Zichron Yaacov

Last Monday we went to a really nice winery near Carmel in a artist's colony called Zichron Yaacov. It was about a 2 hour drive,but the scenery was beautiful, and Rachel let me listen to her i-pod with a bunch of Israeli music on it. Once we arrived at the winery, we sampled an Emerald Reisling, a super dry Cabernet, and a sweet Muskat (which I can only remember by saying 'muskrat'). They gave us loads of olives and breads with our wine, and by the time we started out on the tour we were all full and a little drunk. The tour was interesting and we got to see all the facilities and watch a little movie about the wine there.

After buying some wine, which I'm popping open for a special occasion only, we took a short walk into the little village. In about 1914 the village was the scene of a Jewish resistance movement against Ottoman rule. Our tour guide told us the grueling tale of the Aronson family in front of their home. The movement had used carrier pigeons to communicate, and Sarah Aronson had sent them out, she was apprehended by the Turks and tortured, and then she shot herself in the head but lived for four days. Our tour guide related all of this in a lot of uncomfortable detail. She also didn't know that much English, so she was left to pantomiming much of the tale, which only added to the groups discomfort. After finishing the tale, we were dismissed for dinner. I regained my apetite and hoovered some falafel before boarding the buses again and heading home.