Israel Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

The next day, Cathy and I got up early to walk to Jaffa.  When we got back, we took a walk through some of the parks of Tel Aviv and also through the main shopping area.  It really felt like Europe, or even the US, but it was a neat experience all the same.  We were shocked to see everything closing early until we realized that the 16th of April was a memembrance of the Holocaust day.  Everything shuts down early the day before and is closed the morning of the memembrance....

The great pyramids of Giza, the pink facades of Petra, the blue minarets of Istanbul, and the storybook walled cities of Jerusalem and Damascus are some of the highlights that lure travelers to the Middle East. If you make it to these postcard spots, you won’t go home disappointed.But there is a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Jerusalem called Rahmo, where they serve the best kubbe soup this side of an Iraqi or Kurdish grandmother’s kitchen. And deep in the Western Desert, between the oasi...

The City of David Tour was one of our last stops. There was a movie. Historical information about the grounds on which were stood was given. There was some water demonstration about the sewage system. The big event was the trek through Hezekiah’s tunnel. The tunnel is, unsurprisingly, long and dark. Water runs through it still. And once you enter, you must follow through to the end. Our experience of the tunnel was, to me, heartbreaking because my friend’s then youngest daughter, aged 5, ...

Tel Aviv is a completely different city when it’s not resting for the Shabat. We should have retraced our entire route from yesterday, but we were too lazy for a six-hour walk. It was hot and humid! So we went back to Dizengof Center, where I lost Steve to a music store. I explored some of the shops in the mall but even though things were pretty cheap, nothing really struck me, and we both left the mall empty handed.From there we walked to Carmel Market. What a difference a day makes! This ...

I was excited to have some time to explore the creative side of Israel. The country is not often known for its art and artists, but the arts are definitely not in short supply. There are towns dedicated to the arts, museums and galleries focused on emerging local artists and public art everywhere. I spent an entire day wandering alone through the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. I only left so I could catch the last bus out of the city to a friend's house, otherwise I would have stayed until closing (...

In winter 2005/6 I was living outside in the Israeli desert, doing the logistics for hiking groups etc and when I come back to Israel at April 2007 I did a bit of the same but manly work as a guide taking people out for jeep trips...did got to spend a lot of time outside, but as it used to be my work, I end up not taking my camera with me for most of the times...sorry

So, my army service started in the 14th of December 2004, It was one of the coldest winters Israel has seen in 20 years. I came to the drafting unit accompanied by my parents, sister and my boyfriend at the time, I said goodbye and they took us on a bus to another section of the base to get uniforms, vaccines and all necessary equipment to start our two years in the service. I was one of the unlucky ones who had to do kitchen duty while waiting for everybody to finish the process and to be...

Some of you may have heard of the Hezbollah crisis: I was there in the midst! Many people hear about the turmoil in Israel, however, most people rarely hear of the hospitality of the people or of their amazing generosity. I experienced the Hezbollah crisis as well as the turmoil between the Arabs and the Jews as I traveled through uncharted territory and heard the story from the people who live it out on a daily basis. It is something that will forever be etched upon my mind.

Once you get past the numerous girls in customs asking questions who oddly try to convince you that you dont want to be here and even suggesting that my friend who invited me over wouldn't want to see me.... it is easy to see how misunderstood Israel really is. Tel Aviv is just like any other western city.   In the daylight, you can truly see why some Israeli's call Tel Aviv, California Israel due to the spectacular beaches and promenades. I loved my time there so much that I kept pop...

Shalom me'Israel!!! So, the second week in Israel is nearly over...and my volunteer period is ended this morning. I am in Tel Aviv again now for the day, and one volunteer Ruben from Belgium and I are going by bus to Eilat (on the Red Sea) late tonight for the weekend. We leave Eilat Sunday, he goes back to the base to do his 3rd week of volunteer, and then I go direct to Jerusalem for 3 days to finish my stay in Israel. The volunteer period with the Tzahal (Israel Defense Forces) was exac...

The Old City  is a 0.9 square kilometre (0.35 square mile) area within the modern city of Jerusalem. Until the 1860s this area constituted the entire city of Jerusalem. The Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and its Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims.Traditionally, the Old City has been divided into four quarters, although the current designations were...

     I didn't know about this site when I actually went to Israel so I am back tracking and giving some of the highlights of my trip...in retrospect.      I, along with my youth group from my synagogue, stayed in Ashqelon for the first part of the trip in our rabbi's house. It was a beautiful house with a nice deck...and barely any hot water :). It's not that it DIDN'T have hot water, it's just that the heater was on a timer so you had to set it for wh...

On the first day it was around 35 degrees celsius, so we waited till noon to do our shopping of food and drinks for the weekend (taking around 6 litres of water per person). We drove all the way from Tel-Aviv to Sede Boqer, something like 2.5 hours, through the city of Beer-Sheva and other small farmer towns. Our first stop was the graves of the first Israel Prime Minister - David Ben Gurion. He was a big fan of the desert and he dwelled there after he stopped being a prime minister in Isra...

Fue un fin de semana tranquilo. Llegamos a Eilat, sufrimos los 42 gC, nos encerramos en le shopping y el hotel hasta la noche, y después pudimos ir a nadar en la playa, donde cenamos luego de un rato.It was a a very quiet weekend. We arrive to Eilat where we suffer the 42gC, so we get into the shopping center and then the hotel to enjoy the air conditioner and at night we went to the beach to swim and dinner.Al día siguiente, fuimos a bucear, la primer vez para mi hermana, y mi mamá se reh...

Aight I guess its time for me to play a bit of catch up on this blog thing. I just finished my first week of classes so that has been taking up most of my time. To decide which classes I wanted to take the international school lets us sit in on as many classes as we wish to for the first week and then finalize registration the following week. They offer a bunch of really interesting courses, but in the end I have decided to continue my Hebrew, take a social history course, terrorism and re...