A message for the coming year should give guidelines to behavior that will bring positive results. For example if I was an economist I would tell you which shares to buy, or if I was rabbi I would tell you which prayers to say or which mitzvot to concentrate on. If I was a doctor, I would tell you what medicines to take, a farmer, which fields to plough and which crops to plant, a carpenter, which wood to use for making a table or a chair and so on.
For better or worse I am none of these. I am a tour guide, plain and simple and will give you some places that I have toured in the past year that I think are great and will give you much pleasure in the coming year.
My first suggestion is to visit Hadera Stream, once a polluted rut in the ground, now a beautiful park, alongside the Hadera Power Station. Here you will find wide expanses of lawns, place to picnic, shade and even a restaurant, which was closed when I visited, so don’t rely too much on it..
There is a good description of how to get there by car on Tripadvisor, so I won’t dwell on that I would prefer to suggest a walk that I have done. It begins in the park and ends at the filling station on the road leading to Caesarea National Park with an extension to see the stunning remains of the magnificent, Roman City that one glorified this place.
All you need to do is to follow the Israel Trail Markers on a pole, on the path leading away from the sea, along the river bank. from the park. The walk is about 4km.
It would be good if a group of people use two cars to reach the park, drop off the people there to wait for the return of the drivers, who will drive round to the filling station and leave one car there and with one car, the drivers can return to the park. Then when you’re all together, drivers and others, start your walk as follows:
One can also reach the park by public bus, it only takes much longer and more walking. As follows:
Start from Tel Aviv central (Arlozorof) Railway Station, also known as Savidor.
Bus 825 at the most northern stop on Namir Str. bordering the car park of the station. On the side going north. (there are several stops here and it's always a bother to know which is the correct stop) The journey takes about 45min. Check the bus times on one of those public bus apps on your smartphone like moovit.
Get off at Olga Junction (Tsomet Olga) on the busy coast road. Cross over by the pedestrian bridge to enter the town of Givat Olga (a suburb of Hadera). Walk towards Technoda, an impressive building housing a science centre for extra mural activities.(see picture).
Opposite Technoda you will find a bus stop for bus no 7 or 18. This will take you through the town of Givat Olga, get off at Menahem Begin Boulevard. (Here the bus continues to Hadera) walk towards the sea for about 100 mts then turn northwards and walk straight for about 3 km and you're there. After spending time in the park continue the walk along the Israel National Trail to Caesarea, as described above.
Unfortunately there’s no bus stop at the filling station, this is the difficult part, you need to walk about 3 km along the road leading to Hadera, under the coast road overpass, until you come to Hadera Sream Junction (tsomet Nahal Hadera) here you can catch the 825 bus back to Tel Aviv.
On my website you can find lots of pictures and descriptions of this walk and others that I’ve taken during the last year.
My wish for you and myself in the coming year is to go into the countryside, wherever you live and walk through the beauties of nature.
Wishing everyone Shana Tova usemeicha. A good and happy year.