Notes from trip to Israel and Jordan
 

We’re back from a wonderful trip to Israel and Jordan. Hubby and I are so very pleased that we finally made this trip - it was very enlightening and gave us a first taste of travel in the Middle East. I want to get this out of the way, as this is a very common question from a lot of people including us when we were in the planning stage: Is it safe to travel to Israel and Jordan. The answer is a resounding YES ! ! ! Do not base your assessment of travel safety to these 2 countries with what you see on tv and in the media. The demonstrations might be happening but for the average tourist, you will not see any of these scenes on tv, they are concentrated insome known pockets of areas that an average tourist would easily know with a little asking around.

This will not be a trip report but just some notes that others considering travel to Israel and Syria might find useful. These are vivid impressions from a first time tourist to the Middle East our flight from San Francisco arrived at 10:30 pm. From all my pre-trip research, I have an idea on our options. But before walking outside the airport, I hit the ATM for some local currency to pay for our transportation. I didn’t withdraw too much because I know I’ll get a better exchange rate from the money changers in town which turned out to be the case.

The first transportation I saw was a Nesher sheroot that’s going to Jerusalem so we took this. The driver will accept our US dollar. The fare is 60 shekels or if we want to pay in USD, $20 per person. I paid in shekels- fresh from the ATM machine. Contrary to what I’ve read previously, the driver did not wait to fill every seat in his van before he could leave. There were 6 of us passengers, with us being the last 2 he picked up, and off we went to Jerusalem. The entire trip was less than an hour. We were all dropped off in front of our hotels. We arrived late Saturday evening, Shabbat would be over. At almost midnight, the streets were full of people enjoying the weekend, most falafel and take out food joints we drove past had long lines. And yes, there was traffic at this time of the evening.

We longingly watched the lively scene from the van window and wished we were buying falafel from this one take out window that had a line that was at least 20 people deep. Our hotel for our first night, Hotel Yehuda, on the west side of Jerusalem was a ways from the action so our plan to walk back to this lively area to sample take out food didn’t happen. Our gracious hotel front desk guy made us some cheese and tomato sandwiches upon learning that we haven’t had dinner. And was quick to add, no charge for the food which I think he made himself from the hotel’s kitchen. I wondered if this is the Israeli “sabra” that I’ve read about as this guy didn’t seem the warm, fuzzy and chatty type when he was checking us in. He did give us a warm smile as he bade us goodnight and get some rest after we nourish ourselves on his sandwiches and milk. He did bring us a carton of milk to wash down the sandwich. Both sandwich and milk tasted good.

Next: Yad Vashem museum on our first day and check out to transfer to our original hotel near the Old City for 5 nights.

Yad Vashem Museum

We decided to go today since our hotel is not too far from it - west of Jerusalem’s Old City. The complex is huge. The main museum building had a very interesting architecture and so do all the other structures in the museum. Every structure was thoughtfully designed using symbolic architecture to capture the plight and struggles of of the Jews, particularly during the holocaust.

The main building is shaped like 2 halves of the Star of David with a cleaver in between the two halves that is highly symbolic of the plight of the Jews who perished during holocaust. Every trip to a museum on holocaust is always a sobering experience including this one. We have visited several concentration camps in Germany and Poland, including the infamous Auschwitz, but the emotional impact remains the same. This museum puts a name on the many victims by telling their individual stories and circumstances. Even so, no museum can capture and tell the story of the 6 million victims. The numbers are just mind boggling.

Inside, artifacts and personal items of the victims are on display. Along with exhibits of the standard Nazi-issued striped clothing worn by the victims in the camps, there are videos and interviews of survivors, and the collage of pictures with names, birthdays and other personal information that filled the one room all the way to the cone shaped top with the skylight hole. We spent 4 hours at the museum and didn’t see everything. We saw big bus groups, IDF in their uniforms, students, independent tourists like us and just about people from all walks of like, I would put this museum at the top of must see list in Jerusalem.

We we took a taxi to retrieve our luggage left with the hotel’s front desk. It’s now around 1 pm but we were not hungry as we had a big breakfast at the hotel’s included buffet breakfast. Hummus for breakfast can be very filling. Then on to Waldorf Astoria, our hotel for the next 5 nights. WA is very well located just right outside Jaffa Gate of the Old City and behind Mamilla outdoor mall. The hotel rooms are sold out because of the inauguration of the new US embassy in Jerusalem which is scheduled in a few days. We booked our room using hotel points accumulated from all the business travels, otherwise the rooms are selling for upwards of $700 per night.

We settled into our opulent and spacious room and not long after started feeling the call of hunger. We headed out and walked a few hundred meters to take the light rail train with Yahade Mehuda market as our lunch destination. The street where the light rail train runs is pedestrianized and passes through the city hall and many shops and cafes. Fare is 5.90 shekels, tickets can be purchased from an auto dispenser that accepts credit card, located at each of the train’s stop. The ticket vending machine is user friendly and has English language option. We got off at the YM market stop and picked a casual restaurant nearby for our first meal of the trip. Hubby ordered falafel and I had a plated meat kabob lunch for a total cost of around 60 shekels. We have decided on having coffee and dessert in the market

Nice report. One correction. The market is Machane Yehuda ( not as you wrote it)

Elkaz, thanks for the correction. I’ve got it all backwards, lol ! I know I’m able to pronounce better than I can spell and write the name : Makh-neh-yuh-dah

I’m not sure why the rest of the post above was cut off. I will reconstruct the portion that was cut.

Continued...coffee and dessert at Machane Yehuda market....

