I'm In Israel Next Week

[VetLegion]

So, after much deliberation, my brother and I decided we need to go and see Israel. I just bought the plane tickets, so the dates are set: 2009-07-25 till 2009-08-01.

Is there anything to see in Israel?
We're not coming with a particular purpose, like spiritual self-searching or something. Just tourism. I'm a 28 year old computer-stuff guy and the brother is a 25 year old architecture-stuff guy, so we're mostly going to wander around looking at architecture, historical sites, perhaps hit the beach (is the sea clean?) and things like that. We're arriving at Tel Aviv but will definitely visit Jerusalem and perhaps some other sites.

If the resident Israelis, or people who already visited, have advice on musts and must-nots, I'm all ears.

[Az]

I'll PM you my cellphone. gonna get hella blasted.

[VetLegion]

I'm looking forward to meeting you

Also, how long does it take from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by train? I can't seem to find that info.

[Zevico]

Vet--Israel Rail has an english language website [google it].
It takes around 2 hours from TA to Jerusalem by rail.

[Japher]

I'll PM you my cellphone. gonna get hella blasted.

Are they saying "hella" in Israel now? Let me know when they stop and maybe I'll come over.

[Az]

They don't say anything in English at all, I am just using the most retarded **** I pick up on the internet, brosefus.

[Dinner]

Are they saying "hella" in Israel now? Let me know when they stop and maybe I'll come over.

That's how you can always tell who is from NorCal. They always say "hella" in every other sentence.

[Zevico]

I went there recently. My thoughts/recoms:

1. Haifa has the Bahai gardens, which are very nice and well worth a visit. Otherwise afaik it doesn't have too much in the way of tourist attractions, but it's a city, so it has cafes, etc. Also it's in the North of Israel, which has other tourist attractions in the way of Roman ruins etc.
2. The North has Acre (Akko). which is all Crusaderish. Recommend it. Also, Caesarea is somewhere around, and that's Roman (and Crusaderish) too, and I recommend it. Further north there are some historical ruins surrounded by forests. This is a good opportunity for bush walks and etc, provided you can get there (you'll need a car).
3. Consider renting a car with GPS, cos public transport sucks in Israel. You'll be spending a lot of time standing around watiing for buses or trains if you want to travel widely. I'd say it's about 50/50 odds that any given person you talk to will speak passable to fluent English, pretty much anywhere you go.
4. Buy a prepaid Israel telecom company sim card and put it in your mobile phone. They're cheap, widely available (e.g. at any shopping centre there should be a stand for cellcom, or some other brand), and it's much more convenient to go around the country with cheap local mobile phone calls than with the hassle of international calls or roaming. This is especially convenient if you and your brother decide to go different places the same day, etc.
5. The south of the country has the Dead Sea, and Masada. Masada is great--great views, very interesting history, and plus you can walk up to Masada (1 hr walk) if you like. It's a 3 hour drive though from Tel Aviv to Masada. The Dead Sea is nearby, and it has, well, water you can float on. The novelty goes away after a little while, but if you're in the area and you have swim clothes I guess it's worth a shot.
[edit] Plus they have lots of therapuetic/arometherapy/massage centres in the area, and lots of hotels. Even if the weather's bad, the hotels usually have pump in Dead Sea Water--so you can experience the Dead Sea from the comfort of a hotel pool with heating and heated water if you like. If you're lazy and like relaxation, the Dead Sea and its surrounds is a good place to stay for a couple days.
Also, if you're female (or have a wife), while dead sea products are generally sold throughout the country, they also have some 'warehouse' outlets--1 in Tel Aviv, and 1 in the Dead Sea, from memory. The warehouse outlets offer a discount over the pharmacies. Women seem to love these products, so buy 'em as presents, e.g. for friends/relatives on your return. [edit]
7. I've never been to Motorock bar in Tel Aviv, but one of my relatives runs the place so I recommend it nevertheless as a good place to get 'smashed'. It's a pub/faux-bikie hangout. Good opportunity to laugh at dentists in leather jackets I guess? Also, people with tattoos that like metal. There's 2 live shows on the 31st July, and 1st August. I'm sure they'll be metaltastic. http://www.motorockbar.com/ And while I'm in the spirit of plugging, Israelis should look out for The Genders, cos my cousin plays bass for then. Next show 28th Aug, afaik. They play good live rock shows.
8. Jerusalem--Western Wall, AL-Aqsa mosque, Yad Vashem [for all your holocaust-history needs], 5 billion synagogues, churches and mosques. Also the 'new city', with expensive shopping and some shopping centres, etc. Each of them (the churches/mosques and yes, even some of the shopping centres) has its own slightly interesting tale, and slightly interesting architecture. How far down this rabbit hole do you want to go? Only you can decide. This is what Lonely Planet: Israel was made for.
9. Bethlehem: duh. I took a tour there--might be best to do that.
10. That's all I got. Lonely Planet has a fairly good outline of all of the tourist attractions, so make sure to grab a copy. If they say 'stay away because it's boring', they're probably right. Example: Jabotinsky's museum=boring.

That's how you can always tell who is from NorCal. They always say "hella" in every other sentence.

That must be hella annoying.

[SlowwHand]

Good info, Zevico. I like to plan things and a synopsis like this is nice.

I know I'd be walking.

Masada is great--great views, very interesting history, and plus you can walk up to Masada (1 hr walk) if you like. It's a 3 hour drive though from Tel Aviv to Masada.

Masada would be way cool, among many things. If I can walk it in 1/3 the time, let's walk.

