I was thinking it would be an adventure to ride in Israel while the country is at war, and I wasn't wrong. I had two tours last month, a 7-day tour with US and Canadian riders in April and a 5-day tour with riders from the US and Australia in May. Of course, I made sure we stayed away from the northern border but aside of that, both tours went as planned and all riders enjoyed it quite a lot. In fact, on the first tour we witnessed the massive attack on Israel that came from Iran. On April 14th we spent the night in a glamping resort on the north shores of the Dead Sea when remote noise of explosions woke us up at around 1:30am. When we went out of the tent and looked up, we saw hundreds of missiles right above our heads being intercepted by Iron Dome, aircrafts and the Arrow missiles outside the atmosphere. For more than 20 minutes we had a front row seat the worlds' most amazing spectacle, a real star war that happened right above us.
Put that aide, both tours went incredibly well, the weather, the routes, the sites, the food and wine and most of all the people were all top notch. It reminded me why I like my job so much :-)
Here are some images of the amazing places we visited with our bikes.
At the top of Mt. Sodom, overlooking the Dead Sea. The road there is simply amazing and goes through a snake-like Sodom river where you get to ride on walls.
At the En Uvdat oasis in the Negev desert. Fresh water in the middle of a hot desert day.
At the Baptism site, where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.
At the Dead Sea, riding on salt...
At the Golan heights in a Yom Kipur war memorial.
With my fellow riders at the Dead Sea at 46 degrees...
Having fun at the Jordan valley
Israel is one of the most amazing places to visit, especially on a bike. Don't mind what you see on the news, Israel is safe and beautiful and flourishing and empty of tourists so NOW is the time to come and enjoy it.
My next tour is on the last week of October 2024. www.desertroad.bike
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