Summer in October
The decision to go to Israel arose impromptu - the trade union "threw" with the desired ticket to a boarding house in Transcarpathia, other options for recreation within the borders of Ukraine did not cause enthusiasm, and... we thought, why not? Phoned friends, discussed the dates of arrival and departure and began to look for plane tickets. In general, bought through tiket. ua two months before the trip, the price is normal, but Privatbank added another 350 hryvnias to the price of tickets. Departure on October 13 by Ukraine Intl Airlines from Dnipro to Kyiv, and from Kyiv to Tel Aviv, and back on October 26 as well. Tickets received by e-mail, a month later another message came with the departure time and that's it. Through Privatbank issued honey. insurance for min. Price , friends sent an invitation to the post office , and we waited for the flight . We prepared presents, bought bacon (2 kg. But more is possible), black bread, cigarettes (1 block). We reached the Dnieper by car, left it in the parking lot, spent the night with the children, and in the morning they took us to the airport by 6 o'clock. And there was fog, the flight was delayed for three hours, they returned home, slept, arrived again. And this time they started right. Passed registration, passport control - no problem. Fortunately, before the flight to Israel we still had a reserve of 8 hours, there was no panic, there was no race.
Yes, most importantly, in the Dnieper, when registering a flight, you must definitely say that you have a transit (!!! ) to Tel Aviv. And then your luggage will be automatically reloaded to the desired flight, and when you exit the plane in Kyiv, you need to get on the bus that will take you to terminal "D". And there you will be in the zone after passport control. So we sat in terminal "D", passed the time, and at 19-00 we went to land, at 20-00 we did not fly out, we were still packing. In general, we flew at 20-30. At 23-30 sat down at Ben Gurion Airport. Passport control passed without problems, no invitation was needed, the girl - the border guard only asked where we would live, and with whom, and that's all. They didn’t put stamps in the passport, they issued a mini copy of the passport with a photo, last name, first name, date of entry like a business card. Looking ahead, I’ll say that when you leave, they will give you the same one, only red and confirming that you really left. Then they got their suitcase safe and sound and ran to look for friends.
Now for the exit process. If you have checks from stores and you want to receive compensation for purchases in taxi-free, if you want to go to duty-free to buy a "road" for the track, then I highly recommend arriving at the airport not in 2 hours, but rather in three, and even four. We had a departure at 14:00, arrived at 12:00. hand over. Then a couple of times it will be rolled through the scanner, then for a personal inspection of things, where they will review everything and everything in very, very detailed. And what do you have in bottles (wine), and in jars (cosmetics from the Dead Sea), and what kind of package is this (with dates), and where did you buy it, etc. etc. ? Then they smile and wish you a happy journey. Checking hand luggage went as usual, but it's also time.
In general, we didn’t have enough time for duty-free. It's a pity, after such inspections I really wanted to drink cognac. And only the expensive one remained on the plane. They flew in, landed in Boryspil. Passed the border. We took the shuttle bus to terminal "B" and waited for the flight, but it was delayed for an hour due to the weather. Instead of 19-20 they flew out at 20-20. An hour of flight and we are in the Dnieper. We received our long-suffering suitcase (they tore off the extra wheels for better stability - I recognize our “native” Boryspil, the handle was torn off the trip before last) and drove home.
Vacation was great!! ! Mostly lived in Karmiel, a couple of days in Netanya, were in the hotel "Lot" on the Dead Sea. We visited Jerusalem on an excursion, went by car to swim on the beach in Akko, walked in the old city there, went to the Kinneret, visited Capernaum, Nahariya, in Haifa in the Bahai Park. Looked like a lot... but it's a drop in the ocean. Certainly hit Jerusalem. There can't be two opinions here. Very lucky with the tour guide. His name is Slava, from the company "METROCLUB". He told so interestingly that other tourists soon joined us! And ancient history, and its connections with modernity, and about all the religions of this amazing city, and about people of the past and present, and funny stories and amazing facts, coincidences and many, many, many things....
The Bahai Garden is beautiful! And the Dead Sea is amazing!
But, what a shock we received in the TEMPLE OF THE LORD'S SEPLE near the anointing plate - it's INDESCRIPTABLE! ! !
They traveled mostly by car. The roads are cool, all the signs, signs, traffic lights, markings, additional signs - in huge numbers. But , it is better to have a navigator on hand with a detailed map , at least for the first time . Especially - detailed on cities. Street names in Hebrew do not contribute to the location, but exactly the opposite! Several times I had to ask friends for help, and they took us to the right place by mobile phone. Or you can turn to passers-by, but there may be different answers - either in Hebrew, or in English, or in Russian. And quite often. It is better not to ask the Arabs. Although... The problem of passing intersections in cities has been very rationally solved, and there are a lot of intersections there! And it is clear that you can't get enough of all the traffic lights. So there is a flower bed in the center of the intersection, and you have to go around it in a circle, along the “main” one. And that's it! There are a lot of such flower beds, i. e. don't speed up! At the entrance, you let those who are on the circle pass, then you go yourself. Just accelerated - and then a new circle! I appreciated the beauty of automatic transmission with such a system of movement. We also traveled by bus several times. Very comfortable, convenient, a clear schedule (well, almost a clear one... ), the driver has a cash desk, you pay for travel by distance, you get a ticket, change and go. In advance (above your head) you press the red button, the driver will hear a signal and the bus will stop at the nearest stop. There are no such stops near “each pillar”, and thank God!
We went to Netanya by train with a transfer. The train is modern, clean, comfortable. True, for some reason the Internet did not work in the car. At the entrance to the station - scanner - frame, security. Yes, almost everywhere - to the hospital, to Jewish temples, to crowded places... What to do! Such is their life... All the time in a state of high combat readiness. In each apartment (probably in border areas) one of the rooms is equipped as a bunker. Double sealed metal door, sealed shutter on the window, self-contained ventilation system.
In Israel, three-pin sockets, our plugs fit without problems, but euro plugs do not, I had to look for an adapter.
The dollars that were exchanged before the trip were almost all brought back. We paid with plastic cards MasterCard, Bank of Russia. For some reason the visa didn't go through. It turned out to be very beneficial. For example - a purchase for $ 30, the bank writes off UAH 245 from the account. Fine .
I do not write anything about the cuisine of Israel. She's amazingly delicious. It is necessary to write about it PSS, and not a couple of lines in the report. And the wines are great.
This is what Israel is like. We did not try to discover America, but we hope our review will be useful to someone.
