I'm In Israel Next Week

[Sirotnikov]

Sorry I missed your Haifa stay. I finished studying for exams and went to see my g/f for the first time in 3 weeks, so I haven't opened poly for a several days.

Consider this a rain check for a beer on me if we cross paths later

[VetLegion]

OK, here is my short review of our trip. I just came back from my first day back at work and I'm a little tired so I apologize for spelling mistakes in advance.

Why did we come to Israel? This question was asked of me and my brother many times at various checkpoints and especially at Ben Gurion airport. The answer was: tourism. Yet, our trip wasn't well planned as you would expect of tourists maximizing value for money. It was sort of a last-minute arrangement. I had to cancel my plan to go to the US, my brother was free so we talked a bit and decided. Where: Israel. When: day after tommorow.

As we had to finish some tasks here, this left us with little time to plan what to see. However, we've seen plenty of ruins in various parts of the world so a walk in the desert or a stroll through a common neighbourhood is not something we consider wasted time.

Tel-Aviv
We arrived very early to the central bus station... trash everywhere, armed guards, almost nobody else around. We were a bit scared. However as soon as we reached Yaffo where we had booked the room, things changed. A beautiful vista of Tel Aviv. We immediately knew we were going to like this city. We weren't wrong. We've seen some great architecture (my brother appreciates this more than I do), relaxed at the beach, swam, hanged around and of course met Az. He's a big tough-looking guy but very friendly so we enjoyed discussing stuff with him. Me and my bro are both argumentative and hardly ever shut up, hopefully we didn't offend Az by saying something inappropriate.
Now, special highlight of Tel Aviv is the girls there. We were stunned by the beauty around us. A digression: this is something I never understood -- how come models never look as good as normal girls? For example Bar Rafaeli, whom I understand is the best looking Israeli model, well, at least 30% of normal girls on the street look better than her. Anyway, we didn't have enough time to properly explore the night life, but it would definitely be worth another trip. We also visited the military museum and some other places. Guards at that museum didn't know where Croatia is. The Israeli education system needs repair.

Jerusalem
We rented a Hyundai Getz (the cheapest car available) in Tel-Aviv, tuned into some Arabic radio stations, and hit the road. We didn't have GPS but somehow we found our way around. Israel's infrastructure is way better than I expected it to be. Highways are top notch and well marked in English. Drivers are a bit impatient. Another digression. I noticed that white is very popular color (easier to cool?), also that many cars seem to have been hit and the body not repaired. This figured prominently in or discussion whether to rent a car. Also, eastern brands seem to be prevalent, there are few Renaults, VWs and FIATs around. Plenty of Hyundai, Daewoo, Toyota.
Anyway, upon reaching Jerusalem we found a place to stay there and spent two days walking around, seeing stuff, taking in the atmosphere. We probably saw 5% of the stuff one can see there. Interesting city, to be sure. We discussed the utilities and economics of the city, watched French religious fanatics dance with joy and drank Palestinian beer at night. Also worth another visit with a guide.

Ma'ale Adumim
We visited this settlement by accident, I was overtaking a truck (in a Getz with AC on this is a feat) and missed a lane. Typical planned settlement I guess. My brother liked it, I thought the housing too uniform.

Bethlehem
OK, this was the scariest part of the trip. Only after multiple assurances from the soldiers at the border-wall we dared to actually enter the Palestinian territory with car. Thankfully nothing happened to either us or the car. But we decided we don't want to hang around and went back soon after we saw the churches there.

Qumran, Ein Gedi
There is a bunch of well marked (brown signposts) archeological/historical spots along the roads... we visited some, I won't enumerate them. Paid off to see them every time.

Dead Sea
You can't sink, but you can't swim either since water can burn your eyes. This is paradise for pensioners, not young people, but still, glad to have swam in it.

Masada
We spent a lot of time there. It is very big. The story is very touching and being actually able to walk there and see the remains of the fortress and the Roman camps... spectacular. The whole thing is a monument to human determination.

