I’m writing this sitting on a lovely balcony overlooking the city of Eilat and the Red Sea. Terri, Shoshana, Karl  and I elected the less expensive but not at all unpleasant route of vacationing in an Israeli “youth hostel”.  I put “youth hostel” in quotes for the obvious reason that even Sho and Karl would be stretching the notion of “youth” much less Terri and me, but the Israeli Youth Hostel association is happy to host us old fogies as long as there is sufficient room.

A room for four, including breakfast, is about the same cost as the hotel room for two we had in Arad, and this place is in its own way magnificent. The rooms open to interior corridors that then open to this wide public balcony with fabulous views towards the hotel district and out to the sea. The breakfast isn’t quite as good as what we had in Arad, but it has fresh, healthful food so there is nothing to complain about. Well, maybe the coffee. 🙂

The weather in Eilat has been fabulous. Crystal clear with temperatures in the mid-80s. We arrived last night about 9pm after a five hour bus ride from Tel Aviv. We didn’t know much about how such a long distance route would be handled. They actually provided two rest stops where we could use the facilities and purchase food. At the second, unfortunately, there was such a mob scene that we had no time to get any food. But that just meant we would be pretty hungry when we did find a good restaurant in Eilat.

As I said, we arrived about 9pm and after a brief get-acquainted session with our new digs, we headed out to the restaurant recommended by our host called Pago Pago. It turned out to be a floating sea food restaurant in the heart of the hotel district, but that was just fine with Terri and Karl. Shoshana and I ordered chicken and Thai vegetarian salad respectively. Terri had a local fish and Karl the sushi banquet. Everyone was very happy. The French onion soup was particularly good. I also had my first sushi—one of the vegetarian varieties made with egg.

The evening cooled down nicely and we slept without need of an air conditioner.

After the perfectly serviceable hostel breakfast we headed for the wonderful coral sea aquarium. The glass bottom boat was not operating on Sunday, but they explained that if we purchased the full ticket we could return on Monday for the voyage out into the Red Sea and enjoy the aquarium both days, so that’s what we did. The aquarium is beautifully done with a few nods to Disney. There is a film in which the audience moves (literally) into the action. The theme is a little hoaky and clearly kid-oriented, but our family is used to Disney, so I think we all enjoyed it. The techs held a number feeding demonstrations throughout the park, so we went to the shark, turtle and various other fish feedings. Most of the exhibits were signed in both Hebrew and English.

The heart of the aquarium is a view of the coral reef achieved by walking down into an undersea observatory.  We spent about an hour marveling at the fabulous views of fish and coral.

After a quick snack we exited the aquarium and after a short walk discovered a shop that sold drinks and such right on a rocky beach. We dawdled there another couple of hours and everyone except me headed into the waters of the Red Sea. I did get my feet wet, but that’s about all I could stand.

From there a quick cab ride got us back to the hostel (I love traveling with four because that’s the point where the taxi is the same or even less fare than the bus). We dined at a Brazilian restaurant that featured unlimited portions of a variety of mostly kosher meats. The deserts that followed probably violated the spirit of the Law. But we’re on vacation in Eilat, after all.

Monday 1/11/10

We retraced our steps to the aquarium and viewed a few exhibits we had not seen yesterday, then it was “all aboard” for our one boat ride of this trip–the “glass bottom” boat view of the coral reef. Actually it wasn’t so much glass bottom as portholes-below-sea-level, but it was fun. Our guide Anat was young, serious and reasonably knowledgeable. She told us afterward that she acquired her knowledge “on the job”–but Karl was impressed enough to quiz her about the nature of what is killing the coral in some detail. Actually so much detail that the boat was in the process of casting off for the next group before we could get off. Terri and Sho were mildly annoyed at the “boys”–they thought we had got Anat in some trouble with management but I’m pretty sure everything was fine.

From there back to our favorite beach/lunch spot. Sho And Terri went for a brief snorkling session, Karl went out for about an hour. We had a nice lunch of hummus and Israeli style pizza. The hummus was served with zhug, my favorite salsa.

