It has been on our mind to go to Israel but we kept on postponing for various reasons.

The fact that we went this year March, is just another proof that 2020 is the strangest year ever.

It’s full of unexpected events.

We can always wait for a better moment but in another way things are just happening at a certain time in a certain way, for a reason.

We had the feeling all the way through this trip.

We flew from Budapest to Eilat by Wizzair and this time everything went well. We had a hired car waiting for us at the airport from Sixth car rental. We took photos of the car as it was not totally spotless, just to stay on the safe side. I take photos of everything everywhere these days. I mean: road toll receipts, accommodation receipts, sometimes even restaurant receipts.

You never know which one can serve as an evidence one day.

So there we were in Israel in 30 degrees at 18:00 and off we drove to our first accommodation which was Club Hotel Eilat.

It is a rather affordable but still stylish hotel with small apartments.

It has a pool but if you go there off season you should know that it closes at 16:00.

I didn’t get to use it but the family said it was awesome.

We got a free giant welcome pizza from the hotel so we had that for dinner and after a short walk on the nearest beach we went to bed.

The next day we started early at Coral Beach which turned out to be a good idea as later it got a bit crowded -and this was March!!!- I can’t imagine the amount of people in summer.

This coral reef is utterly stunning. I have never seen anything like this before. I regret not booking a diving session, will surely do that next time.

You can easily spend a full day here except for off season when they also close at 16:00.

In the evening we went to see Eilat Promenade which was totally worth it.

The second day we went to see the dolphins at Dolphin Reef. We wanted to book a diving session here but they cancelled it due to heavy winds and waves.

The place itself is pure awesomeness and the dolphins are just too cute.

We were sad to leave this fun spot behind but had to head towards the Dead Sea area with our tiny hired car through the endless desert roads.

We made a quick stop at the Red Canyon. We chose the short version of the track which was only something like 2kms so maybe 30 minutes or so.

We took some nice photos and we were marveling at the pink and red rocks of the canyon in the sunset.

Neve Zohar: Hmm if I had to describe it in one sentence I would write: The cheapest spot of the Dead Sea. Well, at least on the Israeli side. I don’t know much about the other side so cannot compare.

This accommodation was probably not the best decision as we paid a relatively high price for a simple one night stay. A hotel at Ein Bokek would have been a better choice because it would have been only a little bit more expensive but a lot more comfortable than what we have chosen.

Never mind, it happens.

The fourth day we started our day at Ein Bokek and swam a bit in the Dead Sea. Never had an experience like this before. Can not compare it to anything.

One thing can be uncomfortable though, if you have bruises or cuts, it hurts like crazy because of the high amount of salt.

We drove on towards Jerusalem along the Dead Sea which was a pretty road all the way.

Not knowing much about Bethlehem we wanted to see the place where they say Jesus was born.

We were quite surprised to find out that it is a Palestinian territory and there are gates to enter the area with signs of warnings.

In my I had a picture of Bethlehem with fields and tiny little houses.

Then suddenly we found ourselves at the middle of the market on this extremely narrow street. The car in front of us just bought strawberries through the window. So it was like a Market Drive through 🤣

Anyway, we got to see the Church of Nativity but that was it about Bethlehem. After several unsuccessful attempts on finding a parking spot we left to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem: wow what a busy, versatile city.

We went for a walk in the evening of Shabbat, entered the old Jewish quarter through Sion gate and walked down to the Western wall to see and hear the evening prayer. Indescribable experience. This place is truly special.

The fourth day in the morning we went to Machane Yehuda Market. So many spices, cookies, tasty looking yummieness 😋

I don’t think we have ever eaten this much hummus in our lives. But almost all of them were delicious.

After checking the View from the Mount of Olives we went to see the old Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem in daylight as well. It turned out that it was the first day of Purim. Many kids were dressed in costumes, they were adorable.

We did not have enough time to explore the old underground Bazaar but had a glimpse of it so we were happy with that and left to Tel-Aviv.

It was not easy to find our accommodation there, because the description was not clear enough. The building was totally rundown but we have learnt that in Israel it is normal so we were happy that the apartment was ok.

We went to have dinner downtown and we wanted to see the sunset from the restaurant but the sun went down by the time we got to the restaurant and it turned out the restaurant was rather touristic. Not too bad or overpriced just extremely busy. They bring the small tapas like dishes, hummus, carrot salad and other tiny dishes with naan or chapati type of bread right away, when you sit down. If you don’t touch these dishes you can order another one. They bring a nice fresh lemonade that serves about 4 people. So all in all it is a fine place if you are fine with the local food but you don’t want to sit into any of the tiny local places because you would like to have a fancy view.

We went to have coffee with our friend the last day in downtown Tel-Aviv and we spent the rest of the day at the beach. We did SUP just before sunset so it was a perfect day to say goodbye to wonderful Israel.

We hope to return soon 💙