Hello there,

I've had the chance to visit a truy amazing country recently - Israel, a "must see" and a great nation indeed. Despite the numerous controversy linked to it, Israel is by far the most progressive and advanced nation in the Middle East, and in many of the larger cities, the America or Western Europe feel is more than present.

I've tried to upload photos using Flickr this time so that they do not disappear again. All photos have been uploaded by me.

During the visit, I went through the following cities: Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Capernaum, Haifa, Ein Bokek.

Ok, enough about this. The first thing to note is that one of the cheapest alternatives to fly to Israel from most of Europe is... Tarom! They have good transfer times for this evening flight, and when I used it it was full. Ben Gurion airport is one of the best I've seen, though expect some queueing before clearing pass control.

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Upon landing in Tel Aviv, the first thing any right-minded European who comes from 10 C to 30 C does is...hit the beach! Tel Aviv has a certain feeling you would expect from Miami - it's beaches are extensive and the number of people who bike, walk, go jogging or practice small scale sports on the coast-side is large, especially after working hours, in the evening.

The city is very liberal and tolerant and the ammount and types of people you will see is diverse: secular Jews, religious Jews, Arabs, gays, African refugees from Darfur, Filipinos, American evangelicals, Russian party-goers, all are present...

In the morning, one might have some problems getting to the coastal part of Tel Aviv because of very high traffic:

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Israel is quite car-dependent (and very similar to the US in the way they structure their cities), so waiting in long queues on the road is not unexpected.

However, the beach always comes as a delightful retreat.

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Yep, Tel Aviv is a cosmopolitan city indeed :)
And I also notice lots of white cars :D

Tel Aviv is a large city, not necessarily intra-muros, but taking into account the almost 2 million people who live in the Gush Dan greater metropolitan area.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Aviv_District
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Aviv_Metropolitan_Area

It has numerous skyscrapers, the bulk of which are either along the Ayalon Boulevard in central Tel Aviv or in the suburb of Ramat Gan. Onley 10 of these are, however, more than 150 metres tall.

The Azrieli Center circular tower, at 187 metres, is the second tallest building in Israel. There are three geometrical shaped towers on the spot (circular, triangular and square-based).

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The Kirya Tower, at 158 metres, is the fifth tallest:

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Yep, Tel Aviv is a cosmopolitan city indeed :)
And I also notice lots of white cars :D

Taxis are white, if I remember well, and because of the very large number of taxis in this very car-dependent city, they "whiten" the city's car fleet.

@damian,

Interesting photos - please keep on posting !

Tel Aviv is a place where I could & should live some months; it's very cosmopolitan and hip - lots of young ones (OK, many gays :ohno:) but otherwise a vibrant city. Also lots of high tech firms.

Could you please post some photos of Baha'i Shrine and Gardens, Haifa?

dan

@damian,

Interesting photos - please keep on posting !

Tel Aviv is a place where I could & should live some months; it's very cosmopolitan and hip - lots of young ones (OK, many gays :ohno:) but otherwise a vibrant city. Also lots of high tech firms.

Could you please post some photos of Baha'i Shrine and Gardens, Haifa?

dan

Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries during my trip to Haifa, so that is the only city I visited I have no pictures from. And indeed it is a shame, Haifa has the best geographical position (seaside mountains) and some breathtaking views. Shame for the extensive industrial zones that blight the bay...

Here are a few more pictures of Tel Aviv and its waterline. With its marinas, beaches, night-life provisions (dozens of clubs and bars, as well as seaside terraces) and young hip population, it is a young person's vacation dream.

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For admirers of Bauhaus or International Style buildings, Tel Aviv has a huge collection of over 4000 such constructions. largely dating to the 30's. Note that when looking from afar, these smaller buildings whiten the landscape between the newer and much taller skyscraper clusters around Ayalon and the more distant ones in Ramat Gan.

