Travel to Israel
Israel 2015
Tel Aviv beach 1992 proudly featured on my T-shirt when I was 4 years old. At that time, this priceless rarity was brought to me from Tel Aviv itself by Uncle Zhenya, who went there on a business trip. The T-shirt was really chic, but over time I grew out of it, and apart from my grandfather's nose, nothing connected me with Israel for 23 long years.
Preparations and first adventures
The adventure began with the purchase of air tickets, during which the air carrier EL AL withdrew more money from the card than it should have. The vendor strenuously denied the fact itself, but could not confirm the information about the “correct” withdrawal, as a result, they had to compensate for the difference. Then the departure terminal changed and a little more money was sent to the card. The adventure continued when we started booking accommodation through airbnb. Due to a blocking defect, the coupon with a discount for 69 euros first burned out, and then my money was completely stuck in their system. The first seven attempts to book accommodation failed for various reasons, the most interesting was when the owner told me, “You will also have to give me $ 50 separately for cleaning and pay for electricity on the meter. ” After much torment with the reservation, finally the discount was restored and the room was confirmed.
Having celebrated the beginning of the May holidays at work, I went straight to Boryspil. There we were waited by hellish interrogation and examination. There were so many questions and attention that the Schengen visa seemed like a trifle to me. And we have not yet reached the check-in for the flight. After the Georgian cuisine at work, I was wildly dry, and then the fact that everyone’s water was confiscated played into my hands. I wanted to drink wildly, and then there were new, closed bottles as if they were standing on a tray)))) For the first time, I was glad that the water was being taken away.
Israel met us with warm night weather. The very first railway terminal blocked $50 on my card, but we never received the tickets. Having bought tickets at the box office, we still had an hour at night to get acquainted with the surroundings of the airport. Somehow I fell in love with the country immediately, pleasant air, good climate and everyone is friendly and kind. The exact opposite of the problems that were when buying tickets. The only thing that alarmed me was a huge open cage lying in a dark alley. There were bushes everywhere, and in any of them this monster could be waiting for us. But everything worked out and the double-decker train took us from the airport. Having left at 04:00 at our station, we headed to the left exit, passing through an automatic turnstile-fence.
The exit from the station turned out to be closed, we had to go to the second exit, but the only problem was that our tickets were no longer valid, in order to return back to the fork we had to go through the turnstile. Since the turnstile was sure that we had already left the station, he did not want to accept the canceled tickets and let us out too. This moment was called "We got into a mess. " Being locked between the entrance to the station and the second entrance to the station. The task seemed difficult and unsolvable, but then a local resident, who comes from Ukraine, fell into the same trap. The guy sighed, expressed indecent respect in Russian and climbed through the top of the turnstile. We are behind him. Now we are officially inside the station, but we cannot get out, since the right exit also has a turnstile that does not accept canceled tickets. The guy sighed again, repeated the magic expression and climbed. We are with backpacks. Although there were already people and workers on the other side, no one really cared why we would climb the turnstile. We thought that the night adventures were over, but they were just beginning. Not far from the central railway station was Yabotinsky Street and our hut. But it is difficult to determine exactly where this neighboring street is from their map. Since everything is quite symmetrical with respect to the two exits from the station. After complex mathematical calculations and 10 minutes of walking, we finally went to Yabotinsky Street. We walk along it for about 15 minutes, but for some reason the house numbers are not the same, and the scale of the map somehow does not correspond at all. Something strange was going on. On the map, the street is small and contains the number 145, but we have been walking for a long time and only reached the 20th. There is also some kind of curve, but it is even on the map. Entering the convenience store, we were greeted with joy by a one-eyed man. First, he carefully looked at our map, then carefully looked at us. For a while it was clear that he himself could not understand what was wrong here. And then he asks a terrifying question.
- Guys, what city do you need in general?
At first, I felt better for a second, “But that’s the problem! ”, And then I really got sick when I realized that maybe we ended up in the wrong city.
- We need Tel Aviv.
- And this is Ramat Gan!
As they say in Yeralash "Param-param-pam". But then such a mind blowing began, how did everything match up to the station and the street builders 23 but the city did not match???
In general, what can I say, it turns out that the streets around this station turned out to be symmetrically similar, the name coincided with the street on which we live. That is, it was necessary to return to the beginning and go in the opposite direction. Around 5 am, we finally got to our apartments, which were five minutes from the railway station. Initially, we planned that we might start our trip to other cities from eight in the morning, but for obvious reasons it had to be postponed. We had a delicious breakfast with the food we brought with us and went to bed. After sleep, we had breakfast again and hurried to the city.
