In Israeli wedding ceremonies all the happiness always ends up with breaking the glass to remember that in everything whole there’s something broken. To remember that everything is not perfect. Even with the bread , after you make the whole bread, you take out some from the dough (In jewish religion it is called the mitzvah of separating challah (hafrashat challah) and everyone does it) to remember everything is never perfect and we create a new movement of taking out something and giving out something.




Here, we take a portion of bread out, keep it separate, bake it separate and offer it to the birds. Sometimes in Jewish culture this portion of bread is given to the priests. This is believed to bring blessings into life.





 Reminds you of India? Well, how the world is connected. My mom always keep a portion of dough separate in India before making chapatis as an offering to the universe. A gentlemen from India said this practice dates back to even Romans on what they believe is you are never alone in the universe. Another gentlemen from India said, that one of his friend, sprinkles drinks around before drinking because the first potion is for spirits and left over is to enjoy. Even the 10th guru has said that one must donate 1/10 of their earnings to charity. So if you have read my first blogpost, you would know how similar India is and how Israelis are fond of culture too in parallel.

The women behind the initiative

 Today, It’s a story of a women for who bread making is an intimate experience that gives her power and confidence to do something. Its been 6 years she’s into it after her broken marriage. She met her own independence with her passion for bread making and she sells quite a lot. She said she could do more even, but her 5 kids take time, and its a step by step process. One day they will grow up and it’ll all be more together.

 A place not so far from Tel Aviv situated in Givat Yeshayahu village at Aela Valley you can learn the art of bread making as we did. Now most of the work in bread making goes into cleaning afterwards.


It doesn’t take a lot of time to make bread. Today, we were learning how to make homemade bread, not made out of white flour that we get in markets which is not healthy, but made out of whole wheat flour and spelt flour which was soft and healthy. Spelt flour also gives very nice color and we were making it fresh.. yey! Add on whole seeds , leaves and dry fruits to make it more healthy. Between have you guys tried making bread before?

The Process of Bread Making







 So we add sieved flour in grape water and salt, and yeast. She said, we need very little of yeast to make sour dough. Instead of water, or in place of water, you could use orange juice, apple juice or even red wine. That adds many flavors and she said, its very interesting because people would then wonder what has gone inside it , the flavors and smell would be different. We start kneading after making the dough. The water needed is 65% of the flour usually. She said ‘the most energy that you need is by kneading the dough. Brings out all your argerness and everything.. and instead of shouting on your better half making bread calms your mind’

 Just like gardening, When the hands touches the soil, it helps. Like therapy.

 There is no instant recipe for making bread. Every day you can start from 300 gm of bread and start making the dough. It might take 2 weeks to make a good bread. When I started making it, after a few months it started becoming fine, so he said, preserve the 1st one for the children they would know that its not from the first time you had it perfect. Kids think their parents are perfect from the first time. But its like pottery. It needs practice.







    We made our first breads and as first timers, we could make out we needed more practice ! :)

 It started very small, we had some storage and some warehouse. So I just put an oven there and I started baking bread and fell in love with it. I would try all the night on it. People started coming in and I kept a coffee machine because people would have bread with coffee. And it got bigger and I got a chance to pursue my passion. She said, she doesn’t make many types of bread to confuse people, rather she makes 5 different types so that people could easily choose.

 So let’s watch my short vlog on our bread making experience: How to make bread in Israel

Hope you visit them during your visit to Tel Aviv, Israel. Till then tada. Let’s talk about the dead sea/ masada/ jaffa/ night life of tel aviv/ boutique hotels/ the complete travel vlog/food,wine and cheese in the subsequent posts!

To know more about Israel: visit Israel Tourism website.

This land had once turned into a deadlock, the blood was making the sea red. When you dive, you see the huge battleships, including HMS irresistible even armor guns of ships pointing towards Turkey positions. 




 If Military History excites you, this place which I am going to talk about in Turkey looks peaceful , undisturbed and calm with the ANZAC cove , in fact its very scenic site to visit but has the military history of deadliest bloodshed which was doomed to failure due to failed attempts by General Hamilton of British Military and Churchill. A rare example of how failed and rushed planning can cost many lives.