Then it was time for me to get in the Red Sea. I desperately wanted somewhere where I didn’t have to worry about my feet, so we agreed to go over to the public (sand) beach. When we arrived, on closer inspection there was broken glass everywhere, so I was sorry I had not gone in where they did. But getting in seemed mandatory so I slowly made my way across the sand in my new Crocs and then slowly entered the chilly Red Sea. Once I was all the way in, it was clearly not cold–just seemed that way due to the difference between the air and water temperature. Finally acclimated, I took a nice little swim that probably didn’t amount to more than a swimming pool length, but there I was.

That evening we set out for a restaurant called Eddie’s Hideaway, and hidden it was. First of all, we left early so we took a stroll through the hotel district not realizing that this would put us on the wrong side of Eilat’s airport. We briefly contemplated climbing the barb wire fence to cross the airfield, but the thought of being shot by snipers alleviated that notion. So we backtracked much of the length of the airport to get around the other side.

From there we climbed a steep hill past the Central Bus Station. Terri had done a great job of steering us towards the street (“HaAlmogim”). Even better, she realized at exactly the right moment we were lost and I entered a hotel to ask the clerk where the restaurant was. It turned out that Almogim Street makes a left turn. We had only passed the turn by a few steps and soon enough we were at the location described by the clerk–a little square with Eddie’s located at the end of the alley.

Eddies is outfitted nicely with a quaint bar and many tables covered with white linen. After drinks (I overindulged on two shots of Jameson) our dinners arrived. I had the pasta carbonera (yes, it was authentic, after all we were in Eilat). Karl had the meat lasagna, and Terri had the Denis fish, a whole fish served but without the head in deference to my silly sensibilities. At the moment I can’t recall what Shoshana ate. We split a wonderful apple concoction for desert. And then it was time to venture home. At least it was downhill!

First of all, I need to backtrack to the last trip to Jerusalem (mostly because Terri insists I need to talk about this). On our way to Jerusalem on 12/31 there was some sort of road problem and our driver diverted us to Modi’in. Modi’in itself was not particularly interesting but the route we took followed the now famous or infamous (depending on your perspective) wall of separation between Israel and Palestine. The portion we could see was roughly divided in two. A lower half that was variously fence, tile or concrete but everywhere topped with barbed wire.

The sense it provoked in me was one of profound sadness that the political situation could not be better resolved. I do not intend any criticism of the wall here–since I and my family are not in daily, imminent danger I don’t think it right to intrude my views on the people who are in such danger. I will admit that my feelings are that however necessary the wall may be, Israel should have some obligation to ease the effects on the Palestinians. I feel that it is in Israel’s best interests to avoid the sowing of hatred in new generations of Palestinians. But it’s hard to argue with the fact that since the wall has been created, the violence against Israelis (and that means non-Jewish as well as Jewish Israelis) has been greatly reduced.

So today it was back to Jerusalem. We had hoped to walk the ramp up to the top of the Temple Mount, but despite arriving at the entrance an hour before the listed closing, we discovered that it had just closed. We were told to come back at 12:30. So we backtracked through the Jewish Quarter to our first museum stop of the day, Migdal David (the Tower of David). As is commonplace with Jerusalem sites, Migdal David has absolutely nothing to do with King David. Its actually a medieval structure. But there is a larger enclosure which is usually referred to as the Citadel which has a fascinating history and archaeology and which has been adopted as the primary municipal museum of the history of Jerusalem.

We entered the Citadel and followed a combination track for history and archaeology. When you climb to the top of the Citadel you can see beautiful vistas of Jerusalem and its topographical highlights (more when I can upload photos). Many of the restored rooms of the structure have been converted to exhibit halls. Each major period of Jerusalem’s history is given its own room. In the middle of the enclosure are the archaeological dig(s) which have uncovered buildings and artifacts as early as Hasmonean times, a few Herodian structures (perhaps the Phasael, one of three towers named for Herod’s intimates, in this case his brother). and then a series of medieval and Ottoman period layers.