We bought different varieties of miniature baklava-looking dessert , sold by weight at Zalatimo’s and took it to a coffee shop a few stalls down. We perched ourselves at the counter table with the barstools facing passers by for front row people watching opp. The coffee and sweets were both very good and a nice break from Starbucks. By the way, throughout our 6 days in Jerusalem including the excursion to the West Bank ( Bethlehem ), we did not see a Starbucks. The closest to it that we saw was “Stars and Bucks” cafe in Bethlehem with a very similar round green logo that’s clearly a spoof of the original. We didn’t miss Starbucks coffee as the coffee sold in coffee shops throughout our trip were very good, sometimes even better than Starbucks’, especially the cappuccino.

We strolled and enjoyed the street scene outside after coffee. We planned on taking the light rail train if we get tired but ended up walking all the way back to our hotel. The street scene was

Following along. We have toyed with visiting Jerusalem and Jordan for quite a while, so your impressions will be useful.

Continued... ( my post keeps getting cut off mid sentence, not sure why )

...the street scene was very lively with families and their children doing their shopping and strolling, curious tourists (like us) with their cameras, street performers and people from all walks of life.

We freshened up a bit in the hotel and headed back to the Old City about 3 hours later after a light cheese sandwich and vegetable salad for dinner at our hotel’s restaurant. There’s a big light and music show production tonight and the next 2 days, just right outside David’s tower by the Jaffa Gate entrance “The Celebrations of the Middle Kingdom of the Golden Tooth”, some animated production in David’s Tower that can be viewed outside, performance by a local school’s youth orchestra and lots of dancing. It is a free show in celebration of Israel’s 70th year of independence. We watched a live musical concert on stage before entering the gate. The whole atmosphere was very festive and there were more entertainment inside the Old City. It was around 9 pm when we got there, most of the stores near the gate were still open until we left at 11 pm. We were happy to be part of this festive scene and celebrated with the locals with our cone ice cream. The temp was nippy in the low 60s Fahrenheit. ( my own conversion since they are on metric system. My mind and body relate better to English unit of measure for temp, distance, weight, etc )

Next: Holy Sepulchre, Via Dolorosa and other Christian pilgrimage sights

We went to Israel for the first time last Oct-Nov. We had a great time. Went up to the Galilee and Golan which are lovely. Mind boggling ancient places.
Will be going back in Sept and checking out the Negev in addition to staying in Jerusalem again
Yes, Israel is relatively safe to go to. Guarantees? No of course not. But when we were in Israel there was a terrorist attack on the West Side Drive in NYC and a school shooting in Texas.
People were friendly and the food! Yowsa yummy.

Starbucks opened 6 branches in Israel about 15 years ago but went bankrupt in less than a year. Israelis refused to drink the brown water they call coffee.

No Starbucks - another reason to go.

Our room came with a free kosher buffet breakfast ( as with the other 5 hotels and the desert camp we stayed at. 7 hotels total for the entire trip! this is the most number of properties we have stayed in one vacation ). Breakfast at Waldorf is a very involved affair. As one might expect, the selection and offerings were extensive - 6 different kinds of fresh fruit juice, bread offerings consist of 1 station with every imaginable local, American, French type of bread, cheese station has more than a dozen type, a variety of salads, hummus. Baba ganoush, tahini is all in one station and so do the fish station and breakfast pastries, about 12 different hot foods and Shaksoukha - eggs cooked in tomato sauce, a staple of Arab/Israeli cuisine. The eggs, cooked sunny side sitting on top of cooked tomato, it looked like lasagna with eggs on top. Hubby tried the shaksoukha ( I didn’t try it for today’s breakfast ). He said it was just ok, eggs cooked in tomatoes and onions is just something new to his palate. It is definitely an acquired taste.


It was past 9 by the time we finished breakfast and a little past 10 by the time we arrived at the Holy Sepulchre church. By then, the big bus tour groups and pilgrims from different parts of the world have arrived and the areas we would like to see - Jesus’ burial site and Golgotha have lines that snaked around many, many times. One of the guys in charge of keeping order in that section of the church said wait time is about 2 hours. Next time I visit the DMV, I will have a renewed appreciation for its “lines”.

Interestingly, different religious orders have custody of different sections of the Holy Sepulchre Church - the Franciscans, the Greek Orthodox, etc. I heard that these various groups can get quite territorial which has resulted in some ungodly skirmishes in the past. It was difficult to appreciate the sanctity and significance of what we came to see with this kind of crowd so we decided to come back very early tomorrow morning, upon the wise advice of the friendly caretaker/in charge, and come back to the hotel for breakfast later. There is a free Sandeman walking tour of the old city that starts at 11 am. We walked back to the Jaffa Gate entrance and arrived just in time for the start of the tour. These tours are led by unpaid volunteers and rely on tips so there’s some motivation on the part of the guides to give a good tour. I’ve read reviews on Sandeman’s that span the range of so-so and excellent. We are lucky because our young, female guide was very good, enthusiastic, and engaging. The 1 hour tour lasted almost 2 hours. Our great guide did very well on tips, I think as everyone seemed very pleased including us. The weather hadn’t been more cooperative either for a walking tour, it was just slightly overcast with intermittent sunshine.

We’re still not hungry for lunch but can use a midday snack. So, we stopped at the Austrian Hospice cafe but not before I purchased a bag of Bamba snack puffs to go with my cold drink. I had orange juice and hubby ordered coffee. Ok, as far as Bamba - I love it !!! For me, it was love at first taste unlike hubby’s breakfast encounter earlier with shakshoukha. Bamba has the subtle taste of peanut butter in corn puff. The texture is similar to Chee-tos in the US. The good part is it does not turn your fingers into bright orange and seems to have better nutritional value. It has fibers ! I might be rationalizing here, but it’s good. You have to try it at least once if you’re in Israel then decide whether you like it or not.