Tiberias
Nice smallish, compact but very human-sized city on the sea of Galillee. We swam in the sea, ate fish from it, did some shopping and even enjoyed the nighlife a bit. Israeli 19-23 year olds girls are only now fading from my memory.

Haifa
Unfortunately, we didn't spend much time in Haifa. Driving in Israel for the first time, we didn't know the routes nor how long they take, so we decided to come to the airport early. Spent a couple hours in Haifa, there was some festival with music, we grabbed a snack there. Also we observed the city from the Louis promenade. It was already sunset when we arrived from Nazareth so pics we took aren't very good.

From Haifa it was back to Ben Gurion airport and home to Croatia via Budapest.

I'm writing this post for the last half hour so I might as well conclude it. Israel definitely gets my 5/5 recommendation
It's a must-visit place. I don't worry much because I didn't see all of it. I plan to come back one day and see the rest. My brother too. This was a sort of scouting-expedition.

What did I like best? Well, the general atmosphere. It was quite contrary to what I had expected from seeing the news all these years. I expected tension in the air, angry faces, palpable hatred among people, violence. In contrast, I felt like I was in some sort of hippie commune. Everybody seemed very relaxed, minding their own business, happy. All the pople we met, Palestinians and Jews, were very friendly, eager to help with directions, spoke good English. Not at any time did we feel like we were being conned because we were foreigners, nor did we feel threatened physically. Of course there is always the conflict there (we visited Al Aqsa mosque the day before it was stormed by some Jewish fanatics). But it is actually my impression that Israel is among the safest, calmest and best organized places I've been to.

Big thumbs up

[VetLegion]

Did you meet angry Arab guy ?

You mean the guy in my avatar? I think he is actually from somwhere in Pakistan.

We met some Arabs, I think. Do Palestinians count as Arabs or separate? I'm too lazy to check. Met a ton of Palestinians. For some reason they had no idea where Croatia is, but seemed to have relatives in Italy, so as soon as I would say "near Italy" their faces would light up and they'd talk to me in Italian. It sucks to be from a small country. When I was in China, I resorted to telling people I was from Britain, the only European country they seemed to have heard of.

[Sava]

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

2 hours to get like 40 miles?

sucks

[BeBMan]

When I was in Jordan the people there seemed moderate, and actually glad they had peace with Israel. Some guys recommended me to cross from Aquaba to Eilat which I actually thought would be nice, but then we hadn't enough time anymore (or were too lazy in the end after traveling from north to south for some time ).

They didn't like the Saudis though (described them as mostly rich and arrogant).

[VetLegion]

We wanted to go to Eilat, but didn't have the time. I think it can be combined with Egypt. There are cheap arrangments for flying to Egypt each year... like 7 days for 300 euros, airplane ticket included. So it would pay off to take one of those just for the plane tickets and spend the week wandering around, perhaps visiting Israel and/or Jordan.

[Sava]

When I was in Jordan the people there seemed moderate, and actually glad they had peace with Israel.

So they didn't introduce your ass to their AK fortydick?

[Sirotnikov]

2 hours to get like 40 miles?

sucks

The road is very problematic since Jerusalem is in very mountainous terrain, and the rail infrastructure is not well developed.

I think they built a new track which goes through a tunnel that cuts the trip in half (about 1 hr).

[Sirotnikov]

I noticed that white is very popular color (easier to cool?),

yes. very important in our 6 months long summer.

also that many cars seem to have been hit and the body not repaired.

this would be true in jerusalem since it has a large representation of the poorest sectors - the hassidim, most of which do not work, or have a single provider and a huge family, and the arabs who also have plenty of kids and mediocre education and jobs.

Haifa arabs are much richer by comparison due to better education (which is due to most of them being christians) and most of them being more recent city dwellers.

Haifa arabs drive on very expensive brands but from older years.

cars cost big bucks here due to 100% taxation.