Israel

Less than 72 hours earlier was I on the exact same Easyjet plane flying back from Austria. The human condition is strange, what sets us apart from most other animals is our ability to adapt and adjust to conditions and surroundings. Despite this phenomena, Easyjet flights remain an outlier that I simply can't get used to. I secretly like to consider myself a EU Discount carrier frequent flyer. Flying in excess of 15 times this year I still have found the right formula to flying comfortably. I'm sad to report that this 5 hour and 40 minute flight would be no different.

Our trip coincided with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, the 8 day festival of lights. From our experience in Israel, this religious holiday lacks the commercial punch of Christmas but is still held dearly with the Jewish community. It's a stark contrast, the humble Menorah, Dreidels and the delectable sufganiyot, or Jewish doughnut. Then again, you can't really compare the two religious events.

I've had high expectations of Israel so much so that I feared disappointment, the Holy Land, a rich cosmopolitan of history, culture and nightlife. Our 4 day adventure would take us around the major tourist areas. Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem as well as Masada and the Dead Sea.

Tel Aviv

Eden House, our accommodation base (well Eden Blue House on the final night). I screwed up the accommodation book a little by blindly booking double rooms as opposed to twins. Fortunately, this would not be a major issue as we would be disgustingly intoxicated and sleep would be a luxury of this trip. So, back to Tel Aviv. First impressions of the neighbour hood, quite dilapidated, I say this not with my nose turned high but as an observation. This run-down façade would later give off a romantic charm to the area. Another observation, why are there so many cats?

Food wise, very good. The produce we had was extremely fresh and tasty and the same can be said about most food throughout Israel. I've a new found appreciation of eggplant (or for you English, Aubergine) and the mixed Mezze. Spinaches, beets, cheeses, corianders, soft flat breads, hummus and the succulent meats, delicious, I could eat those as mains! We dined at two restaurants, one a local Cat Themed restaurant and the slightly finer dining Alma Beach based Manta Ray.

Due to our limited time in Israel, we only had Sunday as a free day to roam around Tel Aviv at our on leisure. With this, we decided that the Carmel Markets and Jaffa would make up our daytime agenda. Really, liking this city, such an electric vibe around the city. Most definitely consider coming back in the new year.

Party wise we managed to get to the main areas within Tel Aviv. Rothschild St, with plenty of nondescript bars, the slightly more relaxed Florentine with it's bohemian vibe and the traditional Port Tel Aviv, home of the super clubs. One of the few places in the world where a late night kebab and falafel isn't the sign of a bad night out.

As with most Middle Eastern countries, the weekend starts a day earlier with Saturday marking the start of the week. It was a nice surprise to find plenty of people out on the Saturday evening. We later found out that most people worked half days during Hanukkah. With that in mind, we headed down to Port Tel Aviv, Nemal the home of the super clubs. Feeling somewhat under-dressed and more importantly, old, we headed south to the bar-centric neighbour hood of Florentine. Excellent place to bar hop, each bar has different décor, unique atmosphere and the friendliest people you could meet. Our night ended in a convenience store with the store keeper desperately trying to persuade us to save our money and walk home. 10 minutes later we left the shop with precise instructions how to walk home, turned the corner and jumped into the first cab we could find.

The problem with Tel Aviv, is that there's so many small streets that most cab drivers aren't familiar with. Of course, our lodging's was no exception. Sure enough we found ourselves standing in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Tel Aviv. One of us, in dire need of a restroom ducked into a local pub to use the amenities. Overcome by guilt she thought the least we could do is buy a drink. A round was ordered and the bar tender decided that it would free drinks for all in the bar. We stayed late into the evening, drinking and singing. Excellent night-life!

