Wanderlust

[an excerpt from a throtree froum posting]

Since the thorntree structure gets a mess due to the mass of entries I simply post my recommendations concerning Israel in this new thread and hope repetitions might be excused.

Tourist guides for Israel are either old or 3 years old and still inaccurate. Since I lost quite some time with seeing shut-down hostels, I'll note that down for you.

GENERAL:

It's VERY cold in Israel right now. Colder that statistic average for December. Pack accordingly and don't forget waterproof clothing. Rainfalls are very heavy and last for more than 24hrs. Some of the backpacker thus decided to alter their tour towards the south (Eilat / Sinai)

Privately run hostels : forget about the breakfasts. I start to care about age limits. Religious hostels have so. I had to bear some missionary/fanatic elderly travellers in private hostels - well. Christmas time.

Shabbat is from Friday noon to Saturday. No public transportation after Fri 3p.m. and before Sat 4p.m. No shops open, hardly a museum. So plan well at which place you are staying at this time.

Arrival and Departure to Israel by plane: frequent travellers avoid El Al because of their extra-cautiousness, consequently extra scrutinization. After check-in, my bag has been unpacked a second time without notice. To get there, the questions were quite standardized. I had no problem with a 2 months Tunisia stamp in the passport neither with the fact of having booked 2 days before. I assume though that the former caused me trouble upon exit. Security check-up took me 2 hours. They x-rayed olives and my pocket watch 5 times, listened to the sound of all my coins and to the pants' buttons (I got undressed!!). Remain patient; they make it worse for you otherwise. If they ask you about what exactly you do at work (have a business card?), which roads Tel Aviv has, when they want you to show them the routes you walked in Jerusalem, answer kindly although they don't really listen what you answer. I omitted Akko and Bethlehem in my travelling story and of course did not make friends with any person...

Food : I ate a lot on the street, thus don't know about eating out and whether that is close to traditional Jewish or whatever food. Go to crowded places (Falafel stands f. ex.) because locals know where it's best. A Falafel pita should not exceed 12Sh. I loved the olives, dates, figs, mangos, passion fruits, strawberries, the fresh fish, frozen yoghurt, halwa. St. Peter's fish isn't much being talked about from the culinary point of view.

Internet café: every available, often very smoky (and loud). 8Sh for half an hour is a good price

Language : Muslims do more the street work though suppressed and a minority in society. Since thus picking up Arabic as well as Hebrew, I got quite mixed up. If locals read this thread: is a 'wrong' target upset when thanking with 'shukran' instead of 'toda'? Same here with street names and locations: in the Jerusalem medina streets bear up to 3 entirely different names. Hebrew and Arabic go from right to left. Papers displayed consecutively start reading with the rightest, even when containing English. Numbers are the way we know them though (188 remains a 188)

Atheist travellers : be aware that deeply religious people choose their holidays to travel to the according site. If you don't care too much, move anticyclical. I was in Bethlehem on December 21st and had the Grotto of Birth 5 Minutes for myself.

Travelling security : I heard a bomb detonate in 3km distance in Jerusalem but learnt only in the evening what it was. Travelling outside rush hours decreases your risk. The rest is mind: consider the comparative probability to being killed in a car accident.

TEL AVIV:

Gordon's hostel; Gordon st. 2 burned down 4 years ago

Gordon Inn has small capacity at Gordon st. 17 (X Ben Yehuda)

Hayarkon 48 is a huge house, 11.5$ in dorm; business model appears to me quite greedy, cheaper Internet place is around the corner

A free of charge Bauhaus guided touris held on Saturdays 11a.m. from Rothschild 46; lasts 2 hours, in English

Other languages (Russian; German; French) can help to get around in town)

Yafo is beautiful (during opening hours). Good Falafel place at Hadolphin St.

Museum of modern Art has some important pieces but no apparent structure in the order of their display. No electronic security, hardly benches.

JERUSALEM

I got there by train which war very slow, more expensive than EGGED and terminated before the main station (Ramez Square). Train connections along the Mediterranean coast are comfortable though.