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^^ Lots of solar panels :)
I'm really looking forward for more pictures... I like the ones presented so far :cheers:

Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is holy to all the Abrahamic religions. Its Eastern side was taken by Israel from Jordan in 1967 and annexed shortly after. The Western part had already been Israel's capital since 1950. The city is situated at an altitude of 800 metres above sea level and the road from Tel Aviv crosses beautiful mountains and hillsides, quaint Arab villages and not-so ancient battlefields (from 1948 and 1967).

Since the early Zionists were European, one of their major dreams was to make the desert look more like their Eastern European homes, hence Jerusalem is surrounded by forests planted by the JNF. In this sense, it contrasts to most of the rest of the Middle East.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem
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The city itself is also very green, with lots of parks and green spaces.

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The most famous part of the city is undoubtedly the Old City, which is the sacred part holy to numerous religions. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa mosque and Western Wall are all situated here.

Taken by Israel in 1967, access was restored for all religions (until 1967 only Muslims and Christians could visit), save exceptional security limitations during the recent Intifadas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_(Jerusalem)

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All the buildings, including the residential ones, keep a vary old look. New buildings look exactly the same, even when stone is not original and is replaced by exterior plaques in order to respect urbanism laws.

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My favourite part was by far the Western Wall. It really felt like one of those iconic places were faith is at its strongest. The believed standing wall of the Second Temple of Jerusalem is now one of the side-walls of the Temple Mount, dominated largely by the Al Aqsa mosque complex.

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There are some particularly interesting aspects about Israel not easy to photograph all the time.

One thing to note about Israel is the very high-profile of the military and strict security measures. The army is very strong, as can be seen by some of its odd-defying victories, and military installations are present in numerous parts of the small country.
As can be seen in the thumbnail below (click to enlarge), Israeli soldiers include a large share of women as well as people of all ethnic backgrounds.


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Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

Also, the security measures one finds in Israel are at times exaggerated. Airport-style security exists at train and bus stations, complemented by security checks at malls. This can be highly annoying, and I almost lost the train to the airport on my departure when the station security at Tel Aviv Central Station opened my large bag.

To my shock, airport security, while based on profiling and sometimes lengthy, is at some points more relaxed than the European ones. No shoes taken off, no body pimping and no liquid limits. This is compensated by loads of questions asked by very polite staff and by the chemical analysis of some of your belongings.

One nicer component of Israeli society is its diversity. Jews are grouped into dozens of rather distinct group based on religious affiliation or ethnic origin. Ethiopians and Russians are Jew alike, and it is often funny to see persons with such diverse looks or origins considering themselves one PEOPLE.

This has also influenced customs and cuisine, with Israeli foods being hugely diverse in terms of origin and taste. Also, Israeli customs are often a miniature collection of world-wide habits. This includes numerous traditions that Romanian Jews have brought to Israel. You can taste definitely Romanian-style foods in Israeli cuisine, as well as in music and dance.

AmfOoymeEws

Poate cel mai vizibil lucru împrumutat de Israel de la noi este melodia imnului național, Hatikva.

Hatikva a fost scrisă în prima sa versiune în anul 1877, de către Naftali Herz Imber (1856-1909), la Iasi. În anul 1888 Shamuel Cohen, un tânăr țăran evreu, originar din Ungheni,Basarabia și stabilit în Palestina, în noua așezare evreiască Rishon LeZion, a potrivit textul poeziei lui Imber la o melodie populară pe care o cunoștea. Melodia aleasă era de proveniență românească și circula în mai multe regiuni din România, pe diferite texte.

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A se compara cu:

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The next trip was to the Dead Sea, which is very beautiful and very interesting for a day-trip. The area is dotted with hotels and resorts and is a magnet for tourists, especially Russians (Israel is part of a very select club of countries offering visa-free travel for Russians). In many shops clients are addressed in Russian, vodka is a prime sale item and payment can be done in US dollars, complementary to Israeli Shekels.

Along the way, you pass a more depressing desert landscape, with fairly few cities. One of these mid-desert towns is Arad (they should build a mid-desert Timisoara to rival it :lol:).

