This is the last part of our trip to Israel. One thing I should mention about our being in Golan Heights is our visit to Golan Heights winery. It seems that there was no physical labor at the place. Everything was computerized! We had a chance to try their wine as well. It was good! So, when we came back, we checked around and found out that the wine is available in US! We have tried YARDEN brand. The other brands are Golan and Gamla. Enjoy!
From Golan Heights, we drove to Tel Aviv with the half a day stop in Haifa. Haifa is a port city. We saw few interesting ships. Apparently, it's also a home to the Baha'i religion. For those of you from Chicago area, you might of heard of Baha'i religion because of the Baha'i temple in Wilmette.
The last few days we've spent in Tel Aviv/Jafa area. We stayed in a very nice hotel. It was the closest hotel to Jafa, so we ended up going there every evening. And this is where I got some desert! It wasn't pure chocolate, it was halva, but they had variety of different flavors, including chocolate, chocolate chips, coffee, etc, you name it!
Market in Tel Aviv was interesting. We arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday and our tour guide suggested that we should visit the local market. So, we did. Unless you want free perishables (mostly fruits and vegetables), you don't want to go to the market on Friday before start of the Shabbat. The vendors were throwing fruits and vegetables and anything that can spoil over the weekend to the ground and washing it off, right in the middle of the walk way. So, we saw that and decided to come back on Monday. Smart decision! On Monday, it was clean and back to normal.
One day we spent on the beach. The beach was great! Water in the Mediterranean Sea was great! Not too cold, not too warm. Felt like we were in Miami!
The flight back was long. We had a 12 hours flight from Tel Aviv to Toronto. It's very strange system for customs and security checks there. We had to pick up our luggage and carry it to the US customs. They just took it and put it on the belt to who knows were. Why did we have to take it? They could have done that automatically.
This was the end. The trip was very emotional, informational, interesting, tiring and relaxing at the same time. We definitely enjoyed it! I would recommend it to everybody. I would also recommend starting the trip in Jerusalem, not in Tel Aviv, like most of the tours do. The reason is that you would start the trip from where it all began. You get a lot of information at the beginning of the trip, not at the end when you are already tired and overloaded with all the information from the trip. I would also recommend the travel company: Gate1. They were very well organized, everything was on time. They even had an ear piece for people so they can better hear the tour guide. So, mention my name or talk to me before making your reservations to the Israel. I am sure I have missed few details in my postings. But I am also sure I will be able to recall few things if you ask me.
I can't wait until our next trip!
Boris D.
Thank you. Was very imformative
ReplyDeleteIt was a really bad idea not to try to sleep on flight to Toronto. I got a lot of knitting done but was really tired and cranky when we landed and then when we got home.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd just like to say that the plane configuration was MUCH better on the Swiss Air flight than Air Canada. On Swiss Air we were sitting right next to each other so it was much easier to annoy you. But on Air Cananda I had to get out of my seat and walk across the isle. Not fun at all. And Air Canada didn't carry around a box of swiss chocolates like Swiss Air did.