Today we want to tell you guys about a trip we took in January 2019.
ISRAEL
We really had no idea what to expect when we landed at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Our first impressions were good. It was clean and very modern looking and we had no trouble navigating our way through. Thankfully most of the signs were in both Arabic and English. (Is that French I see on the sign also?) We got our visas and exchanged the Euros we were carrying into Shekels. So far so good.
The first trouble we ran into was that the car we had arranged to pick us up and take us to our hotel never showed up. We didn’t have a phone to make calls and there was no wifi available for us to access email. Also, as we found out when we got there, since it was a Saturday – aka, their holy day – there was no public transportation running. After spending about an hour trying to figure out what to do, we managed to get a ride from another privately chartered taxi driver whose client never showed up. Whew (!) for us but I hope nothing bad happened to cause them to miss their flight whoever they were.
OK – So for real now – Off we go to Israel.
As we drove from the airport through Tel Aviv, the driver gave us some history and pointed out landmarks. I was very much attuned. Shaunie found him a bit too chatty and tuned him out.
Driving through the city you can see quite clearly that there are a lot of old, damaged buildings but mixed in with them are a lot of new buildings also. As much as there was a lot of construction taking place, there was also a good amount of people just casually strolling around enjoying the day. It appeared to be quite a calm place. Not all hustle and bustle. You could tell right away that the city had a young and eclectic demographic. I don’t mean to sound ignorant but I was really taken aback that I hadn’t seen any yarmulke’s or tallits yet.
It turns out that the city has a very diverse population and the residents are not very religious per se. They embrace lots of different cultures and are very open minded to all types of people. There are restaurants with food from all over the world, they have a very strong grunge/yuppie/hipster scene and they even host a wildly popular and well attended gay pride parade every year. Along the waterfront there were guys rollerblading with their shirts off and young couples walking their fancy, well-groomed dogs. What you don’t see a lot of are children. We were told that child care/schooling is very expensive so only the very rich can afford to have children.
Patched up buildings like the one above stood side by side with new buildings such as the one below.
Check out this funky beach side building.
The below picture was the view outside of our hotel room if we looked to the right. (Kinda grimey except for that skyskraper)
This next picture was our view if we looked to the left. (Gorgeous and cheerful)
I had to dip my toes in because:
a) I’m a beach LOVER in general!
b) I had never been to the Mediterranean before so I had to touch the sea – even though it was cold.
(It was a “can’t miss” opportunity!)
Shaunie and I tend to like roaming around supermarkets when we travel. Never know what interesting things you’ll find.
Yes, we bought the bacon chips – in a Jewish country – On the Sabbath – Sadly, they weren’t that good.
Tel Aviv has a very lively night life. (Who knew?) There are bars and clubs galore playing any kind of music you could possibly want. We joined a bar crawl that took us to 4 different bar/clubs – each with their own vibe. From live rock bands to DJ’s spinning hip hop and Reggaeton. I will warn you though that a lot of people smoke and there are no laws prohibiting smoking inside so we cut our night short (at 3am) on account of that. I highly recommend finding something like the group pub crawl if you’re in the area. (We found it online). The people are so friendly (and interesting!) and welcoming. Be warned though, they do like their alcohol and will do their best to get you drunk. I say that with a smile. We’re not big drinkers in general but we did try a local drink called Tubi 60. It was, for us, … ahm … the kind of drink you only need to try once; just to say you did it. I’ll say too that it’s a very safe city to walk around in even at night. We didn’t take a lot of pictures at the clubs but here’s a taste of the fun(ky) styles of a couple of them.
The 2 pics above show the outside and then the inside of 1 place. Big difference! You’d definitely have to know where you’re going or be with someone who knows. I can’t see too many tourists seeing those neon lights and just deciding to venture in.
We hadn’t planned to but we ended up taking a day trip to Jerusalem. There are tours who will drive you there from Tel Aviv and spend the day showing you all the sites. They cost several hundred US Dollars. We did NOT do that. We very easily found our way to the bus depot and hopped on a local bus. It was about US $6 and the only one hour ride was very comfortable and pleasant. We hopped off the bus with no plan – which in hindsight may not have been the best idea but in the end it worked out. We just got a taxi and asked the driver to take us to the Western Wall. We paid by the meter (about US $25 each way). It was really amazing being on location of so many famous stories – from the Bible and otherwise.
Even though it was only one hour away, the entire atmosphere/landscape in Jerusalem was so different from Tel Aviv that we could have been in a different country – on a different continent. In my ignorance, this was what I thought the entire country of Israel would have been like.
Unlike in Tel Aviv where anything goes, they do ask for modest clothing at the religious sites in Jerusalem. Nothing specific; just don’t go there in cut off shorts and a midriff. Be respectful.
I do wish if we had gotten some good photos of our drive through the city but I was too engrossed in taking it all in.
Here though are some photos we took while walking around.
Stunning!!!
I’ll end with food – cause Shaunie pretty much rates how good a trip is by how much she enjoyed the food 😉
We LOVED the food in Israel. I am fairly easy to please in the food department so don’t take my word for it. Take Shaunies. She says she has a “sophisticated palate”. I just say she’s picky. She ranks the burger she had at Susu’s one of the best she’s ever had but truly, everything we had was delish!
We didn’t have any but if you’re so inclined they do have places like McDonalds.
Ultimately – Would we recommend Israel as a tourist destination and would we go again?
YES and YES!!!
We are not always in agreement about how a trip was – (looking at you Rome) – but in this case we very much were.
There was so much to do and to see no matter what you are into or how YOU like to vacation. It really felt like there was something for everyone. And we didn’t even make it to the Dead Sea which we would love to see and float on – when it’s warmer.
Guess Where 