A Quick Visit to Israel

Gateway to Israel

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Tel Aviv Ben Gurion is where I touched down whilst visiting Israel, it's the largest of the Israeli airports and the only one with cheap flights to and from Europe (Berlin, Munich, Manchester, Riga, Vilnius), a very modern airport with quite a lot of travalators and/or walking to get to customs. Luggage was seemingly safely handled (I watched through the window), although the airport workers did seem to stack them up higher and higher in quite a precarious way. There was no where near as much security and military as I expected, however I was later informed that there is a lot of undercover soldiers.I was questioned for customs for quite a long time but it seemed quite easy going and I thi...Read More

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Be Scared of the Prices, Not Terrorist Attacks!

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For many visitors to Israel, Tel Aviv will be the first place they stop. Ben Gurion airport apart from being a place to be grilled by custom officers, is generally the gateway to Israel from Europe or other continents.I arrived from chilly Germany and Poland where it was just below freezing and was greeted with mid 20 temperatures. I'd been spending a bit too much time teaching English and writing reviews on dooyoo, meaning a distinct lack in exercise so I was looking forward to doing lots of walking. Having arrived just before dusk, I didn't get to see too much on the first evening - just the Dizengoff Centre (a large shopping centre), Dizengoff Square (once the pride of Tel Aviv but now ...Read More

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Japheth Wasn't an Apeth

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Whilst rowdy party city Tel Aviv makes all the noise, the much older Jaffa lives a quiet life as a neighbour which is mostly visited in the daytime by a handful of tourists. Whilst Tel Aviv's population is mostly Jewish, Jaffa's (Yaffo in hebrew) is quite mixed.Jaffa is quite mixed and Old Jaffa which has a beautiful sea-front fort and lots of little cobbled alleyways trailing up a hill leading to a picturesque square and garden is mostly Arab. From the panoramic points at the top of the hill, you get an amazingly superb view of the Tel Aviv coastline.During my visit in December 2008, there was a huge amount of work going on along the sea front, which gave it a slightly deserte...Read More

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What's that Siren?

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Jerusalem is a super religious city and the most important to Christians & Jews and also important to Arabs. It's a hilly place that is usually a bit chillier than the coastal destinations, in fact it rained quite a lot when I was there and they do occasionally have snow. Arriving at the bus station from Tel Aviv we arrived at the bottom of the bus station and had to go through baggage checks and screening as there was a shopping mall there. I've heard from other foreigners that it's not necessary to go through these but it certainly seemed so in Jerusalem and I couldn't spot an alternative route.Apart from the huge queues near the bus station. I was quite surprised how quiet Jerusalem...Read More

Jerusalem is a super religious city and the most important to Christians & Jews and also important to Arabs. It's a hilly place that is usually a bit chillier than the coastal destinations, in fact it rained quite a lot when I was there and they do occasionally have snow. Arriving at the bus station from Tel Aviv we arrived at the bottom of the bus station and had to go through baggage checks and screening as there was a shopping mall there. I've heard from other foreigners that it's not necessary to go through these but it certainly seemed so in Jerusalem and I couldn't spot an alternative route.

Apart from the huge queues near the bus station. I was quite surprised how quiet Jerusalem was, I expected it to be as hectic as big neighbour Cairo. With a small population of 1 milion, it's not too surprising although there was a noticeable military presence everywhere and a lot of tourists - in particular Russian, American and Polish. This may have cooled off now since the recent outbreak of war in Gaza.

I'm not religious in any way as you may have guessed by the abundance of metal reviews, so I was mainly there out of curiosity. As one of the oldest cities in the world and with so much history it was defintiely worth visiting. I only spent a day there which contradicted the rest of my itinerary as I had much longer stays in other places except Haifa. I did however get a good 7 hours march around the city, getting lost along the cobbled alleyways and only stopping to try various nuts and some baklava at a market and later some felafels from a cheap snack place near Damascus Gate. There was a huge queue inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre supposedly the place of Jesus' crucifixtion and cave burial. I had a quick nosy and it was quite packed, I'm not a fan of churches and this was no different. What I did find amusing and in some ways sad were the tourists squabbling over their position in the queue - heathens!

When it comes to buying felafels - it is normally 3 to 5 shekels just to sit down so if you are on a tight budget make sure you take it away. The one near Damascus Gate is by no means the best but it's definitely passable and for 6 shekels, you can't really turn your nose up.

The old centre of Jerusalem is quite picturesque albeit tourist laden, there's a great deal of souvenir shops that will do anything to make a buck, it's one place where you can witness t-shirts with Free Palestine on one side of teh shop and "America Don't Worry, Israeli is Behind You" written on the ones opposite.

Budget accomodation isn't too dear, there are some cheap Arab ran hostels near Damascus Gate which I've heard are a little grubby but passable for 40-50 shekels a night. I stayed with a German guy from Couchsurfing.com and the community in the city is quite active, so that may be worth checking out.

My favourite part of my visit to Jerusalem was the exoticness of visting a completely ultra-orthodox area of which I don't know the name and can't seem to work it out from looking at maps! The streets are clean and look a bit old-fashioned, a large family starts after 13 children, the majority (didn't get to meet all of them lol) were Hasidic Jews from Belarus, Ukraine and Poland and apparently haven't changed a great deal or at all in recent centuries and thus remain the real deal. Wearing silk like robes and furry hats (Shtreimel), their plats swinging - they looked quite the sight. There were large signs at the entrance to the neighbourhood saying that they despised tour groups, so I wouldn't recommend taking out your camera as tempting as it is. Also make sure you are dressed correctly as an Israeli friend of mine (a girl) was close to this area with a top that showed a small amount of shoulder and she was stoned by local women etc.

The craziest part of my visit to this neighbourhood was that it was Friday and I arrived there just as Shabat was beginning, so a huge siren went off in the neighbourhood followed by people hurrying around (later I discovered to the synagogue or home).. I had no idea what was going on and thought a war was starting! The siren was followed up by traditional Jewish music and loud vocals.. surely a rabbi or something but it sounded like a recording to me. Wandering around at that time, as interesting as it was didn't seem all together safe and I got a lot of vicious stares which didn't make me feel altogether comfortable.. cars passing through this area during shabat are likely to be stoned. Interesting area, pretty hardcore area with not a secular Jew in sight.

Jerusalem is pretty unique, apart from the tourist filled centre where people jump off by the bus load, the city seems to have quite a tense feeling and there's not many places like it, with an exciting mixture of friction and history. I wouldn't like to live there though, seemed more of a place to visit than a place to have fun and I imagine the night life is comparable to chewing on a wet sock. Read Less

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Don't Drink the Water

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The Dead Sea is one of those places like the Eiffel Tower, Mount Everest, Rome and New York that most people want to visit at some time or another, unlike Rome and New York, perhaps less people do so but it's certainly well worth it. Located in the West Bank (Israel), the top of the lake is just a few kilometres from the Palestinian territory of Jericho.Apart from the forever shrinking lake which is an amazing 419 meteres below sea level and continuing to drop, the surrounding area is something that surprised me. I supposed that I hadn't expected anything in particular but the deserty Sinai like landscape that surrounds it is amazingly lunar. From the Israeli/Palestinian side, you have the...Read More

The Dead Sea is one of those places like the Eiffel Tower, Mount Everest, Rome and New York that most people want to visit at some time or another, unlike Rome and New York, perhaps less people do so but it's certainly well worth it. Located in the West Bank (Israel), the top of the lake is just a few kilometres from the Palestinian territory of Jericho.

Apart from the forever shrinking lake which is an amazing 419 meteres below sea level and continuing to drop, the surrounding area is something that surprised me. I supposed that I hadn't expected anything in particular but the deserty Sinai like landscape that surrounds it is amazingly lunar. From the Israeli/Palestinian side, you have the arid hills behind you which make Jerusalem and the Judean Mountains seem like a far away land and looking opposite across the water you have Jordan facing you. From the Jordanian side, it's vice-versa but equally as impressive.

Whilst the northern shores may be beautiful, the beaches are quite dear (yes, you have to pay to go to the Dead Sea in most places) and they tend to be quite busy with tourists coming from Jerusalem. It is probably worth your time to head down to Ein Gedi where not only can you camp for free but also enter the sea without paying, the beach isn't particularly pretty, with a kind of gritty soil feel to it but the reason you are there is for the amazing dead sea! Do all you can to try not to float but there's absolutely no way you'll get beneath the surface in this amazingly buoyant little piece of water.

The reason behind it is the high salinity and with it's not just all fun - if you have any cuts it will sting to high heaven and likewise you should refrain from wetting your clothes with the water or there's a good chance they'll be stained forever. Bathe and wash off with fresh water then return to your things!

Another reason to go to Ein Gedi is to visit the nearby ancient fortress of Masada from where you also get a wonderful view of the Dead Sea below. Read Less

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Yodefat - One of the Nicest Places in Israel

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Admittedly I've not been to Upper Gallillee or Golan Heights but apart from that I journeyeed through the majority of Israel during my stay and my two favourite places would have to be Yodefat in Galillee and The Dead Sea. The two have very contrary landscapes with Galilee being very green. Yodefat may be tricky for some people to visit as it didn't look as though there was anywhere to stay there. I found a host there through Couchsurfing.com and hitchhiked my way there from the coast. There was a bus stop at the bottom of the road and although I have no idea as to its regularity - I imagine that buses between Karmiel and Nazareth certainly come fairly close. The easiest method of getting ...Read More

Admittedly I've not been to Upper Gallillee or Golan Heights but apart from that I journeyeed through the majority of Israel during my stay and my two favourite places would have to be Yodefat in Galillee and The Dead Sea.