 The guide at our bus said ‘Let me ask you guys, we always ask the visitors if they had any one known who had died in the Gallipoli Campaign. One of the travelers had come all the way to visit the cemetery where one of his relative has died’. The guide also told us, I wouldn’t know if any of my relatives were dead here, because by 1930’s Turkish people had no surnames. Also the casualties from Turkey were very less compared to the rivals. In fact, the evaluation was more successful than the attack, it was more planned. The few soldiers felt ashamed of leaving the dead bodies and the graves and return back. Today there are no survivors of Gallipoli campaign - The first world war site.



 Now, after Kanchanaburi in Thailand which is a site of second world war, this was my second visit to a place that holds very significant Military history. Coincidentally, we recover from the pains of the past, and what remains are stories of yesteryear fights and struggles, but this place would indeed move you because this is a vast area with many points of views and graves with quotes and is scenic too! I mean if no one had told me before, I would have thought 'Such a nice place!'





 The youngest soldier of it was an Australian named Fredrick just 15 years 10 months old who died here. He lied about his age when joining army, he said he was 17. When he had wanted to join the army, his family didn’t let him so he told them he will find a way went ahead with his free will and eventually joined army. During the campaign he lost his life - he was the youngest kid in action.



Dardanelles , the narrow channel which separates Europe from Asia was one of the most fought over seaways in the world which links the black sea and Russia with the medirrentarian. Turkey(a then ally of Germany) was a backdoor to Europe. During the first world war, Churchill (political head of royal navy) believed that naval attack would soon break it down. The British and French had old warships.



 In Feb, 1915, the battleships started bombarding the forts of dardanelles. Churchill believed that Turkish soldiers would surrender once they saw the navy threatening their capital Constantinople.

 Constantinople is today’s Istanbul. The Ottomans were living in the narrowest part of dardanelles. Ottoman Empire was in bad condition during the beginning of the first world war, and was known as the Big Man of Europe. Before Gallipoli, Ottoman empire had 9 more battles. There were around 90,000 Turkish soldiers sent to fight with Russia and there were many causalities.






The Ottomans

In those days, the two most powerful empires was the British Empire and the German Empire. In the young groups of Ottoman, a leader emerged, and he had an agreement with Germany. So British empire said we are not sending Battleships to you, because you may use it against us. This was a big opportunity to Germany and they send the Ottomans 2 battleships. But in 1914, these battleships bombarded some of Russian harbors with German Flags and they had Ottoman Flags and Ottoman uniform. so everyone thought that the attack was by Ottomans, and a war was declared by British and the Russians to Turkey and they thought they could easily get via dardanelles and once they do the naval attack they would capture Constantinapole, the current Istanbul.

 In 1915, 18 rebel ships came to the channel of dardanelles and day by day they were bombarding the Canakkale side and the peninsula side. All the 18 battleships, had entered the channel of dardanelles. As they came closer, they opened fire. By Ottomans, an establishment of mine fields and mine waters were set to place, so there are many bunkers on this strait. The first attempt had failed.



The strategy was then to land troops at 6 beach points at different points of peninsula and make the naval attack a success.

 The name of the Turkish International Airport is Ataturk. Ataturk was the best commander of Turkey during world war I. Ataturk means father of the Turks, and after the defeat of Ottoman Empire, he led the movement.

Ataturk came to know about the landings in the ANZAC cove, and then he came to a position. Hamilton troops were mix of regular soldiers from all over the empire, french colonial troops and they were joined by ANZACS, volunteer from Australia and New Zealand who were still partly trained. That’s why you’d see a lot of Australians and New Zealanders here who had either come to pay respect to their ancestors who gave their life.



 The other soldiers would land on 5 beaches at the end of Galipolli peninsula, 3000 ANZACS would land at ANZAC cove. Naval bombardments succeeded in bombarding the Turkish forts and guns, but by then the Turkish army came to know of attacks. The turks started constructing defenses. More than 200 allied ships had gathered bringing troops and equipment. They climbed up the steep hill with their ammunition. The first attack succeeded at one of the beach point because the Turkish army had unanticipated the climb.

