We are starting a new journey of the travel-picture.ru team to Israel - a country of pilgrims, conquerors, emigrants and a huge number of our Russian people living here.
Shalom (translated from Hebrew - Hello), welcome to the blog travel-picture.ru, in the section "Israel" we will try to answer all the questions of interest to tourists who are going to rest in this wonderful historical state. To begin with, I would like to thank the hotel booking on my website, namely the Hotelcombined service, with the help of which an independent trip was made. Cheap flights were also purchased on this site using an online search for cheap flights.
Airport and how to get to Tel Aviv city
Israel has a large number of airports: 17 civilian and 10 military. Your journey begins at Ben Gurion International Airport. From Ben Gurion Airport to the city of Tel Aviv located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, there is a train or you can take a taxi.
Let's be honest, not every tourist can afford to take a taxi to the city of Tel Aviv, the fare will be about $ 40-100, here how to agree with the friendly Jewish people. The cost of a train ticket to the city center in local currency (Shekel is the name of the local currency) costs 15 shekels, which is about $ 4, the travel time will take you only 15-20 minutes.
Traveling by train is the most budgetary mode of transport for tourists who are accustomed to saving money. By the way, the local currency, Shekel, has not changed its denomination for 20 years, unlike other countries.
Hotels in Tel Aviv
Upon arrival in Tel Aviv, you should take care of your hotel accommodation. The hotel class in Israel is determined differently, there is no usual classification by stars. In other countries, 1st class is the highest class of accommodation comfort, but in Israel it is the middle class, after 1st class comes the Premium class, then Deluxe and the highest class for presidents and VIPs - Super Deluxe (the Dan Tel Aviv ”).
In super deluxe hotels you will find a stunning view (usually a sea view), a bath with a jacuzzi and a full set of cosmetics from the Dead Sea, escort by the Butler (your personal butler) of the hotel on any issue, a bar with drinks (Martini, Russian vodka and others). In general, a complete set for a luxury holiday in Israel is provided to you. Even in hotels, on the doors to each room, you can see a scroll of parchment "Mezuzah" (a part of the prayer written on the skin of an animal placed in a special case), the mezuzah is your talisman.
A regular hotel in Tel Aviv will cost you about $ 80 per night, but finding such a hotel here is not as easy as it seems, prices are usually much more expensive, although a Hostel here will cost about $ 40-70. At the price of a super deluxe hotel, it is unlikely that an ordinary tourist will be suitable for living, so we will not focus on this much, we will only say that the price per day will be $ 2,500, now we will “go down to earth” and continue our journey across Israel in the city of Tel Aviv ...
Rental housing in Tel Aviv and prices →
Walking Israel
If you find yourself here on a Saturday day and are left alone on all the streets of the city, do not be alarmed, Saturday is a holy day for the Jews. Public transport, cafes, restaurants, shops, banks and other establishments are closed on this day. On this day, Orthodox Jews (the followers of the Jewish worldview, usually dressed in black and with locks of hair hanging from their heads, in general, you understand who we are talking about) do not watch TV, do not call anyone, do not smoke, and do not even pick their noses.
Arab and Russian trade pavilions, which work here even at night, will come to your aid. You can also visit the beaches of Israel, which is what tourists actually do.
For example, you can dine in a cafe from the Arabs for $ 5-10 by buying a sausage in dough, hot corn, tea and a large hot dish.
Dead Sea and healing mud
Well, here lunch was successful for our stomach, now you can go to the main attraction of Israel - the Dead Sea. It is difficult to call it the Dead Sea, rather, it is an ordinary lake 19 kilometers wide and 380 meters deep between our rest point and Jordan.
The Dead Sea is the lowest land mass on the entire planet Earth and one of the saltiest lakes in the world. The world famous healing mud is not that cheap here, it just lies on the ground for free, now go to your cosmetic stores and see how much such mud costs compared to other types of mud. In general, Jews know how to make money out of ordinary dirt.
It is worth noting that the Dead Sea mud has a large amount of minerals that rejuvenate the skin and heal rheumatism and other diseases. But you can't drown yourself in the Dead Sea, the water is so salty that you will always float to the surface, usually people lie in the water and read magazines.
Jaffa city and orange tree
For the historical flavor and exoticism of the eastern country, all tourists go to the Jaffa region. The historic city of Jaffa was the most important port of Israel and was a separate city, here was the center where pilgrims headed to Jerusalem came. It is believed that it was here that Noah built his ark, but they still cannot find the ark.
The city of Jaffa will conquer you with its streets and paths made of century-old stone, along which it is pleasant to walk and take pictures, we definitely recommend taking a picture of the amazing monument - the Orange tree hanging in the air. The orange tree is a symbol of the Jewish people who were cut off from the earth, had no territory of their own, but continued to bear fruit like this tree.
Israeli cuisine and its secrets
Israel's cuisine is unique to the Jewish people. Jews eat mostly kosher food (kosher is acceptable or suitable). For example, all plants are kosher food, only kosher fish that have scales, that is, shark or shrimp you will not come across in Jewish cuisine. Of meat, only ram, goat and cow are kosher, almost everything is possible from birds, except for birds - scavengers.
In restaurants, you will find a huge number of meat dishes, which are sure to be served with wine of different varieties and brands, in order to understand this, be sure to read our article on the choice of wine for meat dishes. Dinner in good restaurants in Israel for one person will cost you $ 70-100, dinner in a cafe will cost much less, about $ 15 for the first, second, dessert and tea.
This is where the first article on the country, namely about the city of Tel Aviv ends, if you liked the beginning of our journey, then subscribe to the latest articles, in the following articles we will tell you about the sights, excursions, and, most importantly, how to save money for a tourist going to rest in Israel.
