Oct 15, 2010 Posted by Leon on Oct 15, 2010 in Israel Diary | 0 comments

Israel Diary: Like a Month of Sundays

What does a month days in Israel look like? Obviously, the answer would be different for everyone. What appears below is a brief outline of our experience. Looking back, there is very little that I would have changed.

To understand our choices of stops and pace, you may need a little background: We are a family of 6 – 2 parents and 4 kids ages 19, 15, 10 and 7. That spectrum of ages means we need to be considerate of how much time we spend in museums as well as playgrounds.

We tend to travel heavy – bringing things along with us for both the total trip and the day – so that we don’t get caught short and don’t get caught up spending money where it’s not needed. We pack sandwiches (and a lot of snacks!) for the day and eat as we go. By dint of luck and with the generous guidance of a a member of our synagogue, we found an apartment in the middle of Jerusalem with a kitchen and room for 6 beds.

That having been said, what appears below are the highlights of each day. There are more things we accomplished, but much of it was intangible – meeting people, just making our way from place to place, and stopping to take things in.

Another point to consider is that one of our kids was really under the weather when we arrived in Israel (we took her to urgent care about 2 hours before we left for the airport) so our first few days were slower than expected as she recovered.

We also did NOT rent a car – partially because we had heard Jerusalem has ample public transportation (it does, for the most part) but also due to the fact that it was impossible (no, really – IMPOSSIBLE) to find a vehicle that seated 6 during August. Everyone else is taking their vacation so all the larger cars are booked up. Never the less, we were able to get everywhere we wanted to go, and probably ended up saving money even when you factor in the extra cab, bus and train fares.

Some of the items below will merit their own post, so keep checking back!

Day 1-2	Travel (18 hours door to door), land in Israel, get to hotel, unpack, eat schwarma at Hamarosh on Ben Yehudah street
Day 3	Walk around, shop, get lay of land, adjust to time zone Make our first (but by no means last) foray into Machane Yehudah
Day 4	Egged bus 99 (city tour)
Day 5	Walk down to, and into, the old city of Jerusalem
Day 6	Shabbat, visit Hebrew Union College for services. Meet friends for lunch.
Day 7	Tour the Migdal (Citadel of) David Take a walk on the ramparts of the Old City
Day 8	Visit Yad Vashem check in at Jerusalem’s central bus station to get times and prices for our various destinations
Day 9	Trekked above and under ground at Ir David Walked back toward the center of Jerusalem and watched The Time Elevator. Visited “The Burnt house” in the Old City walked around the Davidson archaelogical dig just outside the Kotel.
Day 10	Took a sherut from Jerusalem (near the Jersualem Hotel) to Tel Aviv. Picked up the bus and rode down to the Jaffa clock tower for a free tour Took the bus up to the Diasporah museum Took a bus down to the Azrieli tower to take in the view Walked from Azrieli to Max Brenner’s Chocolate Bar Took the bus back to the central bus station, and caught a Sherut home.
Day 11	Spent the day at the Jerusalem zoo
Day 12	Took in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the model of the Second Temple, among many other sites at the Israel museum Shop for Shabbat
Day 13	Visited congregation Shir Chadash for Shabbat services
Day 14	Took in Chagal’s Windows at Hadassah Hospital Walked through Mea Shearim
Day 15	Visited the Hertzl Museum Took the bus back down to the Old City to visit the grave of Oskar Schindler
Day 16	Took the train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv Changed trains and continued north to Haifa Settled into the Hof HaCarmel Youth Hostel Spent the afternoon at Hof HaCarmel beach
Day 17	Traveled to Ceasarea Returned to Haifa and visited the Stella Maris Church Looked (unsuccessfully) for Elijah’s cave
Day 18	(NOTE: This was one of our most successful sightseeing days, largely due to our amazing guide Chaim. If you are near Haifa, you really should let him drive you around. (052)241-5984) Found and visited Elijah’s cave Walked down the hill to the Clandestine immigration museum Walked through the Baha’i gardens Explored the grottoes at Rosh Hanikra and went to the Lebanon border Walked through Akko ‘s Crusader city and parts of the new city as well
Day 19-20	Took the train from Haifa back to Tel Aviv and met friends for a leisurely Shabbat weekend
Day 21	Traveled by train and bus the Alpaca farm in Mitzpe Ramon
Day 22	After breakfast at the Alpaca Farm, travel by bus to the Ein Gedi Youth Hostel Walk down to Pundak Ein Gedi and float in Dead Sea
Day 23	Take bus to Masada and spend the day exploring Grab taxi to Kibbutz Ein Gedi for groceries and crash for the night.
Day 24	Sunrise trek through the Nachal David nature park Toured the ancient synagogue just up the road.
Day 25	Traveled by taxi to Kfar Nokdim where we got to experience camel rides, true Bedouin hospitality , and dinner before sleeping in cozy tents (or in beautiful rooms – it was our choice!)
Day 26	Traveled by taxi back to Jerusalem dropped our bags and scrambled to shop for Shabbat , which was fast approaching!
Day 27	Shabbat morning services at the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem
Day 28	Took advantage of the free walking tours of old city Met friends later at Hagiga Shel Babette, a waffle bar near Ben Yehudah St.
Day 29	Took a taxi out to Yad Kennedy to meet Jewish National Fund organizers and plant a tree with our own hands Made one of our many visits to Machane Yehudah
Day 30	Walked down to the Old City, and went through the two exhibits just off the side of the Kotel: The Chain of Generations The tour the tunnels under the Kotel Visited the Aish HaTorah building including the rooftop view Attended a lecture at the Temple Institute
Day 31	Took a taxi out to P’til Techelet Enjoyed the view at the Mount of Olives Walked through Mamilla mall on our way to another visit to the Old City
Day 32	Took a tour on the Temple Mount Walked through the Muslim quarter to the Damascus gate and around the corner into Zedekiah’s caves Looked around at the Old Yishuv museum Took a tour of the Hurva synagogue Visited the 4 Sephardic synagogues
Day 33	Fly home