops we went into sold paintings, though there were also dozens of jewelry and pottery stores as well. All the artists spoke English and I even met a Chabadnik from San Diego, which was nice.

The one shop I really wanted to visit, the Candle Shop, was sadly closed, but the other stores more than made up for it and I bought quite a bit of artwork. Many of the dealers are willing to bargain, especially if you're firm and I was able to get some (hopefully) good deals. I would recommend avoiding the shops that offer prices in American dollars; while the artists are undoubtedly more famous, their prices are inflated and you can buy similar work for less only a few doors down.

The old city of Safed was also fascinating. Known as the Blue City, because many of the doors are painted blue, it was nice to walk around. According to my Ulpan book, Safed is known as Blue City for a few reasons including the fact that in Kabbalah blue symbolizes heaven. My book also says that the doors are painted blue because people believe flies dislike the color but I have no idea if this is true and I didn't ask anyone in Safed.

Lastly, Rachel and I visited the Davidka Monument. A homemade weapon used in the War of Independence, it helped liberate the Citadel on the night of May 9–10 1948. The monument itself was rather small and didn't seem to be a popular tourist attraction as most people just walked by but I found it fascinating. Seeing it made me want to reread "Exodus" again. And that, in a nutshell, was my visit.

Safed is a very interesting city, especially if you're interested in Kabbalah. Since we went during Sukkot, there were Sukkahs everywhere and we were even invited in to a few of them. It's best to dress somewhat conservatively, especially if you want to be taken seriously by shop owners and not be ripped off. I saw a woman spend over 50 NIS more for the same piece of artwork that I bought, so be wary and shop around. There are a lot of hidden gems if you really look hard.

And here are some pictures from my stay: