A Quick Visit to Israel

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 think I got an easy time compared to other people's stories, it seems this is generally not the same for Jews but they asked lots of questions - Where am I going? Where am I staying? What do I do at home? How come I have friends in Israel? How long do I plan to stay and many more, it would seem that men travelling alone between the ages of 20-40 are the most likely to be asked endless questions based on the fact that this is the most popular people group to head to Palestine and protest.

Despite questioning and walking, it wasn't too bad and there is a convenient train connection connecting the airport to Tel Aviv and Haifa and also Jerusalem with one change.

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 slightly run down) and the immediate area.

I had a shoarma some time in the evening, there were positives and negatives about this - the price at 25 shekels (4.50 GBP) was far from cheap, the size was rather small with the pita the size of a small cupped hand but the choice of ingredients was really substantial - a choice of chicken or beef meat, lots of different types of sauces, various salads, vegetables, pickles and hummus like substances. The taste was great. However, I was on a very tight budget and with beer ranging between 25 and 40 shekels (4.50 and 7.25) in a pub, pubbing it was out of my league! A beer in the shop was even quite pricey at around 8 shekels (1.50) - Gold Star is a decent sup and whilst Maccabee is drinkable, it's not particularly enjoyable.

Tel Aviv is a rather relaxed coastal town which I would split into 3 parts, a business zone where the Stock Exchange is, a central area with a lot of restaurants and shops as well as lots of little leafy residential streets just off them and finally the sea front which trails from the old city of Yaffo, up past the soaring high-rise apartment blocks and hotels and finally onwards past the port.

Tel Aviv is not particularly large, with a population of about 300,000 and most of the sights rather centrally - it's definitely walkable. If you should choose to take a bus, a ticket is 5.5 shekels for a single ride regardless of distance. Bus drivers are fairly grumpy and always in a hurry and buses are modern with over zealous air conditioning units.

The city is incredibly modern, being just 90 years old (from 2009) - you can't expect to see many old buildings!

Places to Visit:

Neve Tsedek - an area set up by Jewish wanting a better life outside of the then overpopulated Yaffo set up this village in 1887, it's now an expensive part of Tel Aviv on the city limits with some very classy looking houses. A stroll around this area is relaxing and quiet.

White City - Nearby is "The White City" an area of Tel Aviv which was built by Bauhaus students after the Bauhaus school was closed and the German Jewish students emigrated to what was then Palestine in the mid-30s during the uprise of the Nazis in Germany. The Bauhaus buildings are a bit neglected these days and many have actually been destroyed, I actually found the run down versions quite charming but some are nothing but ruins. One of the problems is that the Israeli law states that they must be built with exactly the same materials and using the same methods that were used then - which simply is not possible or far too expensive.

Florentin is an energetic place with cafes, restaurants and clubs lively well in to the middle of the night, narrow loud alley ways with lots of little art studios is what typifies this area.

Hacarmel Market is the Yemenite Quarter of Tel Aviv established by immigrants in 1903, it's got a nice little market albeit not so impressive if you've witnessed something like Khan-el-Khallili in Cairo.

Drum Beach - down on the sea front, a place where drummers can be seen rocking out in the evenings. Some really talented musicians down there with full drum kits. This is located close to Yaffo.

Apart from that strolling around Tel Aviv's streets or walking up the coastline or perhaps just chilling out on the beachfront is the thing to do. Also make sure you pay a visit to Yaffa, which I'll be reviewing seperately.

Perhaps Tel Aviv's best quality is that it's pretty chilled out and unlike religious Jerusalem, no one seems to judge anyone else and you could wear a bag on your head and dance to YMCA with pom-pom's and no one would care. Overall, I recommend going to Tel Aviv but I preferred Galilee and the Dead Sea. Swimming is banned on quite a few of the beaches due to "strong currents", surprising since it's the Med.. but whatever!

Getting There
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I flew in to Tel Aviv from Berlin for a mere 27.99 euros - at the time about 22 quid. There were cheap connections last year from Manchester to Tel Aviv but at the moment the cheapest flights are from Germany with budget airline Tuifly, from Latvia with Air Baltic and from Belgium with Jet Air Fly, all of which are easily reachable by cheap flights from the UK. The prices go up and down and it's worth signing up to those airlines newsletters to keep an eye out for their special promotions.

Getting Around
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Tel Aviv is well connected to Haifa and Jerusalem by train, comfortable buses travel around the rest of the country and there's also an international connection to Amman in Jordan. Hitchhiking is a bugger out of Tel Aviv because the city is surrounded by highways, though I think I spotted a possible place at the entrance of the highway near the main bus station.

Places to Stay
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I used Couchsurfing.com when I was in Israel and the accomodation is quite on the dear side with even a hostel being as much as 15 to 20 pounds a night and with the majority having reputations as flea pits. It may be cheaper to get a package deal if you are not intending to use a hospitality website.

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 deserted feel. I was personally surprised that somewere so special was so quiet. The town was once a major port and was originally settled by Japeth, one of Noah's sons.

Jaffa is very easy to walk to, simply follow the coast in a southerly direction. You'll know when you get there. I actually stayed New Yaffo, an area easily visited from Tel Aviv on bus 75 amongst other possibilities. It's also rather close (20 minutes by foot) to the main bus station in Tel Aviv.

A large bustling boulevard with grass and palm trees seperating each side of the road, marks the center. Just behind the large clock tower at the entrance to the city (where wireless is particularly strong!) is a flea market where you can find everything from food to furniture, random bits of tat to Middle Eastern Antiques.

Old Jaffa is wonderfully chilled out and New Jaffa quite vibrant with a mixed population. A recommandable destination!

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.

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.

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.

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, facing what appears to be the till but what's this - shelves of alcohol and a price list written on the wall. Indeed, whether it's tea, coffee, beer, spirit or a snack - you can have it here for a fraction of the cost of any other bar or restaurant in town and just a little more than in the shop.

50s and 60s idols such as Monroe and Elvis bring the walls to life and there's a nice little room with a couple of tables and seats round the back which is mostly used for smoking but also for playing cards, talking, listening to the music and watching films on Monday's.

This place is full of ingenuity, whilst the decor may be a bit ott, there's really nothing to complain about at such a wonderfully cheap price!

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 southern shore of the Sea of Galilee and the town of Bet She'an is all that seperates Tiberias and the West Bank. The old city does not stand and although there are a few nice streets with cafes on, there is very little in the way apart from a few high-rise hotels and it has quite a resort feel to it.

The Sea of Galilee itself is beautiful, with the Golan Heights on one side and Galilee on the other, it acts as the source of water for most Israelis and attracts tourists in droves due to being the location where Jesus was said to have walked on water, at the point where teh Jordan River runs in to the Sea of Galilee (now often called Lake Kinneret or Lake Tiberias), also thought to tbe the place where Jesus fed the 5000 and the northern shore town of Cana where he was said to have turned water into wine.

Tiberias itself though is just hotels and I think it would be much nicer to stay in a small village in Galilee or Golan Heights, as I did - if you have a car, the roads are good - if not, hitchhiking is very easy.

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 that I had read about. Sure it was old looking, sure the town had a fortress right along the coast but I failed to find much in the way of bazaar's, restaurants or mosques and I even struggled to come across people. The streets were dead! Well, I had a nice walk around along the coast and watched the fishermen fishing out at sea on the rokcs, a scene which they say hasn't changed for 1000's of years, apart from that. On the other side of the road were a handful of restaurants but apart from that it mostly seemed a bit like a parking lot. I didn't see what the big deal was.

A few days later, I let my curiosity get the better of me and decided to look at some sattelite maps of the area, I see where I went wrong - I basically missed a small but important section of Old Akko, the very centre of Old Akko supposedly with a special atmosphere, an array of good food and a selection of fine old buildings with a great history - it seems as though I will have to return to Akko - perhaps combining it with a visit to Upper Galilee and the Golan Heights.