My Israel Trip

I started from Bangalore Airport. There was no direct flight to Israel from Bangalore, so booked via Mumbai. I booked in Israel's airline 'Elal Airlines' which starts from Mumbai and reach TelAviv.

Preferred asian vegetarian meal in Elal, so they served rice, dal, fruits, salad. I liked the roasted dry fruits which they served along with welcome drink, it tasted nice.

I reached TelAviv around 3:30AM in the morning; after passport check, I entered Israel :) . The city TelAviv is in Mediterranean coast and is a beautiful and modern city in Israel. From there I hired a taxi to head towards Jerusalem (70kms from TelAviv). Driver charged me 300 NIS for Mercedes Benz Taxi.  In Israel we can hire taxi either based on meter or based on fair-price basis. And here the meter is based on time and not on distance.

In BenGurion Airport

All over Israel we can see sign board in three languages
  (1) English
  (2) Hebrew
  (3) Arabic

I reached Jerusalem in 40 mins time. Jerusalem city is located on a plateau in the Judean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea and is one of the oldest cities in the world. The present Jerusalem city is developed far beyond the boundary of old city. I stayed 8km away from old city of Jerusalem. 

Transportation in Jerusalem:

• The city is well connected by Egged Israel Transport Cooperative Society Ltd. The maximum time we may need to wait in a stop for a bus is 15 mins. In Israel we should practice ourself in reading from right to left. In the display board the route number will be in right most and before that is the time to wait for bus and another number before it is the time to wait for next bus. In few road they have dedicated lane for Egged bus to .

Below wikipedia link lists the routes operated by Egged bus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egged_buses_in_Jerusalem

• Also we can use taxi service to commute from one place to other. And as mentioned earlier we can hire based on meter or on fair-price basis.

• If we are comfortable in driving with left-side steering then we can rent a car also. One of my friend rented a car from http://www.hertz.co.il/en

•  Apart from this we have Light Rail transportation which covers major areas in Jerusalem

The problem with Egged bus service is the operation will be stopped during Shabbat (Will describe about Sabbath shortly). Also the number of taxis running during Sabbath period will be very less. 

Food in Jerusalem:

In my view, I see Jerusalem people are very conscious on what they eat. They choose what is good for health and have seen many people having salads as main course.

People here eat meat & fish. Since I am vegetarian I have not tried any of these. To my surprise I got tasty vegetarian food in Israel. I ate Hummus which is a food spread prepared from mashed chickpeas (chana) and Falafel which is a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas.

Falafel in our hand and the guy behind preparing Hummus

Falafel is a traditional Middle Eastern food, commonly served in a pita, which acts as a pocket, or wrapped in a flatbread known as lafa.

Everything ready in our table :)
Clockwise from bottom
(1) Salad (2) Hummus (3) Falalel (4) pita (5) Lemon

I ate Falafel with pita in a restaurant in 'The First Station', they served it with salad and it is a good combination. I ate Falafel inside lafa in old city. The Lafa is like Indian Rumali roti.

Falafel inside Lafa

I ate one Arabian dessert in a mall in Herziliya. Its name is Kunafa roll, it tasted so nice but so sweety. Cannot eat full kunafa :( after few bite looked my friend's face to share it !!!

Kunafa roll - Arabian dessert

While discussing about food in Jerusalem, it is important to know about Kosher. Food that may be consumed according to halakha (Jewish law) is termed kosher in English, meaning "fit" (in this context, fit for consumption). Food that is not in accordance with Jewish law is called treif meaning "torn."

There are several factors which certifies the food is a kosher food. I list few factors here but there are so many
(1) Dairy and meat products should not be cooked together
(2) Kosher meat must come from an animal that chews its cud and has split hooves
(3) Dairy products are considered Kosher only when it comes from a kosher animal
(4) .... many more

To know more about Kosher

http://www.ok.org/consumers/kosher-an-overview/

Kosher is not just about the kind of food, it is also about how the food is prepared.