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The water of the Dead Sea is so saline, that one can see the salty outer layers, looking a bit like ice.

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The water is shallow, and unfortunately shrinking every year. The salt gives it weird properties: it is dense, feels oily to the skin, burns any cut you might have and gives you very high buoyancy. It you walk straight into the deep water, you will still float at chest level.

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Yep, Arad is actually a Biblical name :)

Ein Bokek is a small and crowded resort. It is also very hot, at over 400 metres below sea level. Even in November, we ventured out mostly at dusk:

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Yep, Arad is actually a Biblical name :)

Right on! This is indeed one of the things to note about Israel, that many towns have biblical names, from now long-gone cities of the Old Testament. Sometimes, names are given for biblical cities originally located in completely different parts (the central city of Rehovot, for instance, is named for a town originally from the Negev).

A beautiful view of the reflection of Jordanian hills in the Dead Sea, which is often stunning and cannot really be captured by the camera:

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And before going on to the North, one last picture of Givat Ram neighbourhood in Jerusalem. Nothing spectacular. Ordinary buildings...

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A brief demo of how funny it gets when you try to move inside the Dead Sea :lol:

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Northern Israel is perhaps the most beautiful part of the country. Representing the ancient region of the Galilee, the place has mountains, lakes, fertile vallyes, kibbutzim and nice Arab towns.

The parts closer to Haifa are roughly 60% Arabic, with some of these belonging to the distinct Druze religious movement.

One of the Arab towns in the area:

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As you can see, the towns are significantly less planned than Jewish communities, but they do have their own special charm.

The landscapes in the North are often very green, surprising considering the last rainfall had been seven months before my visit there, before the long and hot summer:

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We traveled on a remote rural road. Even these roads are wide (2x2) and in excellent condition. The traffic was very, very light. Signs in Israel are mostly in Hebrew, Arabic and English, though sometimes not all are employed (Hebrew always is).

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^^Merkez Khadimat (Centrul Hadimat) :)

The Eastern Galilee, far more Jewish and somewhat drier in terms of climate than the West, is the site of the famous biblical Sea of Galilee, as well as numerous other vestiges of ancient Israel and other long-gone historical moments.

The mountains in this region are dry, and less forested. The region is in the rain shadow of the Israeli central mountain ridge.

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We arrived North of the Sea of Galilee lake on the shores of the Jordan river. The river is hardly a record breaker, and would be at best a stream in Romania. Still, the reason the waters are low is also the 7 months of rainlesness that preceded our trip there.

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On the North shore, the city of Capharnaum, once hometown of Jesus, lies. Actually, the city is no more, save some churches and gardens.

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Access is rather strict when entering the Holy places :lol:

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In it, one can relax in the gardens around the church, or have a look at the beautiful Sea of Galilee, a gigantic body of fresh water in the middle of the arid Middle East.

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My last visit was to Haifa, but my camera died out so the pictures below are not mine. Haifa is a beautiful city, one of the three largest in Israel, as well as the most industrial. The saying goes that Jerusalem prays, Tel Aviv parties and Haifa works, reflecting the religious-cultural role of Jerusalem, the tourism Mecca/services capital of Tel Aviv and the industrial role of their Notrhern rival.

Haifa is a secular city, and has the lowest birthrate in Israel (still 40% larger than in Romania). It is nestled on hilltops overlooking a bay and some of the views are breathtaking.

Most people know the view from up the hillside, but the gardens are equally spectacular from below.

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Courtesy of http://www.pbase.com…

Last part was the departure. Security at Ben Gurion is tight, so for an 8 AM flight, be prepared to go to Ben Gurion as early as 4 AM. Since at night transport is either expensive taxi or train, I took the overnight express train that travels from Naharya to Ben Gurion, and stops at one of the Tel Aviv stations.

Unlike buses, trains run through the night, across the whole country, and are rather full.