We stopped for lunch in the new mall outside the Jaffa Gate (food was OK, but we would have been better off in a family owned restaurant in the city). From there we took a cab to the Israel museum. Our driver was an Arab from East Jerusalem who claimed to have been born in the Old City of Jerusalem, and who was fervently pro-Israeli. His basic comment on politics is that Arafat screwed everything up. Anyway, he cheerfully took us to Givat Ram.

The Israel Museum is the Smithsonian of Israel and almost as vast in scale. Unfortunately for us, the museum is undergoing a major renovation and most of it is unavailable until July 2010. There were three major exhibits open: the model of Jerusalem in the era of Herod, the Shrine of the Book, and the Rose Sculpture Garden. The model was originally part of the grounds of the Holy Land Hotel and was moved to the museum in 2006. I had visited the model back in 1977 with my friend David Halperin and I probably would never have seen it without his urging. At the time that I visited the discovery had recently been made that Robinson’s Arch led not to a bridge across the valley, but rather to a monumental staircase down to the floor of the valley. The crew had just finished replacing the bridge with a staircase. I was a little surprised to see that the southern wall contained only double gates rather than a triple gate, but perhaps I am not remembering that part of the story well enough.

The Shrine of the Book is as awesome now as when I first viewed it. It’s still a little strange to realize that the centerpiece exhibit, the Dead Sea Scroll version of the full text of Isaiah, is just a facsimile. There are two security guards stationed to guard the fake which is clearly labeled a fake. But at least we know that the original exists and is stored for safekeeping in a highly protected vault of the museum. Most of the other scrolls are the originals, and I could just wish for better lighting in the facility so that one might attempt to read them.

Aside from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Shrine of the Book is hosting a lovely exhibit of the Aleppo Codex, and it is the original that’s on display. The Aleppo Codex was one of the few reasonably complete Hebrew manuscripts of the Bible, but it is no longer complete. It was as recently as 1948, but it barely survived riots that broke out in Syria related to Israel’s struggle for independence. Most of the Torah is gone, some material at the end of the Bible and a few pages in the middle. Occasionally a page or a fragment turns up, so perhaps some day more of it will be restored. The Aleppo Codex is likely the version that Maimonides used for his “model Torah scroll” so it is possible that all modern Torah scrolls are based on the Aleppo.

From the Israel Museum we found a bus to downtown Jerusalem and then walked to the King George/Ben Yehuda mall where we tried the dairy side of the Rimon Cafe. I didn’t think they did as well on the dairy side as our prior meat based meal, but the food was plentiful and reasonably priced. From there we made the quick trip to Rav Kook Street and took the sheirut back to Tel Aviv.

Back in Tel Aviv, Terri insisted on a shopping trip which resulted in both of us buying Na’ot shoes. A two mile walk home allowed us to reach the total of just shy of 12 miles on the day. And a good day it was!

Tomorrow, Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee.

Today we returned to the Israel train system for another ride up north, this time past Haifa. Three stations north of Haifa is the modern city of Akko. Although there are many taxis, buses and sheiruts happy to transport people from the train station, Terri and I opted for the walk (turned out to be about a mile and a half) to the ancient walled city of Akko.

A short walk from the “Land Gate” through which we entered and we were in a small but lovely compound set up for visitors. We purchased a “combo pass” that would allow us to visit several of the area’s attractions. The most spectacular of these is an underground complex that was originally built by the Crusaders. Akko was the most successful of the Crusader locations and was controlled by Christians for about 200 years. Unfortunately for their reputation, they were known for having massacred the local Jewish and Muslim population, but the Mamelukes returned the favor and slaughtered most of them in the mid-thirteenth century.

There were two Crusader groups running most of the city–the Knights Hospitaler and the Knights Templar. The Hospitalers were responsible for housing Christian visitors to the Holy Land while the Templars were responsible for their defense. Much of the Citadel belongs to the Hospitalers, but just down the road you can find a 200 meter (more than 600 yards) tunnel that was created by the Templars. The tunnel presumably allowed the defenders to make their way quickly and secretly from the coastal beach to the interior of the city.