By now, the crowd had peaked in the Old City and we decided to come back in the late afternoon when the crown had thinned out to visit the stations of the cross, following Jesus’ journey carrying the cross to his crucifixion site in Golgotha. Although there isn’t much other than a round plaque marker to identify the stations, (14 total, the last 5 are inside the Holy Sepulchre Church), it is worthwhile for us to follow the path along and put ourselves as best as we can in the holy journey.
We strolled briefly along Via Dolorosa past the many souvenir shops and stores before heading back to the hotel for a nap.

The decision to come back in the late afternoon past 6 pm was a very good one. The crowds are gone, many of the shops are pulling down their shutters, kids are playing in the alley while their parents are closing up the shop, the mini tractors are hauling and delivering stock to the shops - a very local scene. Via Dolorosa and the other small streets in the Christian and Muslim Quarter had that mystical glow as the sun starts to set on the horizon. We started our mini pilgrimage of the 9 stations of the cross near Damascus Gate and in between stations had the great opportunity to interact with the shopkeepers and chat with some locals and take pictures with them without the sea of tourists and pilgrims. We had the place to ourselves.

Shakshouka is a North African dish (Libya).
Israeli children are fed Bamba from age zero, which is the reason that there is almost no peanut allergy in the country.

Thanks mbgg for the additional info. Trader Joe’s sells their own label called Bamba. https://www.eater.com/2017/11/3/1659...nut-corn-snack

After the stations of the cross in the Old City, we went to Yudale in the Machane Yehuda market for dinner. We went without reservation but was lucked out on a couple of bar seats with no waiting. Yudale is very popular bar/restaurant and rightfully so. The food was amazing. Hubby had the beef fillet and polenta and I ordered the mullet fish. We shared a calamari appetizer. My fish was sublime - crisp outside and flaky and moist inside. The beef fillet was also flavorful and done just right. The calamari was cooked to perfection and just as outstanding. We had the cheesecake in a jar for dessert. We liked the bar seating because we can watch the chefs prepare our meal. The place is very busy and humming with activity and definitely not a quiet dinner. Menu is Mediterranean fusion and sister restaurant to equally popular Makneyuda Restaurant which is across the street. Cost of our dinner is a little over 400 shekels, with tip.

next: Bethlehem and the West Bank

Wow, really enjoyed your notes on Jerusalem. I’d love to visit, and I was wondering if it’s one of those places I should scratch from my list because of safety. I’d love to see that museum, and the lack of Starbucks is a definite perk.

looking forward to the part about Jordan. Obviously you aren’t really budget or solo travelers, but is there any portion of Jordan or Israel you would have preferred to do as part of a tour? In terms of logistics or language difficulties?

On my travel horizon one of these days. Thanks for the nice TR.

Marvelousmouse: re: safety concerns, I had the same dilemma up until 1 month before we left. Hubby wanted me to cancel or postpone our trip because of 1) news we see everyday on what looked like escalating conflict with Syria and the recent incidents in the Gaza Strip 2) US Embassy’s move to Jerusalem and the ensuing protests from Palestinians. If we hadn’t been watching the news and its coverage of events in Israel, Syria, Gaza Strip - we wouldn’t know that these things. Please click on my name, a month before we left, I stared a thread with the title “To Go Or Not To Go” - I received a lot of good advice on here. The responses I received overwhelmingly convinced me and hubby to move forward with the trip. And I’m happy to report that the advice I received didn’t steer me in the wrong direction. Now that I think of all the needless apprehension before we decided to go, I should have titled this report “We Survived The Trip To Israel and Jordan”. I strongly encourage you to read the post I mentioned.

On joining group tour or going on our own: there isn’t any part of the tour both in Israel and Jordan that I would have preferred to do as part of a tour group. Our touring style is more of independent, DYI travel and joining local walking or guided tours. Some places or sights such as the Tower of David in the Old City of Jerusalem, the Old Yafo area in Tel Aviv, Jerash, etc are better appreciated with a knowledgeable guide to explain the significance of what we’re looking at - otherwise some of the important sights or artifacts look like just ancient rubble to us. There are also some sights where you don’t need a guide explaining what you can read or listen to from an audio guide such as the Yad Vashem Museum. My advice is pick and choose your guided tours wisely by checking guidebooks or researching in the internet if the sights have good written or audio explanation. Also if you’re not averse to using current technology, check if there are available podcast on your chosen sights.

Yestravel: glad to hear Israel and Jordan are in your list. Now that we have been to these 2 countries, I realize that we should have gone long time ago. We have never seen anything like Petra and Wadi Rum. I think whenever I’m planning for our travel destinations, Middle East subconsciously conjures images of conflict, danger and unsafe and that’s why Israel and Jordan were never in my list. Our friends who joined a pilgrimage tour through their church gave us the idea that placed this destination in our list.

Marvelousmouse, re your question on language: a lot of Israelis speak English and those that say they “speak a little English” can very well communicate in English. Also there are a lot of Americans and former US residents who are now living in Israel - we encountered many of those. The road signs are written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, very driver and pedestrian friendly You wouldn’t have any language problem at all. The only thing I noticed that’s written in just Hebrew with no English translation is the store and restaurant receipts. Maybe it’s a paper space thing. mbgg might have an explanation for this.