At 11:00 our route began, due to the cheap price from the old city, we lived 10 kilometers on foot. True, this cheap price cost us about 50 euros per night. Kilometers were on foot due to local transport prices of $1.5 per person per bus. So, our route ran through almost the entire city with a visit to all its attractions. We immediately fell in love with the city and its locals, everything is so beautiful, modern and a little tropical. And the Mediterranean Sea, as always, joyfully met us. Not every trip can be credited so quickly.
The mood was on top and the warm sun gently warmed. It's time to eat. Here the prices were already quite sad, the restaurants / cafes / fast foods were simply shocking, all prices are the same as ours in hryvnias, but you need to multiply by 6.5 + bank commission. Even if you have money, your hand will not rise to lay out 700 UAH to eat together. We went to the store, there prices were not lower. But here lies some kind of pizza bun for 130 UAH. They took a bun for two, juice and hummus, and for this they unfastened 200 UAH. The bun turned out to be just fried onions. Our lunch was brutal to say the least. Tsybulya, bread, juice and hummus.
It didn’t work out to finish the whole onion, although it was fried, it was tasteless, although maybe we just snickered. The seller in the store sympathetically said in Russian that he has been living here for 7 years and is still freaking out with prices. Fortunately, we were prepared for a potentially expensive country and brought with us a lot of cheese, sausages and bread from Kyiv, and the owner left us some goodies in the apartment. At least you don't have to worry about breakfast. After the meal, the city became even more beautiful. The eyes simply could not enjoy the parks and ancient streets of the Yafa area. We got to Yafa by passing through the first district of Tel Aviv - Neve Tzedek. The area is as beautiful as the city itself, but has narrower and more ancient streets.
But Yafa is full of marvelous parks, chic fountains and cool sights. It was hard to believe that we were walking along this beauty, but the most important beauty awaits us ahead, in Haifa.
Beyond the old city stretched endless green plains. Imperceptibly the sun was approaching the horizon - Shabbat began. A dog made friends with us in the glades and served us so faithfully that the local people even shouted at us to get our dog away from them.
When the sun went down, it was necessary to return to Yafa and see it in the evening lights. Yafa was beautiful as always. I felt tired in my legs, because we have been constantly walking for 9 hours almost without a break. We have to go home, but we have to go not a little, not a lot - 2 hours. Armed with patience, we began our journey. Something had to be done about dinner. The monopoly is wild, prices are almost equally high everywhere. Fortunately, on the way we came across a Chinese restaurant in which “only” for 400 UAH we ate vermicelli. Since Dasha was a little bit poisoned by the vermicelli, the next day came out even more economically. And what did you think, eating such cheap food, of course you get sick. On the way home, I noticed that the skin was burned.
In the morning, the whole body was on fire. This combustion is in my second place, the first place is proudly held by the Maldives. On this day, a relaxing day was waiting for us in the simply gigantic Yarkon Park. Since everyone has a mass rest during Shabbat, the city literally dies out. Deserted streets, empty lanes of business centers, shop windows are covered with massive bars. It felt like a post apocalypse. But as soon as we got to the park, we saw the opposite picture.
The whole city was there. Barbecues were fried everywhere, people rode boats, flew in a balloon, ran, rode bicycles, a giant octopus kite soared menacingly in the sky.
From the prices, all we could afford from entertainment was walking. It is not reasonable to pay 550 UAH for rowing yourself with oars. We spent half a day in the park. Then there was a quiet hour in the apartments. When I travel, I try to sleep to a minimum, but we covered really long distances. In the afternoon we had a cultural program - cycling.
The bicycle rental system in Tel Aviv is very convenient. Having bought ourselves daily travel cards, we went on a trip. The distances that took us hours were now just small journeys. Every moment spent in this city was filled with euphoria. We met the sunset in the clearing of the park, which is located on a mountain in the old city. The sunset was - striped.
I remember how we raced along the night embankment, on one side the raging sea, on the other skyscrapers and the full moon.
We visit the local McDonald's in every country, Israel was no exception. His McDuck deserves a separate section in this story.
McDonald's was kosher. That is, there was no cheese and practically no vegetables in the hamburgers, the juice was from a very diluted yuppie. But the most important thing here is the cooking process. If no one buys french fries for a long time, they pour it back into the common container, and from there they pour it into bags again, as if it had just been cooked. Trays and disposable papers are passed around, that is, your food is put on the tray of the one who has already eaten. The cashier pulls out a “new” tray of paper from under the counter, on which the previous customer’s fries are already scattered, and puts my order there. A neighboring visitor was less fortunate, his tray and disposable paper were covered in large greasy spots. The garbage bins are all so full that they do not close and the garbage sticks out all the way out. Half the tables are littered with hamburger cartons, Happy Meals, and leftover food. On the floor, you can count almost all kinds of McDuck dishes. The toilet in this establishment is only for the disabled, there is a woman in the toilet, not closing the soap of her child. After waiting for them to finish their bath procedures, I went to the toilet, the woman, seeing that I was going to the vacant toilet, went to cut me and yelled through the whole McDuck in Russian “Val, well, you are going to the toilet, otherwise I have already finished” , Valya shouts in response "Yes, I'm running. " For all this entertainment we paid 93 shekels - 610 UAH!! ! Two McMenu. This hygiene makduck is not something that an Indian makduck would have done, but the whole of India put together. In general, a big shame for Israel for McDonald's. Of course, to see this in the center of the metropolis was worth the money.