Another nice exhibit shows a typical Turkish bath of the 18th and 19th centuries. The accompanying commentary and film is on the hoaky side, but provides enough information to be worth a grimace or three.

We made a quick side trip to the synagogue of the Ramhal–a rabbi who was tossed and turned and even thrown out of Safed for being too mystical. Given Safed’s reputation for attracting wacky people, that must have taken quite a bit of effort! But the synagogue has real charm and the docent was pleased to demonstrate how the Ramhal wrote his own Torah scroll. Definitely worth the short walk to see.

After all this we were famished and Terri basically demanded that we sit at the first place that looked remotely acceptable. This was just outside the Citadel write next to a beautiful mosque. We ordered typical Arab/Israeli items (felafel, hummus with showarma, salads) but accompanied by diet Colas. Instead of a felafel sandwich, they provided a plate with about 15 felafel balls, each was a fine toasted brown on the outside and soft and flavorful on the inside. The hummus was rich and creamy and the showarma smokey and nicely spiced. The quality was absolutely top notch and the price turned out to be extremely reasonable==about $16 for both of us. I wish I had remembered to write down the name of the place, but alas, I didn’t.

After lunch, Terri was gung ho to see even more. Akko offers a site sacred to the Bahai which includes one of their marvelous gardens and there is also a famous mosque. But we had to be back in Tel Aviv to make an appointment with the telephone delivery person (again). The truth is that I was tired–we had already walked almost 8 miles. So we decided to leave the other sites of Akko for another trip and we headed for the train station for the 90 minute return to our Tel Aviv apartment.

A quiet day for us. Our original plans were for another try at Yaffo, but we wound up waiting for Israel Phones to deliver a new cell phone to us as our first phone no longer can produce a ring. After about four hours a messenger showed up with the new phone. I suggested to Terri that she test the phone. Sure enough, the new phone was actually worse than the old one. The old one wouldn’t ring, but the new one didn’t work at all. So we sent the messenger away with the new phone and a new round of complaining to the phone company ensued. Purportedly we will receive yet another phone on Sunday and they will arrange for us to be the last delivery so we can be out and about on the day without wasting the whole day waiting.

While Terri awaited the phone, I took a stroll down ibn G’virol and decided to take a haircut (as they say in New York). My first try was at “Figaro” where the proprietor informed me in exaggerated motions I would have to wait for “hours” since he was booked up. So I continued down the street where I found “Robert” (French pronunciation) who looked a bit like Sully (Joe Lando) in Dr Quinn Medicine Woman (don’t ask me how I know this). I told Robert to take off 2 centimeters but perhaps I said something wrong as he left me with 2 centimeters instead. Israeli barbers still use a razor to clean the neck and although it will be a little difficult for my family to get used to me with this little hair, I wasn’t at all disappointed with the experience.

After the phone kerfufle we did something we haven’t had much time for–taking naps.

After much needed rest we headed for our Conservative shtibl on Bograshov St (Congregation Sinai). Services were very pleasant and we already feel like we belong there. We decided to honor the spirit of the day and make up for lost steps by walking the 2.5 miles back to our apartment. Despite the telephone kerfufle, it was a very nice day!

We solved a long standing mystery today. Since our arrival, all of the food we cooked had a distinct lemony flavor. Among the theories we had to explain this was that the olive oil contained lemon (no), and that some or all of our pans were impregnated with lemon or lemon oil. There was much smelling of the pots and pans with no conclusions. There was much scrubbing with soap of all our plates and pots and pans, but the lemon flavor persisted. We began to dislike the flavor of lemon. Terri proclaimed that the lady of the house (from whom we rent) must put lemon in everything.