Logistics: easy to plan once you get past the hesitation on the destination since both countries are small in terms of land area. My 2 should’ves In hindsight: We should have rented a car and should have downloaded the Gett App ( Israel’s version of Uber ). I brought my Lonely Planet guidebook , 1 for Israel and the Palestinian Territories and another for Jordan. If you’re just visiting Israel and Petra in Jordan, the Israel guidebook would suffice since it has a chapter on Petra. I saw a lot of tourists carrying the LP guidebook in many different languages, it seems to be the most popular. While reading up on the destination, I also used Insight Guides and read TRs and questions asked here on Fodors Middle East forum,

Bethlehem

Having spent 3 days in Jerusalem, we have become comfortable with our surroundings and somewhat familiar with the immediate area around our hotel and are now confident tourists that we usually are. We originally planned on joining a local tour to the West Bank but over dinner last night, decided we will go on our own. We felt very safe in Jerusalem ( and the rest of Israel and Jordan )- safer that some of our travels in Europe and Asia. Not to say that throw all common sense and precaution out the window but we felt more relaxed - for one I need not be so hyper vigilant about my belongings that my purse has to be attached to my body at all times. There were a few occasions when I embarrassingly realized and told myself how I have become this don’t-trust-anyone, hypervigilant American tourist. I will share these few incidents asthey come up during the next week and a half of our travels.

I had some hummus and olive bread today, fresh squeezed OJ, Belgian waffle and a small slice of halva - a dessert served like a bundt cake on steroids and 2 orders of cappuccino. Hubby had scrambled eggs, chicken sausage, baked tomatoes, sautéed mushroom, olive bread, hummus, watermelon, cantaloupe and washed it all down with some mixed fruit juice and coffee. I was hoping there’ll be some Bamba in the cereals section but no luck there. Yes, it is a gorgefest but we didn’t feel guilty because we will burn all the calories from all the walking today. This will be the breakfast scenario every morning for the remainder of our trip with some slight variation in the selection. I’d weigh myself in the digital bathroom scale every few days, I even lost a little over a kilo.

Mental note to myself: The Israelis I’ve encountered during this trip seem fit and I don’t remember seeing anybody that’s morbidly obese. Most of them also have good, clear skin. Maybe it’s the hummus?

After breakfast, we walked to Damascus Gate to take the Arab bus that goes to Bethlehem. We saw a bus depot somewhat near and across from the gate. I got all excited when I saw a bus with the sign Bethlehem at the front and pointed to hubby “ there’s our bus!” We rushed over to the bus without checking the bus #. We confirmed with the bus driver that he’s going to Bethlehem and he said yes. Sweet! We sat in the first row, passenger side for the best views.

Indeed, the bus went to Bethlehem. We reached our destination in about 30 minutes but were dropped off about 200 yards from the checkpoint. The Arab bus that we meant to take goes past the checkpoint and would have dropped us off in Nativity Square. It was still ok, we were in Bethlehem just not steps away from the Nativity Church. As we alit from the bus, a taxi driver approached us offering a tour of Bethlehem. He spoke good English, showed us a laminated scroll of pictures of the sights he will take us to for approximately 3 hours, for about $70. After some short negotiation, the price came down to $50 and off we went.

First stop was the Shepherd’s Field - this is where an angel appeared before the shepherd to announce the birth of Jesus. As with most sites where there’s a significant biblical event that took place, a church has been built upon it. The taxi waited while we explored the site for about 15-20 minutes. Next stop is the Milk Grotto - same scenario, taxi driver waits while we explore. After the second stop, he says he has a friend who owns an olive wood workshop and factory. It didn’t take a second for hubby and I to realize that he wanted to take us to a FACTORY TOUR! We told him we are not interested in buying anything, he said he needed to pick up something quickly and also needed to wash his hands and we didn’t have to buy anything and we can have some free tea also. We thought this poor guy probably gets credit if he brings tourists to the factory if even if no purchases are made. So we agreed with the understanding that our stop wouldn’t take longer than 5 minutes.

After all these years, we know all about the factory tour routine but we tried to go along to help out our driver, if he gets credit for the stop. We were offered some tea and cookies which we took a pass on, toured around, shown a demo of how they cut the olive wood, shown some of the finest pieces on sale and clearly hoping that we will make a purchase. The factory owner/manager was a nice man - he wasn’t intimidating or impolite - he just wants to sell merchandise. After about 15 minutes in the factory ( we were the only ones there besides the employees ), they perhaps realized too that we are not going to buy anything so we bade each other goodbye and the owner in a gesture of goodwill or whatever one might call it, gave us a couple of souvenir keychains as parting gifts. Another reason why we didn’t want to buy anything is we have still have to go to Petra, Wadi Rum and Amman and we didn’t want to be weighed down by our luggage packed with presents and souvenirs for folks back home.

We move on to visit Nativity Church and the Manger Square. We are among the rest of the pilgrim and tour group crowds so it was very crowded. Our driver told us to enter through the side door instead of the main door for shorter line. The wait to see the spot where Jesus was born ( at least according to Christians ) was a mere 30 minutes. Not bad in relative terms if compared to Holy Sepulchre. Most of the other places of interest, including the Omar Mosque and Stars and Bucks Cafe I mentioned earlier, were around or within short walking distance from Nativity Square. By now our 3 hours with the driver is up and he is going to take us back to checkpoint 200. We told him to drive us to the souk instead and we’ll go to the checkpoint ourselves. We wanted to have lunch at a restaurant before we leave, and do a little bit of our own exploration - it was only around 2 pm, still too early to go back to Jerusalem. We’ve come a long way in the area of confidence considering just a few weeks ago hubby wanted to cancel the trip.