[Zkribbler]

A friend of mine visited Israel and came back with two pieces of advice: I must see Masada! Do not give money to any holy man begging at the Wailing Wall, or you will immediately be swarmed by all the other holy men who are begging there.

[VetLegion]

Zevico, thanks a lot!

I'm also thinking about renting a car. However, I actually like trains and walking, so maybe we'll be on foot for starters and get motorized later. I'll see.

I'm going to try to get Lonely Planet Israel, thanks for the tip.

[VetLegion]

I booked a hostel in Tel Aviv for the first couple of nights. Afterwards we might stay, hop from city to city or transfer to Jerusalem and travel from there each day.

I have some more questions. What is the status of the West Bank with regards to car travel? Are the roads controlled by Israelis or Palestinians? I ask because it seems that the shortest drive from, say, Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee would be through the West Bank.

I did a lot of reading up on Israel today and now I'm worried that we won't have the time to see it all. For example, apart from sightseeing, we'd like to take a swim in the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea, the Red Sea and the Sea of Galilee. Doable within a week?

Looking at car rentals it seems one can be gotten for as cheap as 25 euros per day, which is affordable by my standard. It would be great to rent one for a trip to Eilat. However, it seems that big cities lack in free parking space and this is a problem since we're going to spend time in those too. So that's something I'll decide on the spot.

So for now we know we want to see: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Masada, Haifa, Betlehem and/or Nazareth. Perhaps also Eilat and some smaller sites we look up online. As you can see we don't put much emphasis on strict schedules and precise itineraries, this is a vacation after all

We're flying in 12 hours, if anyone has more suggestions, by all means, let's have them!

[VetLegion]

By the way, amazingly, I wasn't able to find the Lonely Planet guide to Israel in any of the bookstores today. I'm relying on the internets for info. Bless internet for it is a great invention indeed

[Zevico]

VetLegion:

The Israeli newsagent/bookstore "Steimatsky" should be at Ben Gurion airport, and they have locations throughout the country in shopping centres/etc. They should have an English language version of Lonely Planet or perhaps some other tourist books. They also have other English language books and English language newspapers, both local and, at the airport, some international ones as well. Weekend editions of the Jerusalem Post have info on entertainment/cultural events in Jerusalem/Israel. Also the English language Haaretz newspaper (with International Tribune) likely has the same info for current entertainment events etc.

Eilat is a 5 hour drive one way from TA (so that's 10 hours return). I've never been to Eilat, but it is a good resort town. Beaches, snorkelling, that sort of thing. Nearby, some Beduin tribes with camels (though I think there are closer Beduin tribes than this if you want an equivalent experience). There are apparently a few ruins nearby, but for a week's trip I wouldn't recommend going there.

If you do go to Haifa, make sure you have something to do, either in Haifa or in North Israel, apart from visiting the Bahai Shrines. A tour in the Shrines is about 45 minutes, afaik, and the drive up to Haifa can take 1-2 hours.


As for parking space, I'm not sure. Parking is always a problem in any city, but at the same time it's not impossible to find it. At worst you can park in any given shopping centre in any given city. How far of a walk that might place you from your intended destination is another matter. Most tourist destinations should have some manner of parking nearby.

Jerusalem--if you're interested in history, I recommend the Western Wall tunnel tours, or the Old City of David tours. They're usually run by local university history majors/grads who know their stuff. You'll need to pre-arrange a booking for Western Wall tunnel tours however. Not sure if same day bookings are available--look up their website on the details.

[Sirotnikov]

I went there recently. My thoughts/recoms:
1. Haifa has the Bahai gardens, which are very nice and well worth a visit. Otherwise afaik it doesn't have too much in the way of tourist attractions, but it's a city, so it has cafes, etc. Also it's in the North of Israel, which has other tourist attractions in the way of Roman ruins etc.

Nice city, but also somewhat boring, compared to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. And I should know

The Bahai dome is now undergoing renovation so he can't see it.

2. The North has Acre (Akko). which is all Crusaderish. Recommend it. Also, Caesarea is somewhere around, and that's Roman (and Crusaderish) too, and I recommend it. Further north there are some historical ruins surrounded by forests. This is a good opportunity for bush walks and etc, provided you can get there (you'll need a car).

Both are interesting.
Acre has great arab restaurants. Seek for Humus Said in Akko.

3. Consider renting a car with GPS, cos public transport sucks in Israel. You'll be spending a lot of time standing around watiing for buses or trains if you want to travel widely. I'd say it's about 50/50 odds that any given person you talk to will speak passable to fluent English, pretty much anywhere you go.

true.

5. The south of the country has the Dead Sea, and Masada. Masada is great--great views, very interesting history, and plus you can walk up to Masada (1 hr walk) if you like. It's a 3 hour drive though from Tel Aviv to Masada. The Dead Sea is nearby, and it has, well, water you can float on. The novelty goes away after a little while, but if you're in the area and you have swim clothes I guess it's worth a shot.

be careful as it's very very very hot. a tourist died there recently from the heat.

7. I've never been to Motorock bar in Tel Aviv, but one of my relatives runs the place so I recommend it nevertheless as a good place to get 'smashed'. It's a pub/faux-bikie hangout. Good opportunity to laugh at dentists in leather jackets I guess? Also, people with tattoos that like metal. There's 2 live shows on the 31st July, and 1st August. I'm sure they'll be metaltastic. http://www.motorockbar.com/ And while I'm in the spirit of plugging, Israelis should look out for The Genders, cos my cousin plays bass for then. Next show 28th Aug, afaik. They play good live rock shows.

There are plenty of english speaking bars in Tel Aviv.
Molly Bloom's, MASH, Mike's Place is a great live performance venue.