Safed beautiful place

A visit to the city of Safed (Tsfat) - with its magnificent mountaintop setting and fresh, clean mountain air, is a heavenly experience.  

The ancient Galilean city is the highest city in Israel, and commands a breathtaking view of the Galilee in the winter with its green mountains and the white snow-capped peak of Mount Hermon. 

Safed is a picturesque city of spiritual people and artists, wrapped in mysticism and mystery, and steeped in sacred atmosphere. Visitors to Safed sense the city’s warm embrace as they wander through its alleyways past charming stone houses with their artists’ studios and workshops. 

Safed is one of the four holy cities in Israel. It has been a spiritual center since the 1600s when it was the center of Kabbala (Jewish mysticism). The Kabbalist mystics lived, studied, taught, and wrote in the city and many of the graves are objects of veneration.  

The ancient picturesque alleyways of the Jewish quarter contain hidden niches and beautiful synagogues whose rich past emanates from the high ceilings, colorful decorations, and ancient Torah scrolls.  

The artists’ quarter is located in what was previously the Arab quarter of Safed.  Artists reside and work in their studios in the ancient and magnificent houses, and their paintings and artifacts fill the display windows and can be viewed while walking through the narrow alleyways. 

Safed also has exciting museums that relate the city’s history, luxurious hotels that preserve its antique character, and a huge Crusader fortress.  It also hosts numerous festivals that are rich in color and atmosphere.  

To visit Safed - with the grapevines growing up the arbors of its stone houses, the decorated iron gates, the beautiful panorama that is visible from the verandas, and the winding cobblestone alleyways, is like strolling through a painting.  It is a city for vacationers and tourists, a city of artists and rabbis, history and tradition. 

Israel Diving in The Red Sea

Situated at the southern most tip of Israel on the Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea, Eilat nestles between jagged red mountains and crystal clear waters, ruffled by nothing more then a gentle northerly breeze. 
The year-long hot, dry climate attracts not only tourists from colder reaches, but also provides a haven for myriad coral and fish species endemic to the bay.

The city of Eilat is a great choice as a dive holiday destination. The Red Sea is a narrow and elongated stretch of blue water, bordered by mountains with an average height of 1,000 – 1,500 meters, with peaks over 2,500 meters above sea level. It is connected to the Indian Ocean at the strait of Bab el Mandab – the gate of tears and to the Gulf of Aqaba at the straits of Tiran. The shallow depths of the straits at only 134 meters are avoiding the accesses of cold waters from the deep Indian Ocean to the Red Sea. 
Although the Gulf of Aqaba is very narrow, with 23.5 km at the widest point, it is very deep with a maximum of 1,829 meters at the deepest point – a fact that creates a very steady water temperature of between 22º to 28º Celsius all year long. 
The coast of the Red Sea is bordered by coral formations with more than 1,200 species of fish and more than 250 species of corals. The desert climate of the area provides a long summer with many sunny days needed by the corals to maintain themselves.

At Eilat you can find world class diving. The local nature reserve hosts a reef of more than 1,200 meters long. It is the northern point at the world in which corals can be found. Divers from all over the world arrive to Eilat to view its wonderful underwater wonders. 
Diving is very popular at this region, with more than 10 dive centers at Eilat and over 20 different dive sites, almost all of which are accessed from shore. Eilat is vary often used as a home base to divers traveling to the city of Aqaba at Jordan, or the Sinai peninsula at Egypt, but you will find no safer and diver friendly dive destination all around the world!

Eilat offers the best environment for dive courses and a few thousand certifications are issued every year. If you're interested in diving, there are a few options.

 As a certified diver you will be asked to show the following documents:

1.     Diving certificate – a card with name and picture from a known dive organization (such as PADI, CMAS, NAUI, SSI, IANTD, TDI, ACUC, and others).

2.     Divers log book – indicating you have been diving in the last 6 months. Divers who haven't been diving more than 6 months will be asked to join a refresh dive before they participate in other dive activities.

3.  Divers Insurance – specific divers insurance which covers recompression chamber treatment or any other necessary medical treatment for diving incident.