To to be continued, have to go to work...

Excellent trip report. We are also considering this particular combo, so not only is your TR a fun read but extremely educational as well. Looking forward to much more.

I first had shakshouka here in NYC. Loved it. Then had more of it when we were in Israel. Not sure about it being "an acquired taste" as it's a variation on eggs, spices and tomatoes cooked together. What could be bad? But of course, each to his/her own.
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No one should have any qualms about visiting Israel IMO as far as safety is concerned. I felt safer there than I've felt in many other places, including Europe. And if you wait for news reports that all is now at peace in the area, you'll never go. Israel is a well functioning country. Unique for sure in the ME.

Following this very engaging report.

continued... the Wall in Bethlehem

Before our Bethlehem taxi tour ended with the driver dropping us off in the souk, he drove us around a segment of the separation wall ( the wall between Palestine occupied territory and Israel ) for an up close view of graffiti art. I should say that there’s more “art” in this wall compared to the former Berlin Wall. The graffiti were not painted randomly without much concept or thought. They were, for the most part, thought out with some decent art renderings and a clear message of Palestinians’ common sentiment about their situation with Israel. We asked our driver to drive slowly so we can take decent pictures of some of the interesting segments.

We we pulled in to an unused and abandoned looking gas station with the vintage bubble top gas pumps where there is a ramshackle type store that calls itself a graffiti museum. In front of us is a segment of the wall that has Israel’s PM Netanyahu wearing bright red lipstick and a flower tucked behind his ear and Trump having a warm and cozy moment, and some written commentary to go along, many are written in English. We are standing in front of the graffiti that read “ Make hummus not war “ about 500 yards from one of several Israel watchtowers that punctuated the wall that stretched for several miles (kilometers) like a period in a long sentence. Imagine a mini version of the Great Wall of China and Berlin Wall combined. I cannot tell from where we were standing if the watchtower was manned and if the guards are ok with artists using the wall as their canvas. It’s obvious that many artists update their work to reflect current events.

This stop is very interesting as we walked along some 300 meters of the wall to “admire” the art, read and digest the accompanying messages. We were also introduced to the work of a known/popular/famous (?) graffiti artist named Bansky. Embarrassingly, we have never heard of this artist but that doesn’t mean anything because we are not into graffiti art.

The graffiti museum is actually a graffiti wall souvenir store in disguise and another shopping opportunity ( not ours but the taxi driver’s ). The store sold the usual t-shirts, mugs, keychains, and everything Bansky. I’m sure our taxi driver and the shopowner were both disappointed because we didn’t make any purchase and our tour is coming to an end.

As as a funny aside, when our driver was aggressively encouraging us to go inside the museum, the shopowner who clearly were pals with our driver, kept saying “welcome, come in, bansky, bansky, bansky” - I thought bansky was an Arabic or Hebrew word for something. I only realized that bansky is actually the name of a person and an artist who painted an iconic image of a man in the act act of throwing a bouquet of flowers instead of bomb Lol !

My post above is again cut off and is missing several paragraphs. I’m not sure what I’m not doing right in posting. Seems to happen randomly. If anyone reading this or any of the Fodors moderators can please help - thanks !

We were dropped off at the souk and hubby gave our driver a $50 bill. Our driver held the bill close to his face as if analyzing its authenticity. He declared that the bill is no good and he wanted a different bill or the equivalent in shekels. Hubby told him, the bill came straight from the bank and the other bill is the same and came from the same bank. He grumbled as we walk away and he drove away.

We had lunch at this hole in the wall, no name eatery in the souk area that had a strategically placed chicken rotisserie in front. Several cornish-sized chicken in various shades of golden brown turning in the spit were too inviting to resist. There were 3 tables inside and we were the only dine-in customer. The owner was doing brisk business with take out orders. We shared a whole chicken and chose our sides from the glass case. The owner in between customers chatted with us and not long after, another gentleman who was his friend, joined in the conversation and intermittently translated for both sides as he spoke very good English. We talked about his business and living in Bethlehem. He didn’t think that things will get better, at least not in his lifetime. This sad thought would linger in my head for a few days. Our meal was 80 shekels, hubby handed the owner a hundred and we thanked him for a very good and satisfying meal. The rotisserie chicken was indeed very good - moist and full of flavor from all the spices he used. He, the friend and his 2 sons who are helping in the back posed for a group picture with us and brown bagged some sweets for us to enjoy on the ride back to Jerusalem.

We wandered around the souk, checked out what the stores are selling and bought an inexpensive wide brimmed hat to keep the sun off my face because I forgot to bring my sun visor. It was around 4 pm when we hailed a taxi to take us back to border crossing 200 just a short distance away. There were day workers with work permits to Israel coming in as we walked towards the long hall with metal guardrails that led to the immigration booths. We prepared to show our US passports and the small piece of paper that is our Israel visa to the immigration officer but we were totally ignored like we were invisible. Not even a wave thru, nothing ! Is that how good they are with screening people? They can tell... I did read somewhere, a while back that Israeli’s are very good at screening people that come in to their country - El Al, their flag carrier has not had a single terrorist attack and so does the Ben Gurion Airport.

We emerged at the Israel side and just a few hundred feet is the bus stop where the Jerusalem bus is waiting for passengers. We boarded and paid our 7.90 bus fare per person ( or maybe 8.90, less than 10 shekels definitely ). We enjoyed our bag of sweets from the chicken eatery and in less than an hour, we were back in Jerusalem near Damascus Gate.