Tonight our third Shabbat in Israel began and we sat down for a delicious dinner–just Terri and me as Ephy is back in Arad and Shoshana has not yet arrived. Terri made our now customary Shabbat dinner–“schnitzel” chicken (which is basically a chicken breast pounded flat), rice, peas and a sauce of tomatoes, olive oil, onions, mushrooms and other yummy veggies. I made a fresh green salad and we had a nice challah as well. I didn’t notice much of a lemon flavor, but Terri said that her peas tasted strongly of lemon.

Terri had arranged the spice containers we had available on the table. There was black pepper, crushed red pepper and salt. All but the salt were labeled clearly in English, but the salt had only a Hebrew label. I said to Terri, “Have you been using the this salt for cooking our food?” “Of course,” she replied. I pointed out to her the the Hebrew label on the bottle said “melah limon” which means “lemon salt.”

We stayed at the Inbar Hotel for our trip to Arad and the Dead Sea and it had its fair share of peculiarities. The hotel room itself was just fine–comfortable bed, nice bathroom, plenty of hot water. There was actually a bathtub, but the hotel thoughtfully leaves out the stopper so that one can’t actually take a bath. Actually this seems to be an Israeli custom. Our sink in our apartment also has no stopper which makes it inconvenient to shave (in the case of the bathroom sink) and inconvenient to wash dishes (in the case of the kitchen sink). This seems paradoxical to me since using a stopper for these activities allows for the use of much less water. But I digress–back to Inbar Arad.

The most peculiar aspect of the Hotel Inbar is that it styles itself “Inbar Internet Arad” . But there is no access to the Internet from any of the rooms and guests have to purchase Internet access at additional cost (which can only be accessed from the lobby and dining room). There is a computer terminal in the lobby, but if you need something printed, the only way is to email the person at the front desk who may be able to download it to the hotel printer.

Breakfast at the Inbar is the usually expected (and much anticipated) feast. To the left are the hot dishes–Shakshouka, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs (oddly named “hard cooked”), strudel and french toast. Nearby, hot cereal with a variety of toppings (ground cinnamon, etc). Then come the cheeses–about 10 varieties. In the middle, a variety of fish dishes, fruit compotes and cold cereals. On the right, about 20 kinds of salads. The only drawback was that the staff couldn’t seem to keep the hot dishes hot. But I doubt anyone left hungry. I discovered that I could make a delicious breakfast sandwich by splitting a roll and filing it with scrambled eggs, shakshouka sauce, yellow cheese and Israeli salsa (chopped tomatoes, onions and cucumber in a light vinagrette).

When you get a key to this hotel (and I suspect its generally true), in addition to the key there is a large white plate (about the size of a credit card). This must be inserted into a slot near the door in order to turn on the electricity in the room. I guess that prevents guests from abusing the lights. I think someone told me it was primarily designed to prevent the use of the air conditioner when guests are not in the room.

For reasons I didn’t understand, there is a lovely pool which is open only in the morning when most guests would be wanting to tour.

If this sounds “bitchy” its not intended to be so. We enjoyed our stay in the Inbar and would gladly stay there again.

Another minor travel snafu–no trains to Beer Sheva!

As it turned out, there were buses to Beer Sheva right outside the train station, so we actually arrived in Arad on schedule.

There isn’t much to do here in the off season. Hard to find transportation or organized tours. The hotel seems nice enough, but the staff are pretty clueless as is our experience in the rest of the country.

Ephy tried to take us to the site of my Arad school (thirty five years ago), but he confused WUJS with the Jewish Agency, so it was a nice walk to nowhere.

There is a “Visitors Center.” When we got there we found it closed for the afternoon siesta. Eventually we got in and discovered that it was mostly a sales shop for Dead Sea products. Arad is now where many of these products are manufactured. Although the first person I encountered was of no assistance, we were eventually introduced to a woman who was knowledgeable and helpful! She even knew where the old WUJS Institute was located, so I still plan to see the site of my youthful wanderings.

Siesta sounded like a good idea, so I am writing this after a nice nap.

Tomorrow we hope to find our way to Masada.