Israeli Initiation: What To Eat, Do & Wear

Welcome to Israel. Holy Land. Fought over land mass. Jewish majority state. Home to my in-laws and a few friends. We are glad to be back. 

Accommodation 

Josh and I had been to Israel in 2007. We stayed with his parents and drove with his parents for 2 weeks. Now we were back… with kids. Dynamics had changed in all situations. Josh’s mum had found us a great apartment above an art gallery, not to far from where they were about 20 minutes outside of Haifa, for 3,000 NIS a month (AUS$904). It was a bargain.

It had one bedroom, one bathroom and two single beds set up in the living area. There was a bar fridge. We also had use of an upstairs apartment with a fridge, dining room and cooker. The only thing was this was out of our actual house, past other apartments to get to. Not my favourite thing to do when the kids want to eat first thing in the morning.

A week later a friend of Josh’s parents were vacationing and offered us their house for 1000NIS (AUS$300) a month in the same village as his parents. We decided to stay one month in the apartment out of goodwill and then move to the house for the second month. This house was two storey with 5 bedrooms, a kitchen, several bathrooms, laundry and more. Much better suited for a family and getting kids breakfast without the need for everyone to get dressed. :)

The amazing thing about both of the villages we stayed in was that they were Druze villages. The Druze are an offshoot of the Islam religion. They form an minority of more than 100,000, mostly residing in the north of the country. They are Arabic-speaking citizens of Israel, who are drafted into mandatory service in the Israel Defense Forces, in which the same process goes for the majority of citizens in Israel. The Druze are considered to be a social group as well as a religious sect, but not a distinct ethnic group. The Druze faith is said to abide by Islamic principles, but they tend to be separatist in their treatment of Druze-hood, and their religion differs from mainstream Islam on a number of fundamental points.

In our dealing with the Druze they were kind hearted and very generous. Visiting their houses they always wanted to feed us or give us a drink. Visiting their restaurants we were always welcomed. My favourite greeting in Israel always went like this:

"Where are you from?"

"Australia."

"Ahhh you are welcome. Welcome."

You can check out all the photos of the numerous places we stayed in Israel in our photo journal.

Getting around

We decided a few days in we would need a car being in a village. Hiring a car in Israel has been the most expensive place we have found, unless you’re American. Unfortunately we are not. And while we were searching in the US once we got to the booking stage and changed country of residence (if that is still even accurate) the price nearly quadrupled.

Anyway we ended up researching a number of days while in Israel and finally found a company that didn’t care what country you came from and got a car for the month for just over $800!

There are many buses and trains that get around, however do be aware that they do not run on Shabbat (Saturday).

We saw a lot of Israel through tour buses, which seems one of the fastest and easiest ways to get around. 

Shopping

The cost of living is substantially higher here then any other country we had visited so far. Grocery shopping was not cheap; neither were clothes or eating out.

To budget any reasonable amount of money we moved to the Israeli staples of hummus and pita bread. Whatever money we thought we had saved on accommodation, food sure made up for it.

Christian Churches

There are lots of Christian Churches in this Jewish majority. We attended a few around the country. In particular we were very excited to be invited to a Russian Jewish wedding where we witnessed this crazy dancing. What a culture!

What to wear

Many religious sites in Israel require covered knees and covered shoulders for women.  However the rest of Israel is very liberal and there is no condemnation if you like to show off your tanned shoulders. I never felt out of place in shorts and a t-shirt, but carried my sarong at all time just incase we spotted a church or religious site we wanted to check out. 

What to do

Or first 5 days in Israel we were happy to stay home and try to get over the jet lag. We spent time with family and caught up on work.

By Thursday, however, we were on the move. There is so much to do in Israel and we had several tours organized to try and see the most we could.

Our last tour in Israel with Josh’s parents was completely different to this time. Not only were we pre-kids, we were travelling with an older, more reverent guide. Touring by ourselves we were able to get out to a lot of places a native Israeli could not go and also experience things older people could not. Both have their advantages and we were blessed to have older guides, as well as younger ones.

You can read all about our tour of Israel in the following posts, get ready to witness a barren land filled with wonder.

What you need to know about the Sabbath

Jewish Shabbat is a weekly day of rest, observed from sundown on Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. In Israel this means most things shut down Friday night and all day Saturday. The only things open are in the Arab community, which can be harder to find.

Be aware of this and do your shopping or research beforehand. We got stuck a few times with nowhere to eat on a Saturday, because everywhere was seemingly closed. The Muslim Quarter in the Old City is open, but very busy (just like Saturday shopping back in Perth).

What you need to know about Kosher

Many places in Israel the food is kosher. Kosher foods are those that conform to Jewish regulations, such as not mixing meat and dairy and rules involving the preparation of food.

You won’t find cheese on your burgers at McDonalds and if you want a shake or ice cream you are going to have to head to a different cashier at a separate roped-off counter. Strict kosher families do not even use the same utensils, plates, bowls or cooking products for preparing meat and dairy either. At the Holocaust Museum the food court was split in two with a red velvet rope to keep the meat eaters and the dairy eaters separate.