We entered the Old City via Damascus Gate and located Lina’s Restaurant in the Muslim Quarter to try the hummus for dinner. Lina’s according to some serves the best hummus in Jerusalem. Lina’s hummus was indeed very good and inexpensive as the serving portion is big enough for 2 people to share. Or maybe it’s just our perception because we were still a bit full from the chicken lunch in Bethlehem. From Lina’s, we walked back to our hotel and I picked up a big bag of Bamba for later in the evening, just in case i feel like snacking on something. We spent the rest of the evening watching TV and the preparations for the upcoming US Embassy inauguration in Jerusalem.

Next: early mourning visit to Holy Sepulchre Church, Tower of David, Mount of Olives

We set our alarm for 5:30 am and were out of the hotel around 6 am, arrived at the Holy Sepulchre Church by 6:15. The chapel where Jesus’ burial site was located hadn’t open and there were around a dozen hardy pilgrim-tourists like us waiting for the caretaker to open the small door, also called the humility door, that would lead to the holy site. We waited for about 15 minutes, there were ledges against the walls to sit on. In less than 10 minutes, we were in and out of the holy site.

The church was nearly empty which made the visit more of a spiritual experience. Next we climbed a steep spiral staircase that in my estimate was the height of 1 floor up - this was Golgotha ( gospel translation: skull hill ) the hill where Jesus was crucified. In the Bible and the many other visual representation of this scene that I have seen, Golgotha was up on a hill and depicted like a desolate place. In the chapel, the distance to the spiral staircase going up to Golgotha was about 200 feet and we have to use a lot of our imagination on the hill setting. The exact spot where the cross stood according to Christian tradition, is marked by a hole outlined with a silver star. Pilgrims line up and kneel before this exact spot to touch the hole. There’s been a lot of debate on the exact spot and location of the cross but pilgrims accept this as THE holy spot of Jesus’ crucifixion. There was a small pilgrimage tour group at the chapel when we arrived who had a Catholic priest accompanying them. We were fortunate to join this small group for a quick mass in English, officiated by the accompanying priest. Divine providence ! This group was from Virginia, USA. We finished our tour of the church by 7:30 am and headed black to our hotel for breakfast. When we left the church, there were still very few people inside and no crowd gathered outside. The shops and souvenir stores haven’t open yet either.

Breakfast, as I described earlier, had the same offerings. We just varied our food selection so we don’t get sick and tired of the offerings. I had a dairy theme for breakfast today - yogurt, muesli, fresh fruit and 2 orders of cappuccino. Hubby had smoked salmon, white cheese and truffles and baguette. Hubby said there were no bagels which he would have preferred to have with his smoked salmon. Maybe “lox and bagels” are an Americanized Jewish creation that we just assumed to be an authentic Jewish from Israel creation.

After breakfast, we napped for about an hour before heading out again to visit the Tower of David. We were back in the Old City and joined the English tour led by a volunteer guide who used to live in New York. She was very knowledgeable and engaging and spoke with a discernible NY accent, despite having lived in Israel for the past 15 years. Throughout our 7 days in Israel, we encountered many former US residents who have moved to Israel. Our server at the hotel breakfast a guy in his late 20’s, a shopowner at the Machane Yehuda, a musician we met at the evening show the other night and many others we encountered - former US residents.

We took a taxi to go to Mount of Olives and visited the pilgrimage sites, including the Garden of Gethsemane and the Jewish Cemetery. As with the other sites, we had to use a lot of our imagination to match the sites with the visual rendition or description of these holy sites. Garden of Gethsemane for instance, the place where Jesus was arrested before he was crucified the next day, is just a large olive tree grove. The spiritual experience is more from being and standing on the same spot where Jesus had been and possibly walked on.

We we took another taxi to take us back to the Tower of David through the Armenian Quarter. We joined the English tour led by a former NY resident who spoke with a discernible NY accent despite having lived in Israel for 15 years. After the tour, we were ready for lunch. We had lunch at the Italian restaurant along Mamilla outdoor mall. Hubby and I shared a pasta dish, pizza and salad. Entire meal was 200 shekels.

After lunch, we went to the Jewish Quarter and visited some ruins. Later, we headed to the Western Wall and Dome of the Rock to experience the scale of this much photographed landmark. There were people praying on the Western Wall, the men’s area was segregated from the women’s area. It wasn’t as crowded as some in some of the pictures I have seen. The golden dome is quite a sight in size and scale and shone brightly from the midday sun. We decided not to take the Hezekiah tunnel tour as we didn’t want to get our feet and footwear wet, as something that could happen when walking through the tunnel.

We’ve done a fair amount of walking today. We went back to the hotel to relax before heading out to Machneyuda Restaurant. Our hotel’s concierge was able to get us a reservation for tonight at 8:30 pm.

Next: dinner at Machneyuda Restaurant

[QUOTE=takemewithu;16740211]
"We joined the English tour led by a former NY resident who spoke with a discernible NY accent despite having lived in Israel for 15 years. "

No one loses their native accent if they've moved to a new country after approximately age 11. That's just the way it works. I've worked with people from all over the world who want to improve their pronunciation of American English and it is very, very difficult even with my help (I'm a speech-language pathologist), and many months of them practicing. As an adult, the brain is almost closed off to new speech sounds, sound combinations and differing inflections and stress.

Keep going with your trip - you're doing a great job.

[QUOTE=Dianedancer;16740259][QUOTE=takemewithu;16740211]
"We joined the English tour led by a former NY resident who spoke with a discernible NY accent despite having lived in Israel for 15 years. "

No one loses their native accent if they've moved to a new country after approximately age 11. That's just the way it works. I've worked with people from all over the world who want to improve their pronunciation of American English and it is very, very difficult even with my help (I'm a speech-language pathologist), and many months of them practicing. As an adult, the brain is almost closed off to new speech sounds, sound combinations and differing inflections and stress.