Jerusalem + Bethlehem (Day 1 of tour)
6:45 am. Well rested with 2 hours of sleep, we checked out of Eden House and trudged over to the Mecure, to be picked up for the start of our mouth watering 2 day tour. There was no shortage of tour companies around Israel but we opted for Egged Tours which we had booked online back in London. Not 10 minutes into our journey did we have to travel to realise how rich in history and how much culture was on offer. We passed the field were David allegedly fought Goliath, learnt about the Bedwins and the significance of Olive Oil and Trees to the Israelis. Our first major stop was Jerusalem which in all honesty was a fair bit to take in. Sites included, Dome of the Rock, The Wailing Wall and the Crucifixion site, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Amazing tour, yet so strange walking through the three different quarters, Christian, Muslim and Jewish quarters. Unbelievable.

For lunch we were herded to a falafel bar, we weren't the only tour group eating here and the food was unsurprisingly crap. Immediately after lunch we were again, pushed into a gift store where we were encouraged to 'shop around' while the tour organised the tour guide within the Palestine grounds of Bethlehem. Sure enough, the store was filled with tourist and paraphernalia only a devotee could imagine. The wait took nearly 1 hour which was apalling! Finally we were allowed to cross over into Bethlehem.

The Israeli security was strict with passports required to be shown upon entry and exit. Crossing over, you could tell you were in a different place, kids harassed you to buy gum and postcards and there was a heightened sense of activity and alertness. The main drawcard of this part of the tour was the Church of Nativity, better known as the birth place of Jesus. The first day ended spending a night back in Jerusalem checking into Park Plaza, indulging in the hotel's buffet and passing out due to sheer exhaustion.

Masada + Dead Sea (Day 2 of tour)
Last evening's attempt to explore Jerusalem by after sunset was a failure. The trade off to this was the indulgent 8 hours of sleep we were treated to and the not so good movie, From Paris With Love. At 8:45 the following day we embarked on our tour towards Masada and the Dead Sea. We had exchanged our mini van for a fully fledged tour bus and a new tour guide. Within 30 minutes we were driving along the coast of the world's lowest point, 418 metres below sea level. Not surprisingly, we were pushed into the Dead Sea gift store and were soon caught up in the novelty and fever of dead sea products.

The UNESCO site of Masada was something else, the ruins of what was once fortress and hide out of Herrod sounded impressive back in its hay day and 2000 years later did not disappoint. Ambitiously we tried to climb up the 90 metre accent in thongs but were denied and forced to take the cable car, good call. The tour was well conducted and treated to historic recount of the great siege of Massada. Immediately proceeding lunch we started for The Dead Sea.

Armed with the knowledge of the Dead Sea and my budgie smugglers we headed down to the shore of the world's saltiest body of water. The water, if you can call it water itself was so viscous it resembled oil more than water. We had been cautioned into entering the Dead Sea gracefully and gently. There was a science to it. Slowly step in, avoiding all the sharp objects by the shore, in fact wear thongs if you can. Then, ease yourself down into the squat position and sit down on you backside. The high salinity would take care of the rest. Sure enough, feet, body were floating on the water, this provided entertainment for the best part of 20 seconds. The nutrient, rich mud proved to be more of a novelty than floating and soon we were covered head to toe in the mud. The salt was ridiculously painful in the eye not even the accidental rub of chilli in the eye comes close to the excruciating pain of having 38% salinity in your eyes.

So there it is. Israel, an amazing trip! I decided that 4 days was nearly not enough time and I've already decided this is one of the few countries I would return to.

The high level of security was also something else. On the way in we were cautious of the risks of having an Israeli stamp in the passport. On the way out we were shipped off to terminal 3, and interrogated at the airport, countless scans, particle samples and passport quizzes. The stamps of Malaysia, Dubai, Morocco and Indonesia raised some eyebrows but after convincing them that I was nothing but an Australian traveller I was granted my seat on the flight. We boarded the flight with minutes to spare and were soon flying back into London. Flight back was deadly long and uncomfortable and we arrived back in London well after midnight. Still, it was a lot earlier than the previous weekend.