Non-kosher restaurants can only be established when the owner of the building does not observe kosher. A fabulous example of this is the Focaccia Bar in Jerusalem. It is one of the most popular restaurants in town, because it is one of the few offering a non-kosher menu, although pork is still noticeably absent.

No idea what Israeli food is? Check out our food photo journal.

---

A visitor who hasn’t done their research can feel a bit unsteadied by these rules when they are unfamiliar. So just ensure you know what to expect and plan ahead, and you’ll have no problems at all when visiting Israel.

Could Hostels Really be for Families?

We have never stayed in a hostel. Not in my time travelling as a solo. Not in my time travelling as a couple. And never with kids. In my mind hostels are roaches and thin mattresses, drunken people making too much noise and shady characters stealing your valuables.

Abraham Hostel sure showed me I was wrong.

When we were invited by Tourist Israel to Jerusalem and given quarters at Abraham Hostels I was nervous. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Abraham blew my expectations out of the water.

Located on the main street in Jerusalem (Jaffa St), directly in front of a tram stop, in a nondescript building is Abraham Hostel, named after the very first backpacker (and founder of the Jewish, Islamic and Christian faiths) – Abraham. The entrance to the building is pram/wheelchair accessible with a ramp as well as stairs. The door has a buzzer for secure entry.

Inside the door the lobby is usually filled with some backpackers. Perhaps a bohemian dreadlocked guy with bare feet and a backpack, or a well-dressed blonde with a suitcase. Any kind and any type.

Reception was quick and easy with a map handed out, towels and sheets, the room key and a point in the right direction. We boarded the lift to the second floor and down a hallway filled with brightly coloured quotes to our room at 216.

It looked cleaner then I expected. No roaches, clean floors, clean beds, 2 bunks, a shower and sink on one side of the room and a toilet and sink on the other.

We made the beds, put away our towels and decided to look around.

Up one level on the roof was a chill out area with lovely city views.

Down one level, on level 1 was the dining hall (or mess hall) and chill out area, a communal zone if you will. It had a bunk to lounge on, beanbags, and people playing pool or foosball. It also featured a dining area, a piano, a bar, even a movie room and guest kitchen.

Breakfast was served here every morning and ranged from cereal & toast to traditional feta and salads. There was usually a bowl of in-season fruit too. All that guests were required to do was wash their plates and cutlery before leaving.

The kitchen was an open space for people to use and cook with, as they will, if one wanted to cook something else like eggs or French toast.

When people wern’t eating breakfast in this room, they were lounging around, talking together. They were singing at the piano or drinking at the bar.  We met so many great people every morning for breakfast, by far an advantage over a regular hotel. I have never experienced the same level of interaction with people as I did each morning in that communal dining area.

Not only for breakfasts, but other meal times. On Friday night we attended a communal Shabbat. Having done Shabbat dinner in New York with our family we were excited to share it with all others. There must have been over 60 people sharing the meal. The staff and volunteers (of which you can choose to help) did a wonderful job preparing the meal and for only 35NIS you had an all you can eat Israeli buffet - plenty of hummus and salads, even meatballs. It was a wonderful night, filled with socialization and good food. I can highly recommending doing this as a starting point at the Abraham Hostel (if you arrive on a Friday).

We were blown away. How could no one ever tell us hotels could be this way? Why had we resisted so long? As I hear it we weren’t all wrong. The Abraham is very unique, winning several awards for its good nature and fine accommodations.

The beds were actually very comfortable and I had a wonderful sleep. I barely heard noise in our little 4-person dorm and everyone was so friendly. We met folks from all the nations of the world – even Australia!

If you want to get around the country and see more cool places, there was a convenient tour desk in the lobby area, which helped to arrange a number of different day trips (and multi-day trips) all across Israel. The rates are fairly reasonable, but just ensure you read the brochures to understand what is included in the cost, as some of the sites require additional entry fees to get in.Abraham Tours recently started running a hop-on-hop-off tour bus which does a loop around Israel over a 2 day period. So you’re able to start and get off at a number of stops. This is perfect if you want to see a broad range of great sites fairly quickly or if you’re a more independent traveler and just want to explore each town further and take your time. You'll be able to read our experience in the following posts.

The only downer was the wifi speed, which was a little sporadic at times, but I heard that was going through an overhaul while we were there. And we had a bit of a tough time getting hold of our laptop after accidently leaving it on one of the tour buses. That process could have been better handled by the tour desk staff/volunteers. We got more responsive service from them when dealing in person rather than over the phone.

We stayed a total of 4 nights at Abraham Hostel and I would do it again. If you have kids and have never stayed in a hostel, then it’s worth a try – you may even be pleasantly surprised like us.

The Dead Sea - Kid's Worst Nightmare or Dream Come True? Plus our visit to Herod's Masada Fortress & Ein Gedi's desert oasis

You could see their brains working – tick, tick, tick. The confusion behind my daughter’s bright blue eyes as she considered what we had just said. Were we joking? Did we mean it? Could they really pick up mud and put it all over themselves, play with it, squish it, roll in it? “Go on,” I encourage and, hesitantly and with some suspicion, my daughter took a lump of black Dead Sea mud offered to her and squished it between her palms. “It’s icky squishy mud!” She exclaimed. And I helped her start to cover her entire body in every kid’s dream come true.