The two have very contrary landscapes with Galilee being very green. Yodefat may be tricky for some people to visit as it didn't look as though there was anywhere to stay there. I found a host there through Couchsurfing.com and hitchhiked my way there from the coast. There was a bus stop at the bottom of the road and although I have no idea as to its regularity - I imagine that buses between Karmiel and Nazareth certainly come fairly close. The easiest method of getting around here though is undoubtedly either driving your own car or hitchhiking which is fairly common.

Yodefat consists of about 100 families, everyone knows everyone, there is a post office, a supermarket and a pub which is open on Thursdays - it has an almost campsite feel to its facilities. The houses are an intriguing mixture of well-built large houses and put together shacks, the locals adore making fires and have a real community atmosphere. Perched on a hill, there are great views of the coastline around Haifa and the valleys in between. Whilst the majority of the population is Jewish, there is also an intriguing mixture of bedouin arabs. The two populations get on with one another. Small paths meander through fruit tree filled gardens with hedges or trees often at the sides to create a sort of secret garden feel. There is also a shared garden between the residents of the village.

Yodefat has a long history, there is remnants of ruins below the current town dating back to the 3rd, 2nd and 1st centuries BC but the town is thought to have been a fortress as far back as 732 BC when it was captured by Tiglath Pileser III. A large battle also took place in 67 AD when Yodefat became under attack by the Romans, excavations have led to the finding of various weapons used at the time as well as stones with death depicted on them.

There are plenty of walking paths which are extremely pleasant to follow, during one of my walks with my host - we became encircled by wild boar, a large amount of them somewhere between 15 and 20, varying in sizes. I was told to remain still and did so, the funny looking critters just a couple of metres away from us, eyed us up one at a time before eventually shuffling clumsily away. There are a lot of wild boar in Israel because neither the Arabs or the Jews eat or hunt them.

If you have the chance, I recommend visiting Yodefat- the locals are relaxed, the countryside is gorgeous and it's well placed for visiting the nearby area and certainly better looking than the ugly town of Nazareth. Read Less

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Salon Berlin

Attraction | "Cheapest Beer in Tel Aviv, Also One of the Coolest!"

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Tucked around a corner just off Allenby street in Tel Aviv, there lies Salon Berlin. I was taken there by a friend of mine who had been living in Tel Aviv for a couple of months. He claimed it had the cheapest beer in Tel Aviv and that I'm almost certain is true. Beer is pricey in Tel Aviv, regularly costing above 30 shekels in the pubs. It's even 7-8 shekels in the shops, at Salon Berlin - it was 10 shekels, which is a really wonderful price.In an attempt to immitate a Berlin feel, Salon Berlin is a shop where you can buy retro/vinage clothing but behind the colourful clothes rails there is much more than meets the eye. You'll notice a couch placed awkwardly in the centre of the room, fac...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 2, 2009

Salon Berlin

Tel Aviv, Israel

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Nice Surroundings but Dull Town

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Tiberias is a city built on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee is in the south west of Galilee.It was a town that was built in AD20 by the son of the infamous King Herod the Great! Traditionally Jews would not settle there as it was seen as unclean due to the fact a cemetery existed there. Over the years though it became a mixed city, that was until the British rule in the 1900's when it was part of Palestine - the Arabs and Jews began taking an eye for an eye which culminated in all out war in 1948 and the 49% Arab population being evacuated by the British military in 1949.Today it is very much a Jewish city, although a short desert like landscape from the...Read More

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Akko - I Didn't Know How Much I Missed You!

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Whilst Jaffa surpassed my expectations as a charming Israeli coastal town, Akko disappointed. Akko is located in the north west of Israel, relatively close to the Lebanese border. It's accessible by train from Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and of course Haifa. Egged bus also ply several routes, connecting the majority of large towns with Akko.I had stayed the night in a northern suburb of Haifa and under-estimated the distance between Haifa and Akko, I walked the whole lot - quite far on a hot morning!By the time, I got to Akko, I wanted to check out the coast. I had a feeling that I was missing something throughout my visit to the town as it didn't quite seem to match the descriptions t...Read More

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Israel Journals

A Quick Visit to Israel

Gateway to Israel

Be Scared of the Prices, Not Terrorist Attacks!

Japheth Wasn't an Apeth

What's that Siren?

Don't Drink the Water

Yodefat - One of the Nicest Places in Israel

Salon Berlin

Nice Surroundings but Dull Town

Akko - I Didn't Know How Much I Missed You!

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