Shopping and trips on the first weekend after leaving the quarantine: “Life is stronger than anything”

Shoppers in the Carmel market have returned to enjoying the abundance, but some of the stalls have not yet opened. Sheinkin Street in the city looks as crowded as before, many walking around the shops, delicacies and confectioneries. “It’s fun to go out after quarantine, fun to be able to walk around with such a sun in the middle of winter. What needs more? Life is stronger than anything,” said Moshik, who has already received the two doses of the virus against the virus.

On the bench in the ham garden we met Batya. “I went out to breathe air. I also went down in the closure, but after an hour I went back up because I was scared. Now it’s a pleasure, you can meet people.” Batya believes that it would have been better to hold back and maintain the restrictions of the closure because the data are now encouraging. “One should not do precisely because people are dying, and one should consider others, now even when travelers need to take distance and keep the rules.”

On the other hand, Moshe Chai Tov from the town of Iros said that “I also went out in closure and was not ‘locked in’, so I do not feel release or freedom. The first closure was the most significant, but not that terrible. “People who are not sick because there must be no more closure. People were not born to be in closure, they have to go out and travel. I was vaccinated first and I am on my way to freedom.”

Tens of thousands filled the natural and flowering sites in the north. One of the most touristy areas today was near the Megiddo Dam, where thousands of flowering enthusiasts came to watch the seasonal attraction: anemone flowering.

While at other sites in the country the anemones form red carpets, here the red anemones are rare. In Megiddo they bloom in shades of pink, blue, white and purple.

Some of the hikers passed by, enjoyed the experience, posed for pictures and moved on. Others spread blankets and had a picnic in the pleasant sun. The Telner family from Ness Ziona came in a group of three generations: the grandparents, the parents and the children. Henry, the grandfather, said that meeting the grandchildren is the real joy.

“Spending time with the grandchildren and here too, in this beautiful nature, is great. I live in Yehud and there is nature around there too, but it’s just good here. The main thing is that we can finally see the grandchildren and the children. It’s definitely a good feeling.” Eran Benno added: “It is a pleasure to leave the house. Mostly to go out, to breathe air, to breathe. There is great weather.

“There is lovely nature in Ness Ziona, but we exhausted it, so we now had to encrypt a bit and see more things. The area is really really beautiful. There is a really beautiful bloom here, we also brought the bitch, who can run around a bit.” The granddaughters Talia and Ayala concluded in one sentence: “In a boring house, and here it is much more fun. Lots of greenery and flowers.”

With almost perfect timing, thousands of people came to the “Southern Red” festival in the northern Negev. Most of the hikers reached the red blossom hotspots in the Bari Forest area, Shokeda Forest, Beer Sage in front of Kibbutz Alumim and other areas such as Kissufim Forest.

A larger number of hikers are expected to arrive in the area tomorrow as well, and police have been deployed with increased forces to prevent crowds and prevent damage to agricultural land. The festival organizers offer travelers nature tours and visits to various sites where food stall owners have organized for the sale of picnic baskets with local produce such as cheeses, wines and dips.

Liat Marciano from Ashdod came with her family to the Beer Marva site in front of Kibbutz Alumim. “We waited a long time to go out into nature and breathe air, we owed it to the soul, we literally counted the days until the closure was lifted,” Marciano said. “On normal days we travel every weekend, and that has been really lacking in the last year. We are currently taking advantage of the situation because who knows what will happen next. My husband and I have been vaccinated twice already, so it feels safer to go for a walk. “

The “South Red” festival will last throughout the month. Also in the middle of the week there will be activities for the whole family in small groups according to the definitions of the Ministry of Health. The festival’s flagship events are anemone marches, balloon flights and tours of heritage sites in the northern Negev. The organizers said that the hikers are mostly careful about wearing masks and avoiding large crowds.

At the same time, the Nature and Parks Authority reported a heavy load in the Nahal Tavor Reserve. It was reported that it is recommended not to arrive at the place in the coming hours. The Jewish National Fund has announced that the Nahal Hashofet route in the Ramot Menashe forests is full to capacity. The public is asked not to come to the place.

On the other hand, the legal district of the Dan district in the police informed the safari management in Ramat Gan that they must close the site to visitors immediately. Despite a decision in the Knesset stating that the zoos will be attached to the opening regulations of the national parks, the safari management decided to close the site for fear of obtaining a closure order.

The safari said in response that “with great pain we are forced to close the safari to visitors again, even though it is a huge area of ​​about a thousand dunams that includes a savannah where visitors travel in family vehicles, and a large zoo complex of about 200 dunams where visitors move in family capsules While strictly observing all the rules of the purple character. ”

Safari CEO Oren Ben Yosef noted: “Over the past year the management has trained a professional supervision team to maintain the rules of the purple mark to allow the general public to visit the safari in the open air under a sense of enjoyment and security. “Unfortunately, despite the safari’s extensive reorganization, we are forced to close the place and disappoint everyone who expected and planned to visit the animals over the coming weekend.”

Advocate Roi Barzilai, Deputy Mayor of Ramat Gan and Chairman of the Safari, said: “We hope that in the coming days the Ministry of Health will attack the opening of the safari again in accordance with the decision of the Constitution Committee and avoid discouragement from many children and the expected chaos. They were on their way to a day of fun on the open safari. “

Meanwhile, violations of the current restrictions on exit quarantine continue. During the night, police in the center of Jerusalem located a pub with dozens of young people inside. The activity at the place was stopped, and a report was recorded for the pub owners.