Easter trip to Israel

Shalom Shalom,

we were looking for a new destination for the Easter Weekend.
it was still a bit too cold in Switzerland, so we decided going somewhere south.
Why not to Israel with a couple of friends?

Reason as following:
Flight was only 200 CHF (with a topover in Istanbul)
Flighttime was only 4 hours
Never been there for longer than a afternoon
Tel Aviv supposed to be a Party City.
Sunshine, expected 25 degrees in the shade.

OK LET’s GO 🙂

we did not really research much about the city, we only booked an appartement on AirBnb. Once we arrived, we heard it Passover, which means only Kosher Food (obviously also no beer). the next day, we found out Tel Aviv is quite open-minded and there are still placed where we got beer (so relieved, I am telling you) Rambling around the city, hanging out at the beach and looking for the best placed to eat, drink and dance.
Our friend Burcu knew some people, which turned out to know the good Gay Clubs. (there were extremely many gays – and they are always good fun) Party-wise I would say it is really worth spending few night in the TLV.

Coming to the food, Breakfast is one of the most important meals in the day. And there are amazing restaurants for that. Highly recommended are Benedikt or Java.

For lunch and dinner or snacks in between we were happy with some Shawarma, Kebab, Shakshuka and a lot of Hummus 🙂

From Tel Aviv it is also very easy to travel to Jersualem, the deadsea, or to Masada. We rented a car for two days and drove through the country.

Masada was quite impressive, somewhere in nowhere these acient fortress have been built before 40 BCE. The view from up the mountain is also very nice looking the deadsea and wideness.

Combined with Masada, we also had a short swim in the dead sea. After Floating, it is common to use the mud for a better skin. Funny adventure, but not a place I need to stay longer than one day 🙂

Jerusalem, the next day was the opposite from how we experienced TelAviv. We only went to the old city, but were tired after 4 hours walking already. The different religions on a such a small area is crazy. Of course, we went to all the parts. The holy city for the Jewish, Catholics and Muslims. Unfortunately, we did not see much from the appaerently nice mosque, because we were not muslims.
Of course, it has been now quite touristic and many people try to make out of Jerusalems Old City money. There is not way out of the many markets and bazaar, especially in the arabic quarter. It was a nice experience, and I would certainly go back to Jersualem to see how everthing will be developed in the future.

Back in Tel Aviv, we were quite tired and just looked for a restaurant nearby. Trip Advisor brought us back to the Java Restaurant, where we had breakfast before. And it was amazing. Again, very recommended.

A little additional anectode: we were very lazy looking for a parking place for our rented car. So we though, we just park on the pavement, 1 meter away from our appartement. Surprisingly, we got a fine for 500 shekel (120 CHF) but the next day we only had to get up 5 AM (intead of 4.30)

Additonal note, the rental car return is not easy to find the airport. (which tourists beside Israelis, can read hebrew, common!!!)

Additional note 2, actually you need to be at the airport 3 hours before the flight, but somehow it also worked 1 hour before (okay, maybe it was a bit stressful, when she told us we might not make it to the flight)

All in all, great trip!
gerne wieder…