Mizpe Ramon: above and beyond

When you hear the name Mizpe Ramon what springs to your mind? A short stop on the way to Eilat?
The Ramon crater? The ibex? Have you even heard about this place?
Maybe the name is familiar to you because of some army bases situated in the vicinity
or maybe you are a nature lover and once went to enjoy the desert sky in the summer
night of Mizpe Ramon.

Anyway I am here to tell about my Mizpe Ramon experience and recommend some places.

Mizpe Ramon is a small town in the South of Israel, populated by about 5000 residents.

It attracts a lot of tourists thanks  to the magnificent scenery of Makhtesh Ramon.

The town itself is located just above the crater and you can walk between two most distant places
in it within half an hour at most.

In this quite a tiny place I spent 8 months as a student in the Modern dance and movement
program in the former Hanger (warehouse) Adama - a place which had been home for a well known
Adama dance group and dance school for 17 years before it moved to Sderot.

Now the place is called Meever - "beyond" in Hebrew and it houses dance and theater studios,
a backpackers' hostel, volunteer center, festivals and parties.
It's a "hippie" style place with a big lounge area
where you can just sit and chill out with a book and meet travelers from Europe or young Israelis.
Besides you can come to one of the many festivals or workshops that take place there.

I strongly advise taking a walk in the whole industrial area of Mizpe Ramon - you can find there cute
art galleries, ceramics and carpentry workshops, even a boutique bakery and a nice restaurant,
jazz club with a wide range of concerts and a local pub.

So next time you are on your way to Eilat - remember, there is a n alternative to the 90 road,
you can take road 40 via Mizpe Ramon and have an unforgettable experience.