That bread up there was sooo good, now currently living in my freezer in Madrid 😉

Saturday was my last full day in Israel, so there was one thing, and only one thing, that I knew I wanted to accomplish.

Breakfast.  Specifically, Israeli breakfast.  I wanted the whole shebang- the 15 little plates of salad this and salad that.  But, unfortunately, I wasn’t absolutely thrilled with what I got.  Here’s a picture of the appetizer (mushrooms, which were good), and then I split the Breakfast for two with my mom, but it just didn’t do it for me.  Bummer!  

We went to Benedict, which pops up on every “best breakfast list” and gets so many rave reviews.  Personally, I thought it was overpriced and overrated, which was a bummer!

The nice thing about breakfast was that my cousin and her son were able to join us, and I have only met them a couple others times in my life.  

After breakfast, we all changed and headed out to the beach, which was my second most wanted thing (behind breakfast haha)

The day was beautiful and I even went swimming, which I normally don’t do!  But the water was so clear and warm, it called to me 😉 .

After the entire day on the beach, the sun started to set so we headed to the Airbnb for showers and to get changed and head to dinner.  We went to Abu Zaki based off of a recommendation from a friend and it was INCREDIBLE.  If you want Israeli/ Middle-Eastern food, go there and order the Mezze and a couple other plates to share.  Highly recommended!!!

After walking home, we passed out and were up bright and early for another really cool day!  My dad was able to get in touch with distant cousins (that didn’t know we existed) and they kindly invited us over where we had an incredible afternoon. 

They were the sweetest, most hospitable people and really, we are just strangers. But I guess family is family and I feel so lucky to have met them!! They picked us up from the train, took us to their beautiful home and we sat in the backyard enjoying decadent treats and chatting about everything.

 It was really amazing to be able to sit around and chat, my dad and his cousin sharing stories and collecting names to add to our ever-growing family tree.

Such an incredibly sweet woman, as was the rest of the family!  When they had already offered us plenty, there was a beautiful lunch spread waiting for us inside.

We snapped a couple more photos and then they were so very kind and offered to drive me to the airport!  We all said our goodbyes, and just a few hours later I touched down in Madrid.  I was a complete anxious mess on that flight, flooded with a lot of emotions and questions and uneasiness, but as the days have passed, so has that uneasiness.  Now I feel so, so lucky to have been there, in Tel Aviv, with so many people that are family.  What an amazing trip!