We have to go home, having peeped at the parking lot with a pass, the screen highlighted that our bike is already in use. That is, the system did not notice the return is great. In other words, it turns out that my credit card has a bike that left. My first thought was to immediately block the card. I had to call tech support and report what had happened. We went into a restaurant and asked the waiter how things were going with payphones in the city. He gave us his mobile, said that he had unlimited connection. The answering machine offered me to communicate in Russian, after which they answered me in Hebrew. After explaining the whole situation to the operator in English, he said: “OK, now everything is fine with your passes, you can continue to use it. ” How smart they are at solving such problems.
That's it, Shabbat is over and you can move on to a trip around the cities. After consulting the weather forecast, we slightly corrected the route and very timely and successfully, having missed the rains and wild heat.
On an early flight we arrived at the station of the city. Most people in the city spoke Russian. There was only one goal - the Bahai Gardens. But for some reason, everyone had different information about how to get there, and everyone was sure of his version. "Metro! " or “There is no subway in this city, by bus! ” or "The gardens are closed! ". Approaching the garden, which stretched down from a height, there was relief that the complex was still open, but not everything was so simple. The gardens are divided into three parts. You can only watch the third one (the lowest one) and only from bottom to top. First and middle only with a free tour and only from top to bottom. And there is no way to go from second to third.
The good news was that in an hour there would be the last tour in English. In the worst case, you would have to listen in Hebrew, and on another day the gardens would actually be closed.
Schedule of Free Mandatory Tours here
They said that it would take about forty minutes to go upstairs, but this is not true. To go only by bus, firstly, it is very high, and secondly, it takes a very long time. Having reached the upper part of the city, the gardens were not yet visible, but it was already very beautiful. Endless views of the Mediterranean Sea and Israel. The streets of the city themselves also had an atmosphere. Although the tour will end at an average level, we already knew that we would return here again to enjoy the beauty of the city.
The first stop on the way to the gardens was an observation deck, which was passed through the checkpoint, the Vietnamese examined our things and let us go further. It was just a small fragment from the future))) The view from the Terrace was beautiful, but these are all trifles compared to the view of the gardens. When we finally started the tour, this rich beauty of nature opened up to our eyes.
By the way, in our travels, this is the second visit to the shrines of the Bahai religion. The first was the Lotus temple in India. The beauty of the gardens still cannot be conveyed in text, you have to go and see for yourself. Personally, our opinion is that it is a mast to visit. Leaving the gardens, we, as planned, went again to the top of the city.
Having eaten local cuisine for 650 UAH (beans), we were full and satisfied and went to look for a pharmacy, as sunburn convinced me that I needed to buy a cream no matter how much it cost.
In other matters, the prices in the pharmacy quickly convinced me of this, sunscreen costs from 300 UAH. Approaching the pharmacist, I say:
- Hello, do you have a cream from the red skin?
- Is it possible now in Russian? The pharmacist asked.
- Ah, then what's the cheapest sunscreen you have here?
- Unfortunately, what we saw was the cheapest.
Seeing our fading morale, the woman offered aloe gel for burns, it was cheaper, and then she gave us and says:
- Take it as a gift, but in general, you know, let's go and I'll show you another Freebie, which no one notices)))
The pharmacist led us to a counter with expensive creams and took out a basket of samplers:
- Take it, it's all for you. Handing us a handful of disposable sachets.
- And when is your plane?
- Tomorrow we will walk around Jerusalem all day.
- Ohh, then take these maximum effect creams too.
As a result, we left the pharmacy with Aloe gel for burns and a bunch of sunscreens. Well, it's great that such kind people. Having smeared with a thick layer, I felt like a new person. There was no need to hide from the sun. We decided to return to the station on foot. A local resident said that it was too far and showed the way. It turned out, not that far, but infinitely long. But nonetheless beautiful. There were free slatted sunbeds downstairs, but it turned out to be a little expensive to lie down on them. I had to lie down. How a coin fell out of his pocket and rolled irrevocably behind bars. The denomination of the coin turned out to be UAH 33 : (. In total, the Bahai Garden and the city itself - offset. It was already evening, but it was not the last city according to the plan.