If we wish to cook ourself then we can buy grocery items from super markets. We get Dawat Indian rice in all major stores. One issue we faced while buying from super marker was everything was written in Hebrew, we need to confirm with the store keeper what is it (and he should know English name of the item!!). Thanks to Murugan and Kishan who stayed with us in the apartment, they cooked delicious Indian food. I could not forgot the taste of the bengal green-gram dal fry; 6000Km away from India but same Indian taste. :)

Home made Dal with Vegetables

Snowfall in Jerusalem:

Unfortunately it snowed when I had plan to visit Eilat for scuba diving. But fortunately it snowed during my stay in Israel. Once the snow alert was announced by meteorological department, the whole city prepared itself to manage it. In my apartment, the owner cut a tree on a day before snow storm. I wondered why they cut a tree then I came to know it is because of their previous experiences with snow storm. During the previous storm, the tree fell on the electrical lines and caused disruption to power supply in many parts of the city. 

Lawn fully covered with snow

When I opened the window of my room in the morning; I was very much surprised and happy as this was the first time I see real snow in my life. I knocked everyone's room and called for snow play :P.

Playing with snow without hand gloves :)

Next day clearing the snow for Traffic

Shabbat

Shabbat (Shabbath, Shabbes, Shobos, etc.) is a weekly day of rest, observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. 

Shabbat is like a Sunday but here people follow it strictly. Bus services are stopped during Shabbat, shops will be closed, no restaurants and even tourist places are closed. We can find few arab restaurants opened in old city. Apart from that the whole city will be in silent, not much vehicles in road.

During Shabbat time people wont operate any electrical & electronics items which includes all devices from mobile phone, television, refrigerator to light, fan etc., Even I heard they wont cook during shabbat, they prepare whatever required a day before shabbat only.

The First Station

I went to 'The First Station' along with my friends in evening time. It is a perfect place for hangout with friends. It is good to check whether any event or show is organized on the day we go. On the day we went, they organized 'International Book Fair'; I could see books from Arab, Hebrew and many European  writings books but no Indian writings :( 

Some days they organize for Jazz music or cultural events in the evening.

Not only that there are lots of shops, restaurants and cafes to spend time and enjoy food.

Check this site before going

http://www.firststation.co.il/en/

Exhibit cum sale stall used during events

One more interesting thing about this place, from here the segway tour to old city starts. The guided tour is for 2 hours which includes 30 mins of segway training. Better to book a reservation over telephone. The cost of segway tour is 195 shekel.

Short history about 'The First Station'

This railway station was constructed in the mid of 19th century by a French company and began operations from 1892. The station operated almost continuously until 1948, when traffic stopped on the Jaffa–Jerusalem line due to the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Again it resumed in 1949 but gradually the passenger usage decreased. So in 1998 the station was officially closed.

Entrance to Jerusalem Railway station

Western wall and Old City

The old city of Jerusalem has history that stretches back some 3000 years. It is a walled city and has many gates to enter. Taxi driver dropped us in Jaffa Gate which is on the west side of the city. From Jaffa Gate we can see Tower of David. City is divided culturally and historically into four quarters namely the Muslim Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, and the Christian Quarter. There are lots of shop in old city which sells souvenir and gift items but are premiumly priced. The best place to buy items are from 'The Shuk' (Mahane Yehuda Market).

Fortified wall of Old City

Jaffa Gate

Standing in front of Tower of David

We were confused on which direction we should take to visit Western Wall and inquired the elderly person who came in our direction. He was a Jew who served American military and now settled in Jerusalem and luckily he was also going to Western Wall only. So we went along with him, he was a very nice person. In general I saw all Israeli people very friendly and welcoming. Many people even though we don't know them they simply greeted us in the morning with a smile. We may encounter few persons not responding to our questions and move away from us; don't mistake those people. Not all people in Israel know English so few people ignore our questions and move.

On our way to Western Wall through the narrow streets of old city the elderly person explained us about the history behind Jerusalem and its religious importance. He showed us few places like 6th century Roman market, the Burnt house, the jewish quarter. Since we were all Hindus and not much aware of the Biblibal stories he told many stories from it like the story of Moses, Abraham, David. He hinted about Ten Commandments and asked us to watch that movie. We can enjoy the visual treat of Jerusalem and importance of each and every street if we know Biblical stories and some histories behind it.

