Ahuzat L'iyon | Iyon

In 3 words:
Past and present meet

In 300 words (approximately):
One of the common clichés in a typical Israeli conversation of grievance is: "It's not what it used to be!" Add to that a Polish sigh of despair like: "Aaaaah..." and the message immediately gets across that it used to be simply wonderful, and that today is terrible and awful.

So before you start missing the 1948 and grumbling about the youth or the cost of living, let me refer you to the history books. Open the chapter on the pioneers and remember that "once" people drained swamps here, showered once a month, and got mosquito bites the size of semi-trailers. Today? Stop by the Lyon Manor in Yesod Hamaala and see what the pioneer houses look like in 2014. Hint: you won't miss what used to be...

The complex is divided into 2: a two-story building ("the villa") and a one-story building ("the suites"). Yossi - the charming host - meets me in a large compound, surrounded by a wall, in the heart of the old colony that once lived in the heart of the marshes and today we will see you acquiring a plot of land there. "This is the first two-story house in the settlement," he tells me. He is talking about the villa, an impressive stone building from the 19th century, each of which has 3 double bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen and a living room (each floor has a separate entrance - and each floor can be rented separately).

Around it is a well-kept garden with a colonial scent and a beautiful fountain from which the water flows into a green ornamental pool. There is a large spa jacuzzi shared by the villa guests, there are shady and quiet sitting areas, and there is no host's house (they live in another area of the colony).

On the other side of the villa, another fountain spills into a stone-built swimming pool, which the pioneers would kill to bathe in. From here you can see the second part of the complex: an elongated stone building facing a large plaza paved with black basalt. The building is divided into 3 double suites that are hard not to fall in love with (literally...). "That was the cowshed," says Yossi, and suddenly cowherdship seems like a pretty good career...

The three suites in "Rafat" are designed with good taste that combines modern thinking with respect for the history of the place. The entrance to the extreme suites is from the sides of the building and the central one - from the basalt expanse. This means that there is limited privacy outside, but the atmosphere more than compensates. Speaking of size - beyond the building there is a large garden with seating areas and a romantic vine arbor.

When I say goodbye to Yossi, he's already deep in the construction of a heated, indoor pool in front of the suites (these men who can do everything also do damage to my self-image...). He talks about a million other plans he has for the place, and I think the pioneers succeeded. It took a while, but in the end, a national house was built here, and in this case, it's the best house in the world...