Suggestions needed

[Ghery]

My wife and I are planning a trip this summer that will include a stop in Israel. Arrive in the wee hours of the morning on August 1 (red eye from Rome), depart for LHR very early the morning of August 6. If he isn't on the road a friend has promised a tour of Mesada. I'm looking for suggestions -

1. Stay in Tel Aviv? Probably going to spend 2 days visiting Jerusalem, but is it a problem day tripping from Tel Aviv?

2. Get a car? Certainly not for the day or days in Jerusalem, but would it make sense for a quick trip up to Galilee or Haifa?

3. Wife wants to visit Petra in Jordan. She has found a number of 1 day tours that leave from Elat, but so far nothing from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. Out of luck?

4. Other suggestions? I've been to Haifa, but this will be the first time in Israel for my wife.

Thanks. Yes, I'll take pictures.

 

[AdamZ]

Ghery:

As you know Israel is an awesome country. Massada is a fantastic place to visit. If your going I'd arrange a dip in the Dead Sea it is a really neat experience.

Eliat will be hotter than hell in August. I mean sand burning the skin off your feet hot. The water is awesome there but shade is a MUST.

Jerusalem is well its awe inspiring to say the least. Be sure to have your wife wear something that covers her shoulders many of the religious shrines will require it. Light cotton long pants are good too. The old city is just magnificent. Avoid Jerusalem on the Jewish Sabbath Sundown Friday through sundown on Saturday. Everything shuts down. Its a good experience if your Jewish but if not not much will be open and getting a cab would be a bear. Try to get to the Mount of Olives you can see the garden of Gethsemane and the old city in all its grandure from there you will know why they call it the city of gold. The trip from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv is about an hour or little longer but not much.

Tel Aviv Jaffa Wow what a city so much going on so vibrant young and exciting. Go to old city I'll get you the name of a great restaurant there. Go to Disengoff Square and just watch the sights go by and take in the view of the ocean.

If you can I really like the north, Haifa the Golan and Tsfat. Tsfat is the home of Kabala and the whole mystical movement in Judaism. In Haifa there is an english pub called Ha Dov ( the Bear) its odd to go to an english pub but the food and beer are very good. Also try to get to see the Bahai Temple the gardens are meticulous and beautiful.

I can give you the name and contact information for a good tour guide. All tour guides in Israel are licensed and must past test on geography and history.

Finally I recommend that you pm Alon Smolarski (Armegeddon Aviator onthe board) Alon is a POA member and lives just outside Haifa. He is an awesome guy and i'm sure he'd be happy to meet up with you if you are in the haifa area.

 

[Ghery]

Ghery:

As you know Israel is an awesome country. Massada is a fantastic place to visit. If your going I'd arrange a dip in the Dead Sea it is a really neat experience.

Eliat will be hotter than hell in August. I mean sand burning the skin off your feet hot. The water is awesome there but shade is a MUST.

Jerusalem is well its awe inspiring to say the least. Be sure to have your wife wear something that covers her shoulders many of the religious shrines will require it. Light cotton long pants are good too. The old city is just magnificent. Avoid Jerusalem on the Jewish Sabbath Sundown Friday through sundown on Saturday. Everything shuts down. Its a good experience if your Jewish but if not not much will be open and getting a cab would be a bear. Try to get to the Mount of Olives you can see the garden of Gethsemane and the old city in all its grandure from there you will know why they call it the city of gold. The trip from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv is about an hour or little longer but not much.

Tel Aviv Jaffa Wow what a city so much going on so vibrant young and exciting. Go to old city I'll get you the name of a great restaurant there. Go to Disengoff Square and just watch the sights go by and take in the view of the ocean.

If you can I really like the north, Haifa the Golan and Tsfat. Tsfat is the home of Kabala and the whole mystical movement in Judaism. In Haifa there is an english pub called Ha Dov ( the Bear) its odd to go to an english pub but the food and beer are very good. Also try to get to see the Bahai Temple the gardens are meticulous and beautiful.

I can give you the name and contact information for a good tour guide. All tour guides in Israel are licensed and must past test on geography and history.

