Anne and Pascal are a French couple, she is a psychologist, he a doctor, they have three teenage children and their lives are fairly intense as you can imagine. 

The two of them have been coming to us every year for the past four years as a total escape. They stay on average for five nights, they come at different seasons, they are infinitely curious, they explore, they are delightful and we get on well with them. But when I received an email from Anne telling me that they had decided to come for ten days with the children in July, I almost panicked. 

Of course this was great! It was Anne and Pascal, Julys are slow, I am, as you surely know, a tireless advocate of extended stays in the Negev Highland and I have written an entire post on the benefits of coming here in summer! So for the above four reasons this had to be the perfect reservation. But ten days in July with three French teenagers…

I had to rise to this challenge. Taking into account that they had projects of their owns such as visiting friends in a kibbutz near Gaza and a side trip to the Dead Sea, I started studying the blog, the maps, evaluate distances, length of activities and perfect time slot for each of them in order to prepare a program which would be a mix of all the unmissable they had already done with some new activities. 

It went well; I don’t think the children were bored. They adapted to getting up at 5am, they were strong walkers, they enjoyed the evening activities and they enjoyed their mid-day siestas reading, I should note, classical literature and philosophy. In fact we didn’t manage to do more than about 70% of my program, so there is still more to do for next year!

I asked Anne and Pascal to sent me a report on their visit for the blog and this is what they sent me.  Thank you Anne and Pascal! And thank you for letting us use your pictures.

Bringing our teenage kids to the Negev desert for their summer holiday… An audacious but successful gamble!

What is the family going to do for the summer holiday? This reccuring question is always a source of animation during our winter meals… This year, the parents prudently made an out-of-the-box suggestion, beginning with reassurance to the kids that there will be wifi… and we were all ready for an adventure in the Negev desert (South in Biblical Hebrew) in Israel.

Granted, the choice wasn’t completely left to chance: we had discovered the place during several romantic getaways. A place were the magic of the desert takes place, a place of spectacular scenaries, a place where awaits us the warm hospitality of Marion and John Krivine. Midreshet Ben Gurion, a village at the edge of a vertiginous cliff overlooking an untamed valley at the feet of rocky mounts of all colors. A breathtaking landscape…

Are you seriously going to isolate yourself int he desert in the middle of July? With teenagers aged 13 to 19? Faced with the dubious reactions from our Orleans acquaintances, we felt compelled to present our arguments: “do you know that the geographical situation, the altitude, the dryness, the frequent breeze guarantee that the temperatures will compare with those of the summer in Orleans? You just have to make the most of the fresh hours and adopt the Mediterranean lifestyle. We give up trying to convince… in the meantime. Because a comparative reading of the weather forecast during our stay will give a quick and irrevocable verdict: a heatwave in Orleans that surpassed by 5 degrees the maximum temperatures in the Negev!

Living the Mediterranean lifestyle involves a bit of efforts. In order to make the most of the morning freshness, we have to get up at 5-5.30 am… Yes, teenagers included! Equipped with good water stocks, we are rewarded by an astonishing sunrise over the Zin Valley with John,

the beautiful descent into Nahal Karkash with Marion,

a beautiful and most exotic hike in the heights of the Ramon crater (Mount Ardon), guided by John and Marion, 

with it’s colorful sands,

and the discovery of water in the desert: Ein Akev, with a rewarding bath after an approach by mountain bike (with teenagers still in good enough form for a winning breakaway on the way back!)

 –  Ein Avdat, it’s impressing gorge and the freshness of it’s water… Every morning a different adventure.

When we return by 10 am, it is to enjoy the pleasure of breakfast with Marion and John on the terrace: Marion’s Israeli salad is a winner! It is the time for animated discussions…

then comes the siesta in the freshness of our rooms. No-one needs encouragement. Later on for the most courageous, a dive in the swimming-pool of the Midrasha.

Around 4-5 pm, our energy comes back. There are so many sites to discover. 10 days aren’t too much! Visit of the ancient Nabatean cities such as Avdat and Shivta, to learn about the history of these people and the spice road.

Beer Sheva, the capital of the Negev, is partying. With John and Marion, we discover it’s summer night street show, hand craft fair, lights, music, dance, food, good spirit…

Sunset at the culminating point of the Negev (Mount Ramon)

and impromptu encounter with a herd of wild asses ( a rare sight).

Moving experience at night fall in the dunes close to the Egyptian border, close to Nitzana. Beautiful starry sky, astronomy session, 

tracking of scorpions, nocturnal snakes and desert rodents,

tea, desert poike on a bonfire

and even a session of sandboarding which left our teenagers with an amusing souvenir of some parental achievements…

The Dead Sea is not so far and the younger generation is eager to discover these particular sensations of a bath. We drive East and on the way, we don’t miss anything of the magnificient landscape of the smaller craters, the Yeruham Makhtesh or Big Crater with it’s incredible colorful sands and the small crater and it’s bowls retaining the water, overlooking this sea of salt is just spectacular.

Getting up early didn’t prevent us from enjoying nocturnal activities, among them, most notable the descent of Naha Haverim around midnight, enjoying the surnatural light of the full moon. Hard to imagine tenting this experience without John and Marion. Just as we would never have discovered the Bedouin city of Rahat without them.

It is already the end of our stay… 10 days were not enough to discover everything the Negev has to offer. Far from it! Parents and children are delighted with our holiday… We promise to come back!