2000 years before during Roman time it was a busy Market place 

Roman Market in the painting

Narrow Streets of old Jerusalem

Western wall is also called as Wailing Wall. The wall has been a site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage. It is considered to be the wall of Solomon's Temple mount which was destructed on 70AD. Jewish people read Torah which is religious book in Western Wall. 

Reached Western Wall

We bid farewell to him; saw other nearby places and he went for prayer. We really spent quality time with him and gained more knowledge from him.

Floating in Dead Sea

Dead Sea is the world's lowest point, lying at some 400m below sea level. The sea is fed mainly by Jordan river, and is supplemented by underground springs and floods. It is 10 times more saltier than ocean making it easy to sit up in and read newspaper. :)

In history this place was remained desolate and untouched until the arrival of the British. The British setup two plant to tap the abundant minerals. If we go to Dead Sea, we can still see the first potash plant.

Bus service to Dead Sea is not frequent, it is good to hire a taxi or rent a car. We hired a taxi and fixed a deal for 300 NIS. On our way we saw Date Palm tree on both sides of the road. 

Palm Trees in the Road towards DeadSea

We can enjoy the bath in Dead sea in either private resort or in common area. We went to Biankiki - Dead Sea resort. It is just 25 mins drive from Jerusalem. They provide good facility to make us enjoy our bath in Dead Sea. We took mud bath which would impact the skin, making it clearer, smoother, and more vibrant.

Dead Sea, 400m below sea level

Barren Hilly area surrounding Dead Sea

Floating in Dead Sea after mud bath

While coming back to Jerusalem, we came across the guard checkpoint where they verified our passport. Because this road is the merging road from Palestine region.

Through Mediterranean Coast 

We checked the weather forecast; it said it is rainy in Mediterranean coast. But we don't want to waste our day in apartment, we switched on the engine, buckled our seat belt and started :D

First we headed to Haifa city which is third largest city in Israel and has major port in Mediterranean coastline. We went to Baha'i Temple and it was closed due rain. We were not surprised ;) But we had spectacular bird eye view of Baha'i Temple and the Haifa city from the hill top.

View of Baha'i Temple Dome, Haifa City and its port

After that we went to Rosh Hanikra; Rosh Hanikra grottos are cavernous tunnels formed by sea action on the soft chalk rock. Also this tunnel is in the Lebanese border of Israel; we can see sign board showing the distance to Jerusalem, Israel capital and Beirut, Lebanese capital.

Israel - Lebanese Border

Rain was little less there but they closed the cable-car service to grottos due to bad wind :( so we just took few snaps near the place and returned

View of Mediterranean sea and behind us is the string for rope car

I think as Spring water but maybe rain water also.
It was freezing cold !!!

We have to be very careful while driving in highways if we miss any turn then we can take U turn maybe after 15 Kms only. After Rosh HaNikra, we headed south towards Herzliya which has beautiful port, shopping malls and restaurants in beach area. On the way heavy ice pellets was falling and we got afraid and stopped the vehicle.

Road filled with Ice Pellets 

Private and Rental Yacht in Herzliya Beach

While planning for a day trip in Israel it is good to carry some food with us like biscuits, dry fruits, fruits etc., (especially for vegetarians). It was difficult for us to find a restaurant which serves vegetarian also. We saw McDonald in highway and become happy but they also disappointed by saying only french fries are available as vegetarian food :( only in India we get veg burgers in McDonald.

Shopping

In Jerusalem, the best place for shopping is Mahane Yehuda Market, generally called as 'The Shuk'. It is a market place popular with both local and tourist. Many shops here sells dry fruits, cookies and chocolates. We purchased all varieties of dry fruits and dates. If we have bargaining skills, we can do. And we should be aware that it would be closed during Sabbath time. It has many parallel and perpendicular road and everything look alike. 

One of the street of Shuk

We can spend evening time in Ben Yehuda street which is just 800 mt from Mahane Yehuda Market. Here we can buy souvenirs, dress materials, gifting items, flowers. There are lots of restaurants and cafe shop to try. The street is blocked for motor vehicle and we can enjoy street musician play street musics in the evening. 

In front of a flower shop in BenYehuda Street

Some souvenir which usually people buys are yamaka which is head gear of Jews people, menorah which is seven lamp ancient Hebrew lampstand.