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Security is tight, if you live your luggage alone for 5 seconds, guards will shout at you instantly. The security procedure is interesting:

1. There are lots of roughly 30 year old girls handling security, and they are the ones that will ask you a barrage of questions while staring into your eyes. After that, they put "risk asessment" tags on your luggage, go through all your stuff, than you can proceed to the next step.

2. Check-in. Normal.

3. Another luggage scan for your hand luggage. They take chemical analysis of your belongings with a small brush and read it on a computer scaner.

4. Body scan. Even lighter than in Europe, with no shoes off and light on liquids. They seem to rely far more on psychological profiling than scans, which is an interesting approach to security.

Before checking out, you can enjoy some of the "rain" in the main hall at Ben Gurion, or shop for books, which are one of the few things cheaper there than in Romania or Belgium.

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The End.

Thank you, Robi_damian :cheers:

Security at Ben Gurion is tight, so for an 8 AM flight, be prepared to go to Ben Gurion as early as 4 AM

I see - you didn't know the fastest way through pass control :)

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Now that you know, maybe you try it next time (not) :okay:

dan

PS: the pictures are a treat - thank you!

Fantastic trip! :cheers: If you have more pictures, no matter from where, please upload them and don't close this thread here. I have never been in Israel... :cry:

^^I usually take few pictures on travel, this time no exception.

However, Israel is indeed a country that one should visit. The negative press headlines and the obsession in Europe with the conflict there (some inter-religious conflict in Nigeria with hundreds of dead will without a doubt have less media coverage than some brawl in the Middle East) means that it is indeed seen as an awful place. When I got there I was shocked to discover that:

1. Israelis are nice (both Israeli Jews and the few Israeli Arabs I encountered) and friendly people, except in services (I bumped into some shockingly rude hotel staff in some places I stayed).

2. Most people, except the very religious, are far more open then the average Romanian. Tel Aviv is probably more tolerant as a city than Paris or London, and had an atmosphere a la Madrid or Berlin more than a Middle Easter city.

3. People DO want peace, but are very, very skeptical of it. They do not want to give any more land to the Palestinians as they claim that when they evacuated Gaza they got missiles as a "thank you" and still get condemned by international public opinion. Some Arabs I met did, however, complain that the rapid rise of the right in Israel is problematic for peace prospects in the future.

4. The economy was booming, with little effect from the crisis. The high-tech sector is highly visible and I could see lots of these type of industries on every roadside. Agriculture is also insanely efficient with drip-irrigation and water provided via pipes fron the North and Coast all the way to the deepest desert.

There were some unpleasant elements as well. The religious and right-wing segments of society (read hawkish) are growing very fast, and some Israelis I met were frightened that their country would turn into a nasty political actor, considering that the increasingly right-wing governments are sitting on top of one of the most powerful armies in the world.

All in all, I can say I really felt humbled by a people that rose from the ashes (literally) and managed to make a country like Israel rise from the sand dunes. It remains to be seen if the zionist dream will outlive the hardships of the region.

District Tel Aviv
Name meaning Spring Hill
Population 393,900 in matro 3,450,000 (2010)
Founded in 1909
Tel Aviv - Israel
Israel's second largest city after Jerusalem. Located on the Mediterranean Sea, Tel Aviv is Israel's main commercial, financial and manufacturing center.

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Kibbutz
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Negev desert
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tel baruh - tel aviv
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Jerusalem mountain
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MASADA
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Dead Sea - Sunrise - View from Massada
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Gamla
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Kfar Vradim
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Bahá'í Carmel in Haifa
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Hayarkon -tel aviv
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Ok, dat fiind ca nu am apucat sa termin turul din noiembrie, am mai facut o vizita in Israel luna trecuta, in care am incercat sa abordez tot ce am ratat (Haifa pe timp de zi, muzee, mai mult timp la plaja, Cisiordania, etc.).

