Despite chill, thousands of Israelis travel around country over weekend
Thousands of travelers visited Israel's most beautiful natural sites, including reserves, forests, snow-backed mountains, boardwalks and more.
By MOSHE COHEN/MAARIVSpring snow on the Hermon(photo credit: ITSIK MAROM)
Approximately 100,000 travelers visited the Nature and Parks Authority's sites and parks on Saturday.Of those, 5,000 visited the Banias nature reserve, while Ein Afek and the Ayun stream had approximately 2,000 visitors at each.The national parks of Caesarea, Metsada and Yarkon had 3,000 visitors at each one. Many came to visit the KKL forest sites.There was heavy traffic at the Hermon site in particular, known for its snowy slopes and one of the only places where the people of Israel can enjoy playing in the snow.Thousands additionally visited the Tel-Aviv boardwalk, with tourists and exercisers in particular bracing the winter chill to make their way along the coast.Numerous surfers were seen between the waves as well.A special site was awaiting visitors to the Central Arava region, where snow coated the red mountains in the East.After a week of stormy and volatile weather, the coming week is expected to be slightly more pleasant, with a gentle rise in temperature and a slight clearing of the heavy clouds that have been hanging over most of Israel throughout the past week.This winter has so far been recorded as the harshest the country has seen in 28 years.
