I just returned from a wonderful trip to my favorite country, and I want to share my experience with you. For the first time, I was in Israel with a member of my immediate family, and it was great to share my trip with my mother. She had not been to Israel for 35 years.
Day 1 – I landed in Israel at about 1:30pm local time at Ben Gurion International Airport. As with every other trip, a chill went down my spine when the plane touched down. After a quick trip through customs, I met my mom and cousins just past the baggage claim and grabbed a Kosher burger from McDonald’s before hopping on a sheirut to Jerusalem. I spent Friday night with cousins in Arnona, a Jerusalem suburb.
Day 2 – Shabbos in Jerusalem is the most wonderful experience I have ever had, and spending it with family was a good as I remembered. We ate, relaxed, and took a walk to both Kibbutz Ramat Rachel and the Old City. I was at the Kotel for Mincha and took a long, slow walk around the Jewish Quarter. I walked back to Arnona in time for Mariv and Havdallah. After Shabbat, I went to the King Solomon hotel with my mom and talked into downtown. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of Kikar Tzion and Ben Yehuda Street. We went to a bar not far from Gan Atzmaout where I enjoyed a Goldstar and hookah before heading to bed.
Day 3 – Jerusalem was still great. We took time to walk through the new (to me) Mamilla mall and through the Old City. I went on the Kotel tunnel tours, which were wonderful and I recommend to anyone of any religion interested in Middle East or Jewish history, and toured the new Aish HaTorah building. The view from the roof was spectacular! We went from there to grab a quick Shwarma before heading to the Central Bus Station and taking the 400 bus to Alouf Sde, where I met my cousins in the Tel Aviv area. We went with my cousin (adult age) and her daughter (in her 20s) to a fun bar on Tel Aviv beach where I was able to enjoy the fruits of the budding Israeli Micro-brewing scene. We spent the night with the family in Kiryat Ono.
Day 4 – We walked all over the areas around Tel Aviv beach and the old neighborhoods of Tel Aviv and the Shuk and the shopping area on Dizengoff Street. My Mom proved her shopping skills and I enjoyed the “scenery” of the beautiful girls of Israel.
Day 5 – Took an organized tour of the northern Israeli coast starting in Tel Aviv. We visited Cesearia, the Ba’hai Gardens of Haifa, the Midevil fortress of Akko, and the grottoes of Rosh Hanikra before heading back to my cousin in Tel Aviv.
Day 6 – Woke up early and went to the new Palmach museum. It is a video and live re-living of the time leading up to and shortly following the founding of Israel in 1948 with a focus on the Palmach, one of Israel’s fledgling armies in the 1930s and 1940s. Again, I highly suggest this to Israelis or tourists who have never been. We then decided, on the drop of a hat, that we should go to Eilat and Petra, Jordan. We stopped by a nice hotel where the concierge arranged our two night visit down south. We took a bus around 3:30pm to Eilat and arrived around 8:30pm. We walked around the mall and boardwalk and had a late dinner in a restaurant attached to the Isrotel. I had my first fillet since I started keeping Kosher about five years ago. It was wonderful.
Day 7 – Woke up very, very early and had a quick breakfast before taking a van to the Israel-Jordan border. For the second time (I never thought I would go back after the first), I crossed through the Arava crossing and into Jordan, where we were met by a tour guide. We took the 2 hour ride up to Petra (I slept most of the way) and spent the afternoon hiking through the park. The ruins are truly epic, and even on my second trip I marveled at the scale of the work created thousands of years ago by the Nabateans. We ate at a hotel in Wadi Musa before going back to Israel via a drive through Aquaba. Spent another night in Eilat and walked the entire length of the boardwalk.
Day 8 – We woke up early (see the pattern) and took the bus back to Jerusalem. We got off on Har Hatsofim (Mount Scopus) and walked by my old dorm and through the campus of Hebrew University. After waiting about an hour and a half due to traffic near the Old City, my cousins made it to the mountain and took us to their home in Arnona. We showered, visited, and prepared for Shabbos and headed to a prominent Jerusalem family’s home in the neighborhood between the King David Hotel and the Old City. We had a wonderful Erev Shabbos at the Kotel and an equally wonderful dinner with new friends. We took a long walk back to Arnona and enjoyed the quiet of Shabbos in Eastern Jerusalem.
Day 9 – I pretty much slept all day. We went to my friend’s house in Meah Shearim for a visit after Shabbat and followed that with another visit to the hookah bar to end our last night in Israel on a fun note.
Day 10 – Woke up and headed to the Machane Yehuda (the shuk/market) for some shopping. I got a great Beitar Yerushalayim jersey (YALLA BEITAR!) and some great Jewish stuff. We then took a bus to our cousin’s in Kiryat Ono for a goodbye and ride to the airport. I had an 11:35pm flight to Atlanta (that didn’t leave until 3:00am).
Now I am jet-lagged, so excuse any typos. Also, English spellcheck is pretty useless when writing about Israeli cities, so I am sorry about those spelling errors too. Overall, it was an amazing trip and I am already looking forward to the next one.
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