Dianedancer, Fascinating!

Great TR and very helpful when thinking about a trip there. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.

I think that all of the restaurants are using the same computer program for their billing and it only works in Hebrew. You can always ask the waiter for an explanation f you think that there is an item listed that you didn't order or if a price doesn't match what you remember from the menu.

The

Dinner at Machneyuda...

Thanks for all your comments and insight.

Thanks to our well connected concierge for getting us a dinner reservation tonight with only a few days notice. He said Machneyuda can get booked out for more than a week sometimes.

We were seated 15 minutes after our 8:30 pm reservation. Our expectations are high for,a memorable meal and this place did not disappoint, albeit at a price. Here’s a quick score card:

Ambience: industrial chic, trendy, high noise level
Menu: seafood, beef, pasta, eclectic
Food: very flavorful, cleverly presented and plated
Cost: about 300 shekels per person for a 3 course meal

We shared an order of seafood bouillabaisse. The broth was creamy and in it were shrimp, mussels, calamari and fish chunks. It was very delicious, and we’re ready to be wowed with our entree orders. I had grilled seabass with vegetables, drizzled in a tangy sweet sauce served in a metal baking tray and beautifully plated and delicious. Hubby ordered lamb t bone with bone marrow cut crosswise served with roasted pumpkin and onion served in a wood plank - also beautifully and cleverly plated. I cringed as hubby scooped up and enjoyed the jiggly fat from the bone marrow and reminded him to take his Lipitor everyday. For dessert, we shared a Bavarian cream cake served with a caramelized whole banana cut crosswise ( their take on bananas foster ) The texture of the caramelized sugar that covered the banana complemented the smooth and creamy texture of the Bavarian cream cake. The chefs here not just serve delicious food, they also present the food in a creative, visually appealing way. Hubby and I appreciate artistry in our food.

Our dinner tab was 550 shekels including tip. I asked our server if I can purchase the old, beat up looking Turkish coffee pot our bill came in ( I’m thinking bud vase for our breakfast table ) She looked around as if making sure nobody heard her and told me I can have it to remember our dinner in Jerusalem by. I slipped 50 shekels into her hands which she initially mildly refused. She eventually accepted after I insisted. We both came away quite pleased with this “little trade”.

We walked back to our hotel, happy and well fed. For hubby, it is atonement for the grease fest on the bone marrow he finished, all by himself.

Next: New City, Israel Museum, Knesset

After breakfast, we took a taxi to Israel Museum. The museum tour in English will start in 2 hours so we earnestly began our self guided tour of the different sections ( prayer niches from various countries, interesting Judaica ). The museum had well presented displays and an audio guide is available. The layout was also very easy to navigate because everything is on one floor - no stairs to climb. We’re somewhere in the middle when it comes to pace for museum visits - not too fast and not too slow. We do take time to absorb and read up on things that interest us the most such as paintings and works of art by old masters and would give other exhibits that mildly interest a walk thru. Unfortunately, we did not get to visit the art collection which had works by Picasso, Renoir, Van Gogh and other masters because we used up the time we had before the start of the guided tour.

Our tour guide led us outdoors and explained some of the sculpture and symbolism behind some of the structures. We also walked past a scaled model of the old city. And finally we were at the museum, the building that had a roof that looked like an inverted cooking vessel, where the Dead Sea scrolls can be viewed. The background and explanation behind the scrolls were very thorough and we were given some time in this dimly-lit museum to view some of the original scrolls on display. The guided tour ended here.

Our immediate dilemma at this point is : should we go back to the main museum to view the paintings, have lunch or proceed to Knesset which is within walking distance. Whenever hubby and I are faced with a dilemma involving food, food always wins. It was past 2 in the afternoon and we were already really hungry. We had lunch at the museum restaurant named Mansfield whose menu I checked out while hubby was standing in line earlier to buy the museum tickets.

Hubby and I had salmon plate that came with boiled potatoes and vegetables - healthy and a good balance to the calorie-laden dinner last night. The meal was also very good and I’m not surprised. We have had good meals in the past at museum restaurants and cafes. Lunch was 140 shekels, including coffee.

After lunch, we walked over to the Knesset before they closed for the day. There were no sessions today that the public can watch and we barely have an hour for the visit. We were able to view Chagall’s work and installations before closing. The Bible Lands Museum was also within walking distance from the Knesset but we decided to give it a pass and just head back to our hotel to rest before heading out to dinner and enjoy the nightlife in Jerusalem.

We had light dinner of salad and sandwich at Aroma Cafe in the Mamilla Mall then we were back in the Ben Yehuda Street, the pedestrian street where the light rail train passes, to enjoy the street scene with our coffee and dessert. We walked passed an interesting store, Kippa Man, that sold kippas (duh!) of every kind - crocheted, satin, printed with sports logo, some with humorous and catchy slogans. We were out until past 11 and families with young children and baby strollers in tow, are still very much out and about for a stroll like in many European countries. This always fascinates us - how they can stay up so late during work days and go to work or school the next day.

Today is Friday and our last day in Jerusalem. We are headed next to Tel Aviv for 2 nights. In a few hours, Shabbat starts and we have planned to be in Tel Aviv by 1 pm before everything in Jerusalem shuts down. We met a couple from the US a few days ago, during breakfast at the hotel, and they are going to Tel Aviv too the same time we are. We agreed to hire a private transport to pick us up from the hotel and drive us to Tel Aviv at a cost of $120 which we will split.