Din nou, punctul central a fost Tel Aviv, care vara este foarte aglomerat, plin mai ales de turisti evrei din lumea intreaga. Un exemplu sunt evreii francezi, care tind sa aiba o atitudine low-key in Franta, dar cand ajung in Israel isi pun toti o kippah in cap, flutura steaguri si canta muzica patriotica fara teama de anti-semitism (duh!). :lol:

Din nou, sosirea se face la statia Tel Aviv Merkaz (Arlozorov):

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Nu mult dupa sosire, mi-am urmarit instinctul de a urca pe cea ma inalta cladire cu observation deck, motiv pentru care am mers la Turnul Rotund Azrieli, unde am urcat la etajul 49 al cladirii. De acolo se vede absolut excelent Ramat Gan-ul, soseaua si calea ferata Ayalon, garile HaShalom si Merkaz, zona centrala a zonei metropolitane Gush Dan, etc.

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Din nefericire aparatul meu nu mi-a permis sa fac poze de o calitate prea ridicata prin fereastra cladirii, motiv pentru care acestea au iesit destul de slab.

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Here are some pictures of Tel Aviv's beachfront. I will not add many of these as I posted some from my last trip as well.

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After Tel Aviv, a nice and sharp contrast is the visit to the interior highlands. Parts of this region were in Israel prior to 1967, but a huge chunk lies in the West Bank (Cisiordania), which Israelis call Judea and Samaria. This area does not have a formal international status, and most of the land is a patchwork of Palestinian and Israeli towns. There are roughly 2.000.000 people in the region, of which Israelis settlers represent roughly 1/6.

Departing for Jerusalem starts from the very large Central Bus station (CBS), and on the way there you can pass via the tents of the huge Israeli social protests. Most of these are on Rotschild street, though other locations have sprouted up across the city.

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The Tel Aviv CBS is huge, and has concourses on several floors.

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The road to the interior is spectacular, and passes through some gorgeous scenery. The infrastructure, and the fact that Israelis build on such difficult terrain is a true testimony to the immense changes that this start-up nation has brought to what was once a marginal backwater.

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The roads in the West Bank are separate so as to make for minimal icidents between Jews and Palestinians. There are guard towers and walls in various spots.

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Gush Etzion (Hebrew: גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן‎‎, lit. Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The core group includes four agricultural villages that were founded in 1940-1947 on property purchased in the 1920s and 1930s, and destroyed before the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The area was left outside the 1949 armistice lines. These settlements were rebuilt after the 1967 Six-Day War, along with new communities that have expanded the area of the Etzion Bloc. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. In 2011, Gush Etzion consists of 22 settlements with a population of 70,000. (Wikipedia)

O astfel de asezare este Efrata, situata la circa 3 km de Betleem (orasul care se vede in fundal, pe prima poza):

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Asezarile evreiesti sunt construite pe inaltimi, pentru a evita posibilitatea unor atacuri-surpriza dar si din cauza ca acolo se gasesc cele mai multe terenuri care nu au proprietari privati (Israelul evita constructia asezarilor pe pamanturile in proprietate privata ale palestinienilor).

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Oamenii din asezarile acestea sunt foarte prietenosi, dar sunt in acelasi timp mai religiosi decat media israeliana. Familii de 6-7 copii sunt la ordinea zilei, barbatii poarta o kipah pe cap, iar femeile se imbraca modest, cu rochii si maneci lungi.

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Fellingul general, dupa cum se poate observa, este acela de suburbie americana, chiar daca asezarile acestea sunt pe frontul conflictului arabo-israelian de ani de zile.

Chiar acum cateva zile soseaua de langa Efrata a fost scena unui atentat de mici dimensiuni:

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Asezarile evreiesti din Cisiordania sunt deosebit de curate, linistite si ingrijite si per total genul de locatie unde ti-ai creste cu drag copii (daca nu ar fi riscul sporit de conflict).

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Constructiile noi necesita lucrari de consolidare a terenului, pentru a permite extinderea unei localitati construita in esenta pe varful unui munte:

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