The old city to very much civilized in terms of cleanliness, drainage, street name shields. Big streets are quite numerous, hardly dead ends to be trapped in. Easy to roam around in and compare the 4 quarter's different styles.

To see the old city from top: take a) tower of the Lutheran church, open until 5pm (in front to the church of the holy sepulchre, left of via dolorosa); b) Austrian Hospice (ring and they buzz) at Via Dolorosa 3rd station; c) David Tower at Jaffa gate (admission only for museum visitors)

To stay in old city: Austrian Hospice12EUR; new city Jerusalem Hostel 44 Jaffa road 11.5EUR, no breakfast, hardly space other than beds in the dorm but very central setting

Mount Moria open 7h30-10 and 12h30-1h30, only one point of entry: Western Wall

Maps and information (free but Zionist) available at the Tourist information Jaffa Gate.

If you need food late, head towards Damascus Gate.

Get to the Western wall and Mea Sharim at Shabbat.

When talking to Orthodox Jews, German might help to being understood (proximity to Yiddish).

Israel Museum has a vast and insightful Judaism section. The Modern and Contemporary Art collection is there also very good - I felt as if there is a focus on Jewish painters prosecuted by Nazis (Expressionism, Cubism, Die Brücke). I had problems with understanding the texts on the Qumran exhibition. It deals only with the first two found and researched on by Israelis. The explanations were very specific, lots of terms I didn't know. I missed to being communicated the message about the impact of their finding to religious and historical science.

EN GEDI

Busses do not go too frequently, check out the Egged database for planning.

Do not imagine En Gedi as a town. The four bus stops are considerably distant from each others. Coming from the north these are: gas station and beach; Kibbuz Hotel; Kibbuz Nature Reserve; Wellness center. In the latter, entrance fee is 50sh a day, you can have moor packs and various kinds of massages too.

BETHLEHEM

It's safe; you're warmly encouraged to go there or another place in the Pal. territory. Dress as if you evidently are a tourist then no-one has interest to harm you.

How to get there: Arab bus and taxi sharut (collective taxi) supposedly starting from Damascus gate. I took Egged #163 from Bus station to Rachel's tomb (hebr. Kever Ächeh); make sure you get off at the checkpoint. I missed that and found myself between 50 armed soldiers, sandbags and deserted homes with bullet impacts – scared me a lot. You can walk from the crossing point into town or take a taxi waiting few meters uphills.

A carved figure made of olive wood slightly taller than 10cm should cost around 20USD

I experienced Palestinians as very nice people. They talk to you in a very good English to share concerns. Business is really bust - I was told an 80% unemployment rate. Still, selling things to you is only of minor interest, if at all, when addressing you.

Christmas in town: book a hotel ahead, no problem. Midnight mess in the Church: big problem. Tickets are already run out early before.

Have toilet paper on you.

TIBERIAS

Small, very religious (pilgrimage site for Christians and Jews), I got easily bored

Reception at Youth Hostel Jordan Street is not always occupied. You can ring the warden up (public phone).

I took a bus to Mt. of Beautitudes and walked through Orange and Banana plantages to Kfarna'un (Capernaum) and Tabgha for the Christian churches.

AKKO

The youth hostel near the lightning tower (old Caravansary) is shut down. The old city has two badly run hostels remaining: Gate and Cherry. I don't know about the whereabouts of the new city but from my experience I discourage indiv. low budget travellers to stay over in Akko. I was in Gate and was bitten by bed fleas. Make sure you don't pay more than 30Sh in a dorm.

The medina itself is an awesome place. Muslim population that immensely increased the impression I had of Arabs from before (I am blonde and blue-eyed). The best Hommos place in Israel is Saïd. I had delicious young tuna and the best # (Moroccan) ever.

I went from there north to Nahariyya and Rosh Harniqura which isn't much worth visiting it in the winter. Exciting to see the Lebanese border though.

You have some specific questions? Something urgently should be corrected? Go ahead!