We traveled to Herzliya on two trains with a change. The city was advised to us as a city with a beautiful embankment. Coming out of the station and specifying how to get to the beach, we heard in response, "No, well, it's far on foot. " Why, why, like in Israel, you say the phrase “On foot” in response you always get “Far away”, but conscience did not allow paying for buses at 6.9 shekels (42 UAH) per person. The city, like its predecessors, is cozy and beautiful, the embankment, in principle, is also the norm. The most interesting thing was when we had to find a bus to Tel Aviv at night and we pulled some man. The man said something in hieroglyphs and waved for us to follow him. He turned 180 degrees from his route and went. We walked 5 minutes, 10 minutes. This is starting to get really funny. It seems as if we asked him about how to see the whole city at once. We walked along the streets, the embankment, some unknown paths between the streets, then along the road, along some shops. Probably 15 minutes went by. As a result, he brought us to the stop, said that the bus would definitely come and proudly went back. Well, what a touchingly nice people live in Israel. It was a nice touch that the bus goes directly to our house in Tel Aviv.
New morning, new train. Still, it is convenient to live near the central railway station. But the station in Jerusalem is so far from the old city that almost none of the passers-by knew about its existence. Maybe they didn't speak with that accent. It took us about an hour to find the bus stop we needed and take the right bus. And then, thanks to the fact that a local resident who does not speak English understood where we needed to go and told us the Hebrew word "Canyon". The fact is that when we were walking in Haifa, we met an Odessa woman who had lived there for 7 years, and when she told us how to go to the Haifa railway station, she couldn’t remember the word Market, and said, “Canyon”, and then explained what she meant. In Jerusalem, it was this word that saved us. Jerusalem confirmed our theory that in Israel all cities are beautiful and inviting. A futuristic modern tram rushes along the old street. Cafes with local cuisine are scattered along the street. Here we set a record, having eaten for only 300 UAH. In the old city, we visited the main attractions, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Mount Golgotha, the Wailing Wall and others.
There were lines, but small ones. Along the walls of the old city, from the outside - excellent panoramas of the city. It was getting late in the evening and we had to return to Tel Aviv, as another place was planned to visit. To do this, we went to one railway station earlier, and based on the map, we had to move to the beach. We decided to ask a local resident how to get to the beach. Pointing the direction, the man uttered something indistinctly warning. In order to understand what he wanted to warn us about, it took 5 minutes to go. These were black quarters. Not very decent-looking people walked around, heaps of blacks, and the houses were not very impressive. Here, of course, the fact that, apart from the card, we still have no money with us was reassuring. 40 minutes of black-quarter therapy, and we are on the waterfront. Then another 30 minutes on foot, and we are there, in a restaurant where you can try all the local cuisine on an all-inclusive basis. The bottom line is that for a fixed price you get 20 types of salads, a hot dish with meat and potatoes, tea and sweets. We decided that one for two was enough for us. That's just with the waiter turned out to be tight. We agreed with one that we would pay only for one person, they brought us salads, pita bread, and we started tasting. Another waiter came up and said that you shouldn't do that, and suggested that Dasha also place an order, "at least salads" for 300 UAH. That is, it turns out they lure, bring food, and then they say that they will have to pay more.
Scams must be rooted out. At first, I exhausted him exactly as many nerves as he tried to swindle us with money, then, in Russian, I exchanged words with Dasha that we already ate well, in principle, since we have to pay more, then we cancel our order and, accordingly, refuse to pay at all, goodbye. This dinner broke all records, as it was completely free and with a good animation at the end. A performance called "Jewish waiter and Ukrainians" was played. And I was already beginning to be afraid that in Israel no one would try to cheat us for money. We had to walk 10 km back home. Since the whole city is covered with free Wi-Fi, we arranged a whole tour for ourselves by walking through the night courtyards and districts directly. GPS caught our place perfectly, and a detailed map was loaded via the Internet. We walked for an hour and really discovered a lot of interesting places for ourselves.
How many kilometers we walked in 4 days is scary to imagine. Although the rest was in the relaxation format, the creature and legs just buzzed after such a rest. Early in the morning on the plane, and from the plane immediately to work. The route went work-plane-work. The country left a very positive impression and destroyed a number of stereotypes about Jews. We met very kind and helpful people who are always happy to help you. Despite the fact that the trip turned out to be really expensive, this country was included in the list of those countries that I want to return to. By the way, all transactions that have passed over the card have not been written off at the moment and, apparently, will be returned.
Trip information
Date of travel: 30.04. 2015 – 05.05. 2015
Duration: 4 full days
Flights: El Al
Hotel: Home away from home, Great location via Airbnb
Excursions: All by yourself
Trip difficulty: 1/10 (very easy)
