The two days we spent in Metulla were both amazing but this day we got to spend the full day together as Shakes picked us up in the morning to give us the Eli Cohen tour , for those of you that know the story or have watched the new Sacha Baron Cohen show called The Spy . If you have not watched it do yourself a favour and get going ... now ! We got into his car and began driving to Golan Heights which was once territory of Israel’s neighbour Syria and was a big part of the Eli Cohen story . He helped Israel take this territory which was a stronghold due to its proximity and the obvious reason of being above everything . As everyone knows there is some haters in this region and when you realize where we are it may seem a bit scary . Lebanon is just next door also and Metulla is surrounded on 3 of 4 sides by hostility .... I heard some really crazy stories while there and the best part is that they always end with me asking if it freaks people out knowing that they are so close to war and the answer is always the same ... NO ! People don’t live in fear here knowing this and even knowing that this region lies on a fault that at any day can erupt and when I say erupt I mean because of an earthquake . Apparently there is one every 100 years or so and at the moment they are past that 100 year mark which for me would be another major concern but people here still live great lives and don’t worry about much .
As we were up on the mountain we could see a Syrian city in the distance and obviously as I looked over I was waiting for explosions or some noise coming from their civil war . For me personally it was a bit of a freaky experience and as the day grew longer and we visited other sites in this region we began to hear more stories . After having a coffee we went to the next stop which I’m not sure what the name was but it was an area where there was a huge tank war and there were tanks there for tourists to visit that were not in use and just over the hill were tanks that were on stand by .... I’m sure some of you heard about the drone that was shot down here recently ? That’s why those tanks are here !!! From what I’ve gathered there are Iranian forces helping the Syrian war (not sure what side) and they seem to have their eye on them as it could be just a reason to get closer to Israel . We got some cool pics with the tanks and began to head to a Druze village for lunch but first things first ... I need a picture near a field of land mines ?!?!?
As I stood there I was shaking and I’m not even exaggerating because I knew one wrong step and I could become the next victim . Apparently these signs have just been put up recently as a child found out what these mines can do and ended up losing a leg . I could use both legs for hockey tonight 🤪once we hit the road we came across this massive wild pig that was dead on the side of the road , these bad boys are dangerous also . Is there anything here that can’t kill you ??? We actually turned back to see it a bit closer and man that thing was rank , damn near made me puke it smelled so bad . Just what we needed to get us hungry hahaha ! Wish I remembered the name of this Druze Village and you’re probably wondering what Druze is and I was also . The Druze are an Arabic speaking esoteric ethno-religious group which live peacefully amongst others and are very much accepted in this region even with all this cross border non sense . I don’t know too much about them but will definitely dig deeper when I find the time . Basically they are an off shoot of the Islamic faith . We went to a restaurant called Nisan and when we got there Shakes introduced us to how people eat in Israel .... they eat massive lunches with 3 giant appetizers and main course meals that nobody can finish hahaha 😆 we had Tabouli and two plates that had hummus , one with peppers and the other with mushrooms and we all ordered our mains ..... shakes had wings , I had schnitzel and Andi had a salad and I’m not sure if he knew we had an appetizer of salad to go with his other salad but it all looked delicious as I jumped in head first and stuffed my face . Good thing they have takeaway containers !
After our pig out session which is the norm here ... lunch is the main meal and dinner is supposed to be a snack . Let’s see about that lol 😝 we headed down past a place called Nimrod Fortress .... yes Nimrod and no it doesn’t hold the same meaning as it does back home you dumbass . We got a brief history of this fella but my mind was all over the place as we headed to the water fall there which was dry when we arrived . They actually get snow up in these mountains but not at this time of year and we were told that people drive up there to put snow on their cars to drive back to Tel Aviv which is a thing to do here apparently . After all this sight seeing and eating we became a bit lethargic and when Shakes dropped us off at our hotel which now has other guests we decided it’s a good time for a nap 😴 as Shakes had some things to do .
We have our second ice time here with the hockey academy which I think is what they would call it ? They are in the midst of changing the name and when Shakes messages me after reading this I will probably have to correct it .... I think they want to rename it Israeli Ice Hockey Academy but I could be wrong . Ice time is 8 pm and we will roll the car over around 7 to see how wet our gear is from last night as we were allowed to leave our stuff in the room . When we got to the rink our gear seemed more wet then when we left ... it was not a pleasure putting that stuff back on and any hockey player knows that feeling . It’s like jumping in a pool with your clothes on and then wearing them for an hour while getting more wet and trying to play a game . I know life goes on .... we were greeted by everyone that entered the room as Shakes has been a fantastic host introducing us to everyone and making us look like celebrities . Today’s skate is full ice with no practise , just shinny with three lines on each team and each line is based on skill level with top skaters that represent the national team on first line , second line was juniors and the third line was small children and beginner adults ... there were also a few females playing and the other goalie was actually a young lady also who I may add was pretty good at the other end of the rink . I would say she got more action then I did for the better part of the hour and held her own as I seemed to get lucky having the stronger squad on my side . A bit more then halfway through we switched sides and now I have Shakes shooting on me .... he scored of course 😔 much to my chagrin and anyone that knows the both of us knows that we have always been competitive amongst each other . And yes I got some taunting when he popped one by me 😤 everyone was having a great time and we ended up staying on the ice longer then expected as time does fly when having fun .
After the skate which was such a blast we had to take some pics and then I challenged Shakes to a breakaway competition and I told him if he pops three out of 5 by me then I will buy the beers after .... let’s just say I bought the beers 🍻 and since this is my blog I can say that the video evidence we recorded made me actually look good but all of us on that ice pad know who really won that little competition. We were in a hurry to get to the shop for a beer before getting to the pizza parlour for yes ... more food ! Half a pizza later and a couple yummy pints with the federation president Levav Weinberg and some truly unbelievable stories he told us which I’m still laughing about in my head , we began discussing international hockey and he expressed his dream to have neighbouring countries there to practise and play with them with no politics involved . I messaged Adil El Farj and put them in contact and I really hope to witness all of this come to fruition because hockey should not hold any political grudges !!! We should all stop the bullshit and get together and play the game we all love . I’m saying this now but I’m telling you that Levav has the exact same sentiments and he is such an awesome person and I can only wish that he gets to share their nice hockey facility with their neighbours .... he really would like to see Lebanon and other Arab nations joining them to make this a reality . I think the IIHF would be so happy to see this happen and I’m sure the rest of the world would also ....
Most of the guys had things to do and left and myself , Andi , Shakes and Ben went to play some pool at the local student bar which was awesome . I’m not a big pool player and it was evident in the way I played as I mucked up almost every shot and thankfully my partner was Shakes as we played others in the bar ... winner stays on , they have different rules here then we do back home and I had to learn them on the fly as you do when playing games for the first time . At the end of the evening I took a roadie back to my hotel as we said bye to Shakes who I can’t thank enough for just being awesome to us both .... now it’s time to stink up my room with my goalie equipment as it needs to be dried out before my next flight .
Time flies when you are having fun and these last two days in Metulla were way too short . I would love to thank Levav and the federation for welcoming us with open arms and it was so amazing to meet everyone we met while we were there ... please stay in touch and I personally hope to hear of some unlikely relationships to grow within our hockey community . Lebanon get over and play some hockey with these guys and forget the politics ! Same goes to any other nation that has issues politically with Israel ... stop the nonsense and play some puck . ✌️
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