Barbed wire under the water and the Turkish Defense

At other points, however, the landings were deadly. The allied soldiers were faced with heavy fire by Turkish soldiers and by barbed wires beneath the water.

When the soldiers jumped into the water, the barbed wire would tear open their stomachs and the water would turn red. 400 men died in the landings.

The Heavy Firing & The Missed goal

The landings at V beach was very deadly. There were 2000 troops in the ships, Lt Colonel Williams, his optimism was premature to think that there was no disturbance. The ships ran short from the landings by the winds, 2km ahead of the area and didn’t reach the beach. As the soldiers came out of ship doors and gates and jumped in the water, the heavy firings by turks was one of the bloodiest landings ever heard of. By the end of first day, the troops were supposed to have captured Achi Baba the hill, however they were still struggling with the beach.

More Bloodbath

The plans by Hamilton were failing as the maps they were using was 60 years old with some of which points didn’t even excisted / couldn’t find. There were 5000 soldiers killed and wounded, and many were left unattended. The dardanelles campaigns was supposed to be for a few weeks, but even after 6 months there was no progress, so General Hamilton thought they would land on Suvla bay which was a easier flat beach up north the ANZAC cove. Twice as many troops were deployed. There was no bombardment in the area. Although the flat beach was easier to land, it was surrounded by high hills. Once again the planning by British army failed because they started enjoying the beach celebrating victory of some sort as they had advanced equipment and ammunition and the landings was successful , than thinking the victory would be of who reaches the hill first. The turks reached high grounds and there was bigger bloodshed with massive deaths. They opened fire on the allies, not even giving them a minute to survive from up above the hill.






 There are many cementories in the area owing to so many deaths. Many of these soldiers have stories of survival and struggle, one of which is carrying wounded soldiers on a donkey of an Indian soldier. There is also a Turkish cemetery memorial. The gentlemen in Gallipoli campaign shared ciggertaes and chocolates too. There are many diaries in the memorial. All the trenches are original and there is an australian tunnel(300 metres) where ANZAC soldiers were carrying the indonesian soldiers.

 57th regiment to respect them is still here. In one of the cemetery, there is a lone pine there. There are names written on the wall. In one of the cemetery, an old man statue is there who used to love soldiers who survived the Gallipoli campaign. Before he lost his life in 1994, he and the last australian soldier met each other. In our hotel, there was a big picture of them.

You need a whole day to visit this site, and probably a good travel agent / guide too to understand what is so significant about this place. I would highly recommend Travel Shop Turkey and their services for this one. The guide was very well informed, we boarded their bus in Istanbul , and he got us, hooked to all the stories he told us plus the beautiful site.

It takes 5 hours to reach Gallipoli. Canakkale is a small fishing town, but we really liked it. We even gate crashed a jazz bar for free!







All in all, I hope you like it. And if you did, give me a thumbs up. Coming up next, Troy Turkey.

Imagine yourself immersed in the locales similar to the train journey from the animated movie polar express. Such are the winters of #Switzerland were snow is more than a tease ; its like a dream. It was where, I took my go pro out the train window and decided to capture the fluffy snow and the gliding train. The sense of adventure propelled my desire to explore further. 




 The legends of folk stories of the mountains are mesmerizing. It is said that the mountains monk(Monch ) protects the virgin ( Jungfrau) from the beast (Eiger mountains) . The land made famous in India by our Yash Chopra, we also have a train dedicated to Yash Chopra which you can’t miss. Take the ride in Yash Chopra Train at Jungfrau railways. His contribution towards Interlaken is so immense that in May 2016, a statue of him was unveiled in Interlaken.





Jungfraujoch is hugely popular with tourists from India. Bundles of snow and view of glaciers with ease of accessibility with timely trains, makes it an ideal place to go in winters #winterlaken. Since winters are near, let’s also talk about our speedy sledge run through hairpin bends at the foot of Eiger North Face in snow.

There are plenty of events and activities to do during winters including Skiing, Ice Fishing, Zip lining and Ice Skating.

 If you haven’t checked my previous two blog posts please do, we were in Switzerland in January, we rented our jackets and got ourselves going in the popular picturesque halt of Switzerland - Interlaken. If you wish to know more about culture of Switzerland, cheese and yodeling etc etc, check my series of post from my earlier travel.