Finally I recommend that you pm Alon Smolarski (Armegeddon Aviator onthe board) Alon is a POA member and lives just outside Haifa. He is an awesome guy and i'm sure he'd be happy to meet up with you if you are in the haifa area.

Adam,

Thanks. Alon suggested the Bear when I was in Haifa on business a few years ago. Walking distance from my hotel (Dan Carmel, right above the Bahai gardens) and it was so good I went there twice.

We'll be arriving on a Saturday (2 something in the morning), so not doing much but enjoying the local scene in Tel Aviv might just be the thing to do.

Not planning on Eliat, so that shouldn't be an issue. The only reason to go there at this time is that tours to Petra seem to all start there, and we'd kill a day getting there and a day getting back, so 3 days out of 5 in country for that doesn't work for us.

Please send the tour guide's information. I'd like to have that as an option.

We're really looking forward to this trip. We'll hit London, Rome, several Greek islands + Athens (12 night cruise out of Rome), Ephesis, Alexandria and Israel. Be gone almost 4 weeks. Gee, all this travel and for once it's for fun and not work.

 

[Pilawt]

Oh, am I jealous. We'd love to visit the Holy Land.

What cruise are you taking? In mid-June we're flying to Berlin, then train to Rome to catch the Solstice (Celebrity Cruise Lines), 11 days to Santorini, Mykonos, Istanbul, Ephesus, Athens and Naples. I took German in high school and ancient Greek in college, and I've already dug out my old textbooks.

 

[LearDriver]

I have spent the past 10 years going in and out of LLBG. We always stayed in Tel Aviv at the Hilton or Intercontinental Hotel. I prefer the Hilton. My company would not allow us to stay in Jerusalem. Tel Aviv is a really interesting city the Jews and Arabs seem to get along pretty well here. Not so much in other areas of the country. I was there several times that bombing went on. However, I felt much safer there than many places in the United States. You just need to keep your eyes open.

I always drove while i was there. It is a really fun country to travel around in. There is a lot to see there.

We never let the customs agents stamp our passports with entry or exit stamps. I'm not sure if its different for passengers arriving or if that is just the procedure for Flight Crew. If they do stamp your passport, you may have trouble entering any of the islamic middle eastern states or Morocco. I carry two passports. So I keep one clean one for my flights into the middle east.

After reading some of the other posts you have enough information to get a lot done while you are there. Its a really great country to visit. Have a good time.

Caesarea

There is a good restaurant there. Walking the ruins and a meal will take a couple of hours. It is about an hour drive from the Tel Aviv Hilton.

Diamond Market

It is interesting to see the museum that they have set up. They will try and get you to buy jewelry once you are finished with the tour.

The old city

Wear long pants if you want to be able to see everything.

Jaffa

There is a really good seafood restaurant at the harbor. The shops there are worth taking a walk through.

Masada and the Dead Sea

We always did these two on the same day. It would eat up most of a day driving out to these two sites from Tel Aviv.

 

[Ghery]

Oh, am I jealous. We'd love to visit the Holy Land.

What cruise are you taking? In mid-June we're flying to Berlin, then train to Rome to catch the Solstice (Celebrity Cruise Lines), 11 days to Santorini, Mykonos, Istanbul, Ephesus, Athens and Naples. I took German in high school and ancient Greek in college, and I've already dug out my old textbooks.

Royal Caribbean, Legend of the Seas. Leave Civitavecchia (Rome), then to Naples, Capri, Italy; Piraeus (Athens), Greece; Mykonos, Greece; Rhodes, Greece; Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey; Alexandria, Egypt; Corfu, Greece; and back to Civitavecchia (Rome). Depart on July 19, return on July 31. 12 nights. My wife wanted to visit Greece and Egypt on this trip, as well as Israel, and this cruise looked like the easy way to cover Greece and Egypt (well, the hightlights, anyway - could use more than 1 day in Athens).

Interesting way to get to Rome - fly to Berlin then train? We had already made flight reservations from SEA to LHR and back, then are filling in everything in between. When I found the cruise I moved our departure from SEA up a few days. We previously were arriving at LHR early on the 19th and I couldn't get flights to FCO to line up right to make the ship's sailing time, so I called UA and was able to change the dates for no charge as long as I left the itinerary alone. We now get into LHR around 10 PM on the 16th, with a 7:30 AM flight to FCO the next morning. I think we'll stay at at hotel at LHR for the night. Back to London on August 6, fly home on the 11th, so we'll have some relaxing time in the London area before heading home. My wife and I don't really like cities, but London is an exception. We'll have a good time. The only thing on my list is to get out to Duxford. I was there before the American museum went in and have been contributing to it each year. I'd like to see where my money has been going.

