Since we stayed with friends in Jerusalem, we didn't really get to see what the hotels are like there. Our friends did point out, however, that the Hilton is the best hotel in the city. We got a real taste of what it's like to actually live in Jersusalem by staying with our friends, a Rabbi-to-be and his wife, though. We had to learn which sponge was for meat and which was for dairy when we offered to do the dishes. We also had to remember to leave the bathroom light on all Friday evening. It really felt like we were being taken into the culture, and that was great. Israel would have seemed much more like just another country we were visiting if we didn't stay with our friends. They really taught us about the customs of religious Israeli Jews.
There seems to be plenty of good, reasonably priced restuarants in Jerusalem. We mainly wandered around near the downtown mall area, and near Herzog Street, where our friends live. Falafels may be emblematic of Israel, but it's really the fresh juice stands that pop up in my mind when I think back. You can get any combination of about 20 different juices you want, and you can have the juice poured into a bottle instead of a cup, so you can take it with you. We wouldn't have had a single bad meal our whole trip if we hadn't popped into KFC on a whim for dinner. The lines were long, the service slow and the chicken, greasy and soggy. Other than that, we ate at a kebab place downtown our first night in Jerusalem, then we had two homecooked meals with our friends. Our night in Eilat, we ate at the hotel. And on our last night in Jerusalem, we went to an Italian restaurant. Folks who are not used to seeing food out in the open may be taken aback by the way food is usually handled (no plastic gloves) and displayed (on trays, uncovered). You'll get used to it. We never got sick. Not even from stuff we ate from dives serving falafels and such.
Be prepared to do a lot of walking in Jerusalem. You could take a bus, but we discovered that things aren't really that far away from each other. Perhaps it was just that our friends' place was centrally located, but we ended up walking to the Old City two times, and walking to the Israel Museum. We even walked to the Sukot market, though we did take a bus back to Herzog Street because of the grocery bags we were returning home with. Reading up on the history of the Old City before you actually go helps you contextualize the history and significance of Israel's sights a lot. Once there, check on when the Dome of the Rock opens that day. It opens only for a short period of time everyday, so you should check first to be sure you don't miss it. From the Old City, facing the Wailing Wall, you'll see a hill with lots of white slabs on it. Those are tombstones and the hill is the Mount of Olives. Besides the Old City, you should go to the Israel Museum to see the Deas Sea Scrolls. And whatever you do, don't leave without a visit to Masada and the Dead Sea. Tel Aviv is only an hour away, but we didn't have the time to go there. It is, we're told, basically a modern city. Cesaria is another town we didn't go to but would have liked to see. It is apparently an old Roman city, with a lot of ruins and ancient architecture.
Just remember that everything shuts down from Friday night to Saturday at sundown. It’s best to schedule your trip to the Israel Museum for Saturday; the museum is open, but
None of the cafes are. Also, you can go to the Old City then, but you’ll have to take a cab since no buses run. One thing we didn’t get to do was go to the Galilee, which is suppose to
Be lush and beautiful—put it on your list if you have the time. Oh, and try to ignore the staring and the cell phones.