 So where is Jungfrau ?

 The Jungfraujoch is situated halfway between Interlaken and Fieschat at 3,454 m above sea level with the Sphinx observatory . This striking building is not only seen as the Top of Europe for the tourists, but also one of the best equipped research stations in the whole world.

 So, how do we reach Jungfrau? 

By taking a train from Interlaken to Jungfrau:

The train into the mountain leaves from Kleine Scheidegg, which can be reached by trains from Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen via Wengen. The train enters the tunnel running eastward through the Eiger shortly above Kleine Scheidegg. Before arriving at the Jungfraujoch, it stops for a few minutes at two other stations, Eigerwand (on the north face of the Eiger) and Eismeer (on the south side), you can see through the holes excavated from the mountain. The journey from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch takes approximately 50 minutes including the stops; the downhill return journey taking only 35 minutes.





If you travel via Grindelwald you can best sit on the right for the best view. In Grindelwald, you change to the train to Kleine Scheidegg. You can either sit on the left for an up close view of the Eiger North face or on the right for a wider view across the mountains.

 If you choose to travel via Lauterbrunnen you can best sit on the right of the train when departing from Interlaken. You'll have a slightly better view that way. After changing trains in Lauterbrunnen, the best view in the train to Kleine Scheidegg is again on he right.

For travel to Jungfrau its better to use your Swiss Pass than book independently.  The round trip cost is 204 CHF but with swiss pass you do get some discounts (25-50%) and the cost may reduce to about CHF 133.

The route we took was

Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen
Lauterbrunnen to Kleine
Kleine to Jungfrau





 Now the thing with the mountains is that you often would wonder, how is it that these routes are carved, isn’t there chances of avalanche? Yes, as the global warming is warming up the regions including this part of Switzerland, there is a permanent process of erosion in the mountains and the melting of snow into water. That is why nets are installed, in the regions higher up, because that’s where more risk is and the net helps contain what falls down. At places where there are heavy chances of avalanches, the train goes through tunnels. It’s magnificent to see how its planned, however , the construction of Jungfrau cogwheel Railways wasn’t easy.



The construction of Jungfrau Railways




 It all came from an idea of a Swiss Industrialist Adolf Zeller who was hiking in the region. The railway king wanted to blast a tunnel through the rock of Eiger and Monch and construct a cogwheel railway to the Jungfrau Summit. Local folks saw the touristic potential and supported his plan. In 1896, the construction began with 100 Italian laborers. In 1898, it started with the blast work of tunnels. A miners daily wage was only 4.6 francs. It was a hard life for the miners, as they also used to work in the winters, sleeping there,as they couldn’t go back because there was no train, so they had to bring all their stuff at the beginning of the winter and stay there for 6 months.The workers made rapid progress in the tunnel however in one of the blasts of 1899, the explosive claimed 6 lives. Strikes happened but the work goes on and two stations were opened Eiigerwand and Eismeer. Then in 1905, financial problems forced the work to be suspended for 2 years also it was very difficult because it was in the glacier and the glacier moves. In 1912, the miners used more dynamite than its permitted and blast through to daylight. The shout of ‘ through' echoes along the tunnel and the masterpiece of the final station of Jungfraujoch happened.

 The First sector of Jungfrau cogwheel railways was completed in 1819-1823 and the first station is at 7000 feet, where the train stops for a while, and you can get down and click pictures from the windows.





 The second sector was completed in 1912, which is 13000 feet.

 It took 16 year construction period and 16 million francs to construct the Jungfrau railways. 

It has to be special. Not only that this has to be special, this has to be well-planned and kept.


The Matterhorn is one of the highest peak of Europe but Jungfrau is the highest accessible mountains hence called the Top of Europe.

 SnowpenAir: A musical concert in Snow 

If you happen to arrive at Kleine during the first week of April, be aware of the festival ‘SnowpenAir' SnowpenAir is an open air concert on snow in Kleine Scheidegg, in breathtaking scenery at 2061 metres above sea level, is the musical highlight of the winter season. Year after year, world famous stars rock the stage.