After a leisurely breakfast, we packed our things and met with our carpool couple in the lobby. As we stepped out, the streets around WA, the busy intersection between Mamilla Mall, The Citadel and Waldorf Astoria were decorated with banners and US and Israel flags. The US Embassy in
Jerusalem will be inaugurated on Monday, May 14. We lingered in the lobby with our carpool couple, for a while waiting for our private transportation. The red carpet is rolled out and ends in a Waldorf backdrop for photo opps and interviews with VIPs. There’s clearly a lot of activity at the hotel as it prepares to welcome VIPs, a very likely choice for American dignitaries as it is a US brand hotel.

A limo pulls in and the finance minister of Tanzania is welcomed by selected hotel staff, some photo opp with the WA backdrop and he heads towards the elevators. We didn’t dar# ask who else is coming because that will clearly be confidential. Not long after, our humble ride arrives and we’re off to Tel Aviv on a beautiful, cool and sunny day. We should be in Tel Aviv before Shabbat starts this afternoon.

Next: first day in Tel Aviv

Still following along! Still loving it! Such great detail. Food and eating are a big part of any trip for us so thrilled that you are a foodie and including such great descriptions. This is a TR to bookmark and print.

Looking forward to more!

Thanks Lolazahra for following along. I was away for work and didn’t post for a while...

Trip to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem took about an hour. We were dropped off at Hilton Tel Aviv where we will be staying for 2 nights.

We we took the cab to Hakosem for lunch. We would have walked, it was probably just a little over a mile from the Hilton but we wanted to get there before it closes early for Shabbat.

Hakosem is a small, unpretentious falafel roadside eatery along King George St (Shlomo Hamelech). It has a few earring tables in front which is really the sidewalk in front of it. You can see the kitchen and the meals being prepared when you walk up and place your order. We ordered the falafel plate, which included falafel, salad and fried eggplant for 44 shekels each. A side order of falafel is 1 shekel per piece, we ordered 4 pieces.

The falafels were very good clearly justifying its claim to being the best falafel in Tel Aviv - a claim also made by Frischman which we did not get to try. The falafel was crunchy on the outside and creamy and smooth inside that has just the right amount of saltiness. The fried eggplant was also very good with the same crunchy outside/creamy inside texture.

The tables led were all occupied when we arrived but the turnover was quick so we managed secure a table quickly. There was a line of about 10 people deep, mostly take out orders, but like the few dining tables set up, the line moved quickly.

After the satisfying and relatively inexpensive meal for Israel ( 92 shekels or about $25 ), we walked towards the beach and planned to walk back to the hotel. I find food and restaurant meal prices in Israel on the slightly expensive side compared to similar food and places in California. The meals we had in Jordan were also a lot cheaper - just a general observation...

The walked north along Tel Aviv beach and enjoyed the lively beach scene. There were people playing volleyball and all kinds of beach sports, along with families, couples and tourists who are out for a beach stroll.

We had a quiet evening at the hotel lounge as Shabbat falls upon the city. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, we will be joining a walking tour of the Jaffa districtin the morning.

Today, we joined the walking tour of Jaffa offered by Sandeman which meets at the clock tower at 10 am. The walking tour took us to the interesting old neighborhood of Jaffa. Across from the clock tower is a former prison that was recently converted into a boutique hotel. Along this street are small shops and restaurants but for now nothing is open and the area looks forlorn, being a Saturday morning.

We went through the winding small alley, up and down many steps in the neighborhood. Some of the interesting stops are Simon, the tanner’s house ( a biblical figure ), the “hanging” orange tree. The tour lasted for 3 hours but we hardly noticed because there were a lot of stops where we can sit for a few minutes while listening to Avi, our tour guide. Avi, like our Sandeman guide in Jerusalem, was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Avi is an elderly gentleman who genuinely like to show tourists around his hometown. The quality of Sandeman guides, based on these 2 walking tours we joined is really good, considering they are a “free” tour. Upon the recommendation of Avi, we had lunch at a beach side seafood restaurant called The Old Man and the Sea.

The Old Man and the Sea is a very popular beach front restaurant with extensive fish and seafood menu. When we got there, the line was very, very long and we almost turned around to go to another retaurant. I’m glad we stood at the side for a few minutes while I searched for another seafood restaurant on my iPhone - we noticed that the line moved quickly. So we decided to go back and get in line. The wait time was no more than 10 minutes.

The selection is mainly on the main entree as the sides ( all 15 of them, I counted ! ) are all standard consisting of appetizer-sized plates. The sides serving is big enough that we didn’t ask for refill. The sides consisted of guacamole, tahini, falafel, some green salad, potato salad, cauliflower - served like kimchi offerings in a Korean restaurant. The sides come with the entree order and they don’t charge extra for them. The fish and seafood are sold by weight and the server can recommend the right size for your party. We ordered a kilo size grouper which we ordered grilled. It came in big oval platter and was served with fries and lemon. For dessert, we ordered the fresh pineapple served with a big dollop of slightly sweet, mousse texture cream and sprinkled with caramelized sugar grains. It was very delicious and complemented the fish we just ate. Cost of entire meal with dessert is 400 shekels.

Hubby and I voted this as our best meal in the entire trip.

takemewithu
Awesome trip report!!!

Please... next time... take me with u!!! Love your style of travel and reporting! Thanks for sharing.

All over Israel the dinners, sometimes lunches come with sides that are part of the meal and are not charged extra for. They're called "mezze".

Thank you for all of the details! I am considering a trip in 2021 and this will be very helpful.