As a person who was brought up in the Christian faith but not necessarily devout, I didn’t know what I would feel while visiting many of the biblical sites around Israel. I was familiar with many of the places that we would visit but because I have never read the Bible in depth, I had no strong connection with any of the sites.

Our first day trip from Tel Aviv took us to the biblical north to Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee.  From the stories I have heard from the Bible, the modern day experience was much different than what I pictured.  For example, upon entering Nazareth (where Jesus grew up) we immediately saw a Kentucky Fried Chicken.  Although you expect places to change over time and modernize, you somehow expect to see the Nazareth of biblical times.  I pictured a small city with dirt roads and several humble abodes.  However, Nazareth is just like any other city in the world with a shopping mall, cramped parking, and fast food restaurants.

 

Thankfully though, some of stops during our day trip were in more remote locations and provided a stronger glimpse as to how the land may have looked during biblical times.  Upon entering Capernaum, historic ancient columns that had been excavated revealed a synagogue where Jesus likely preached during his life.  This ancient preservation was a strong reminder that life existed and thrived here well over two thousand years ago.

Going to the top of Mount Tabor  and visiting the Church of the Transfiguration gave us an unexpected surprise.  Unbeknownst to us, we happened to visit on the holiday/anniversary (August 5th) of the transfiguration.  This holiday is only celebrated in the local communities around Mount Tabor.  Many people were sitting along the path that leads to the Church of the Transfiguration, cooking food and spending time with family.  We soon learned that many Christians in Israel and West Bank celebrate Christian holidays that we have never heard of.  Each town with a church commemorating an important event in the Bible will often have a holiday tied to it.  These holidays are typically only celebrated in the local communities.  Overall, I enjoyed our day trip into the biblical north. However, I would have appreciated the day more had I been a greater historian of the Bible.

Here are some other pictures of our trip to the biblical north:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prior to our trip to Israel, I had no expectations about what Tel Aviv would be like.  I knew it is a large city located on the Mediterranean Sea and is the economic center of Israel.  However aside from this, I didn’t really know too much about a place we were spending six nights in.  It was kind of nice visiting a place having no pre-concieved notions.  In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed Tel Aviv for a variety of reasons.

First, you can’t beat the weather in Tel Aviv.  The weather was literally the same everyday , at least during the summer months- 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit), sunny, and plenty of blue skies.   Because of this great Mediterranean climate, there is definitely a beach culture in Tel Aviv.  The long stretches of beaches are used by local and tourists alike.

I was so impressed by how active people are in Tel Aviv.  People were always running or biking along the beach promenade, playing beach volleyball or playing paddle ball on the beach.

There is a beautiful walking path along the beach and sea that extends from Jaffa in the south all the way up to the old port in the northern part of Tel Aviv.  You could walk for several hours on this walking path without ever having to worry about traffic.

After walking along the beach promenade, it was great to sit down at one of the many outdoor restaurants in the old port of Tel Aviv.  Whether enjoying falafel, pizza, kebabs or salads the food was great.

We didn’t end up making it to any museum or cultural attractions in Tel Aviv but we didn’t really feel the need to.  The weather, beaches, great walking paths along the beach promenade, and great outdoor restaurants in the old port of Tel Aviv were so enjoyable.

Tel Aviv is a dynamic and energetic city that I look back on with very fond memories.  It felt like a world away from some of the most contested real estate (West Bank) in the world which is just a short drive from Tel Aviv.

I am a big believer that staying in a nice hotel enhances the enjoyment of a trip and ultimately one’s impression of a place they are visiting.  After researching many hotels in Tel Aviv, I came to several conclusions.  First, hotels in Tel Aviv are not cheap.  Tel Aviv is the thirty-first most expensive city in the world as of 2012 and hotel prices certainly reflect this.  Second, I wanted to stay in a hotel near the beach, as it seemed like this was a more scenic and vibrant part of the city.  Third, most of the hotel properties in Tel Aviv are older with very few new properties.  With this in mind, I scoured booking.com (which is a user friendly site for hotel reservations) for a variety of hotels close to the beach in Tel Aviv.  I came across the newest hotel called Royal Beach Tel Aviv by Isrotel.  The hotel was so new that there were no reviews on booking.com and only a handful of reviews on Trip Advisor.  Despite the lack of reviews, the hotel pictures looked great, so I made a reservation for six nights.

 

The Royal Beach Tel Aviv has so many things going for it.  The location of the hotel is amazing with the beach right across the street.

 

The hotel and rooms are decorated very nicely with a modern decor.  The bed was extremely comfortable with nice linens.

Being that Tel Aviv is hot and humid during the summer, good air conditioning is essential and this certainly did not disappoint.  There were also a few nice touches from hotel management which included complimentary bottled water, fresh fruit, and on our last night a sugar coated loaf of fresh bread.

The breakfast buffet was great with a multitude of options including western and middle eastern influences.  The pool area, although small and crowded at times, had a great view of the beach and water across the street.

 

On the down side, the hotel is going through some growing pains.  Finishing touches, such as exterior landscaping were still in the process of being completed.  The elevators tended to be unreliable and very slow at times.  In addition, service by the pool was non-existent.  Finally, the hotel concierge really had no knowledge of any restaurants in the area.  However, despite these small flaws, the Royal Beach Tel Aviv is a good hotel with a great location in the heart of Tel Aviv right across from the beach and is certainly worth a stay.

The idea of a traveling to Israel and the Palestinian territories has always been intriguing to me.  Although the ancient history and modern day history is so interesting, the political unrest in the region has always been in the back of my mind.  Of late, despite the Arab Spring, relations between Israelis and Palestinians has been rather peaceful.  The impetus for this trip really stems from a reasonable airfare that was found back in March.  Being the travel addict that I am, rarely a day passes where I don’t check airfares.  I happened to stumble upon a $970 airfare from Chicago to Tel Aviv with Alitalia which I though was excellent given the length of flight and time of year.  Even better, we were able to use our points from a Capital One Venture Card (which I highly recommend) so the flights were free for both my wife and I.

With the flights booked, we now had to plan the trip.  Israel and the West Bank are both relatively small areas to cover so we decided to base ourselves in Tel Aviv and take day trips from there.  After researching, we decided on visiting several areas: 1.  The Biblical North of Israel which included Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee 2. Jerusalem and Bethlehem  3. Mosada and the Dead Sea.  After much research, we had a tough time deciding on taking group tours versus private tours.  Although the cost of a private day tour was double that of a group tour, we felt more secure to book a private tour.  Ultimately, this was a great decision.  Our guide, Shalom Langerrs (www.shalomlangertours.com), ended up being a very special guide and we spent three amazing days with him.  By booking a private guide, it gave us more flexibility to see what we wanted on our own time schedule and we learned so much more about this interesting region than we would have with a group tour.

 

As fate would have it, the day prior to our departure, the U.S. State Department came out with a travel warning and proceeded to close around twenty embassies, including the embassy in Tel Aviv.  Although there was some concern regarding these developments, we were determined to proceed onward with our trip.  We contacted Shalom and he didn’t seem too concerned about this warning so weren’t either.  We figured we were traveling to one of the most vigilant countries in terms of security.  Looking back, we felt very secure during our trip and never once worried about our safety.  Despite stories that you may read in the newspaper or watch on television, I believe this is a safe area to travel to and I wouldn’t let its turbulent history stop you from visiting this historic land.