Other events like Ski world championships happens in January, Jungfrau marathon in September and NBA and cricket as well.

 The Deadly Eiger 


             Hotel Bellevue des Alpes and the Eiger from Kleine Scheidegg railway station

You would see Eiger mountains from the Kleine station. The Eiger mountains is also called the beast because there have been many deaths (more than 60) climbing Eiger during early attempts in 1939 and after. The Eiger is a steep climb with the risk to avalanches. Today experienced free climbers can climb it in 2-4 hours.

 Reaching the Jungfrau Complex and Sphinx 

 Now when we’ll reach at the top, there’s a main complex directly from the station hall, where coffee bar is located on the right and tour directions on the left. You would also pass through some souvenir shops here, however if you wish to buy souvenir best place would be interlaken. The first attraction of the tour is Jungfrau Panorama a 4 min cinematic experience. Then would come Alpine Sensation which is a tour with images through history of Jungfrau railway construction.


Make sure you take the fastest elevator of Switzerland up to another 350 feet in 27 seconds to the Sphinx Terrace (3571m).

 The Sphinx is a highlight of sorts. When we went, it was very windy there however the views from the vantage terrace was sensational with the views over Aletsch glacier and on clearer days, you could even see Vosges in France and Germany’s black forest.The Swiss flag waves from the vantage terrace to high and white Swiss alps. 

Be careful with your equipments i.e mobile phones though, the vantage terrace is like a grid at base, so if anything falls, it might just end up where you can never find i.e lost somewhere in the alps. Also wear gloves, if its windy.




For most tourists, including us, it was a moment of awe! It was stunning! From the other side of the research station, you could go a little out in the snow for a breather :)




 Ice Palace 





Another spectacular place to visit in Jungfrau is the Ice Palace. Human creations are sometimes so breathtaking, this one is one of them. For one reason, that this ice palace is reconstructed many times after its creation in 1930’s, because ice melts. And due to heat generated by such large numbers of visitors and global warming, the section has to be constantly kept in temperatures of -3. There are mazes inside the ice palaces where you can walk and also sculptures made of ice. Some parts of ice palace moves up to 15 cm per year.


 Lindt Chocolate Shop 

 There is also a Lindt chocolate shop in Jungfau and I have heard that you get some flavors which you wouldn’t get anywhere else.

 Eiger - Run Sledding Trail (3 km)

Departure by train from Jungfraujoch to Alpiglen.

 This is a must do activity for all adrenaline seekers. Feel the tingle of wind, as you maneuver with ropes of manual sledge (there are no auto controls) to change directions in the downhill track with curves and steep twists at times. It feels similar to go carting on snow but in this case you are on a mountain with tracks. The only brakes are your legs and your hands are your rope twister. It runs really fast, and you have to be very attentive but its a lot of fun. The best way to do is to know how to stop and as much as possible stay on the mountain side or on the center of the track than the valley side. But still its a lot of fun! Specially the last track, where I fell of the track as one funny incident because I thought this is the last one, and it was straightforward but for some reason my mind went off and I went sides but its also where you can almost feel the flight of flying in the air post a little up track! It’s important to slow down before the finish line, because after the finish line is the rail line. But a must do really.



Return your sleds at the Brandegg train station. Departure by train from Brandegg to Interlaken OST.

 All in all, before we end, Let’s talk about some interesting facts about Jungfrau: 

1) The Jungfrau railway has its own fire brigade on top of Europe.
2) The Jungfrau railway has its own hydroelectric power station
3) The Jungfrau railway has generated electricity with trains traveling downhill since 1912
4) The average temperature on the Jungfrau is -7.9c
5) The name Jungfrau comes from the former convent in Interlaken and its alp beneath the Jungfrau mountain
6) The Jungfrau has the highest altitude post box
7) The highest altitude chocolate shop
8) The highest altitude watch shop
9) Jungfrau is open every day
10) Every week a railway employee checks the 9.2 km long track between the Jungfrau and Kleine scheidegg on foot
11)You can see Europe’s longest glacier (Aletsch Glacier, 22 km) from here
12) Every year, over 71 nationalities visit Jungfrau
13) A tennis, a football, a cricking and a boxing match have been held on Jungfrau.