Should be a good summer. I know it will be warm (understatement of the year).

 

[Armageddon Aviator]

Hi Ghery

Welcome to Israel !

August is generally extremely hot and humid in the Middle East (I'm sure you are aware of this) - so I wouldn't even try going to Eilat or the Dead Sea - the temperature will be unbearable in the desert

In my humble opinion, the best way to see Israel is...by air

No traffic, no crazy vindictive drivers...

My former instructor is a great guy - he's a commercial pilot and a licensed tourist guide - he might be able to take you around in a C-172 / Cherokee.
In 2 short flights (around 3 hours each) you will be able to see 80% of our tiny country's landscapes.

I suggest you take off from the Armageddon airfield (Megiddo) and fly North through the Valley of Jezreel, Nazareth, Mount Tabor, Sea of Gallilee (lake of Tiberias), Jordan River, Caphernaum, Golan heights, Haifa, Sea Shore, Carmel Hills and back to Megiddo.

The second flight can take you all the way to Massada (Mezzada) through the Jordan Valley, Dead Sea and Judean Desert with a glimpse of Jerusalem.

You need to take off very early in order to avoid the high temperatures and thermals commonly found at low altitude.

You also need a bit of luck as visibility in the summer often sucks (it never rains in the summer and a constant inversion traps all the dirt and pollutants...)

The Bahai gardens in Haifa are indeed beautiful, Caesarea is also a nice place to visit (although considered a "tourist trap" ).

I understand that you will have a tight schedule but I'd be more than happy to meet you if that would be possible.

P.S. I know a place in Haifa's old quarter where they serve great food and the best beer you can get in Israel

Take care

 

[ScottM]

Hi Ghery

Welcome to Israel !

August is generally extremely hot and humid in the Middle East (I'm sure you are aware of this) - so I wouldn't even try going to Eilat or the Dead Sea - the temperature will be unbearable in the desert

In my humble opinion, the best way to see Israel is...by air

No traffic, no crazy vindictive drivers...

My former instructor is a great guy - he's a commercial pilot and a licensed tourist guide - he might be able to take you around in a C-172 / Cherokee.
In 2 short flights (around 3 hours each) you will be able to see 80% of our tiny country's landscapes.

I suggest you take off from the Armageddon airfield (Megiddo) and fly North through the Valley of Jezreel, Nazareth, Mount Tabor, Sea of Gallilee (lake of Tiberias), Jordan River, Caphernaum, Golan heights, Haifa, Sea Shore, Carmel Hills and back to Megiddo.

The second flight can take you all the way to Massada (Mezzada) through the Jordan Valley, Dead Sea and Judean Desert with a glimpse of Jerusalem.

You need to take off very early in order to avoid the high temperatures and thermals commonly found at low altitude.

You also need a bit of luck as visibility in the summer often sucks (it never rains in the summer and a constant inversion traps all the dirt and pollutants...)

The Bahai gardens in Haifa are indeed beautiful, Caesarea is also a nice place to visit (although considered a "tourist trap" ).

I understand that you will have a tight schedule but I'd be more than happy to meet you if that would be possible.

P.S. I know a place in Haifa's old quarter where they serve great food and the best beer you can get in Israel

Take care

In addition to this I would say that I have had a real easy time with taxis and busses moving around. Caesarea is a tourist trap, but I think you will also find that Israel in itself is a big tourist place. Lots of tourist everywhere!! Some of the most annoying ones too! People who have no clue about history except bible comics are roaming around and trying to reconcile their understanding of their religion with the history they are looking at. It can be quite amusing for a while.

When in Tel Aviv I stayed at the David Intercontinental Hotel, 12 Kaufman Street, Tel Aviv, Israel. It is walking distance from their (along the beach) to a really nice little area for dinner or take a taxi into downtown for more fancier flare.