Abraham Tours have a wonderful day tour south of Jerusalem. It was a big day starting at 7am. We were collected from our hostel after gulping down the free breakfast that opens every morning from 7am – 10am. The mini bus was small, but had uber comfy seats that reclined quite substantially. 

The tour runs every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and costs 275NIS per person (AUD$83). Leaving Jerusalem, we travelled south through the sun-scorched Judean Desert to the foot of the Masada fortress, which towers over the Dead Sea, about 9am. Bypassing aBedouin taking money for a camel shot. 

Our driver gave us a time to be back on the bus and left us to our own self-guided meander. With limited time, two young kids and the day already heating up fast, we opted to skip the Snake path and utilise the cable car. The cable car was 49NIS ($13.70) per adult and kids under 5 were free. 

You can read a deeper history and description of Masada on Tourist Israel. However in brief: King Herod built the fortress of Masada in the year 30 BCE. His son’s failed to be as successful as he was and it slowly declined. In 68 CE the site was conquered by a group of Jewish zealots. Romans besieged Masada and 2 years later succeeded in reaching the steep fortress after constructing a huge earthen ramp on its western side. After holding out for 2 years the Jewish zealots decided to commit suicide rather than be captured. The remains of the fortress of Masada are well preserved and have been reconstructed in an effort to pay homage to the site and its heroic inhabitants. The most impressive structure on Masada is King Herod’s northern palace, built on three rock terraces overlooking the steep gorge below.

Masada is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and as far as palaces and fortresses go, has to be one of the most breathtaking as it sits high on the rocky plateau over looking the Dead Sea as far as the eye can see. 

The cable car was fairly quick and once at the top it was easy to walk around, reading the little signs at each stop or eavesdropping on the numerous of other tour guides there. We were there quite early so it wasn’t too bad and we wandered freely among the ruins admiring the immensity of it all. Oh I wish I could have seen it when Herod built it. 

It started to get very hot around 10:30am so we made our way back down the cable car, bought ultra expensive ice creams and headed back to our bus, relishing the super cold air-conditioning. 

We continued on to Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, an oasis in the desert. Entrance was 29NIS ($8.70) per adult and kids under 5 were free. The cost would have been worth it if you planned to spend the day and hike to every waterfall. With kids and only an hour to spare, we hiked to the closest one. As far as waterfalls go it is not the biggest or the best and the stream is certainly not deep, but when you see the backdrop and see it for what it is – an oasis in the desert – it’s pretty remarkable. 

The kids enjoyed getting wet after such a hot hike through Herod’s palace. But with little shade in the beautiful oasis it wasn’t long before we packed up and made our way back to the entrance. We sat down for a sandwich and drink before everyone else arrived and we were back on the bus.

Finally we headed to our last destination - the one everyone had been waiting for. The lowest place on Earth. The Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is made up of 33% salt, that’s ten times the normal amount found in the ocean. It is labelled the Dead Sea cause nothing grows in it. Because of it’s salt content you can float in it with ease, read a newspaper, lift your legs and arms high out of the water, anything. Well, almost anything. The tour included entrance to the private beach. There was a gift shop, bar, pool and tables and chairs for use, as well as toilets and showers.

The amazing thing about the Dead Sea is how much it has actually receded over the years. Even from the 7 years prior when we first saw it, it has withdrawn significantly further. Experts believe, unless something is done, within 30 years it will no longer even exist. This would be terrible, but since the water no longer flows from the Sea of Galilee and the droughts have stopped any rivers from the desert there is no way the Sea is being naturally refilled. There is an idea they may be able to transfer water from the Red Sea, but no one is sure of what the repercussions for the Dead Sea will be once mixed with regular sea water.  The whole way down the beach you can spot lifeguard towers. When the water drops, they just erect a newer one closer. There is even a hotel that was built right on the water in the early 1980’s that now operates a shuttle to get to the sea since it is quite a distance from it now. 

As the day was now in extreme heat we headed straight for the water. Before I could even get in my youngest was screaming in pain. You see any small cut, knick with the razor, open wound that you didn’t even know you had, immersed in the salty water starts to sting and she found that out. Thankfully this beach has a fresh water hose right near the seashore for such circumstances. She was not the only one as soon my son was being raced there after rubbing his eyes with his salty hands.

After that the kids decided to stay out of the water. Normally this would have been a problem except someone offered them mud and I encouraged them to play with it. It was like Christmas, Easter & birthdays rolled into one. Mia was hesitant at placing it on her body and needed some coaxing, but soon could not stop playing with it. Better than play-doh, and cheaper too.

Josh and I both had a good soak in the water and then hit the mud too. After our happy snaps and letting it dry, to get the most out of the expensive Dead Sea products you usually buy but we had free access to, we all went to rinse off. We spent some time drying in the sun before heading back to the delicious refrigerated gift shop and straight onto our icy bus.

The kids slept the whole journey home and we had fun chatting and taking to all the new friends we had made on the journey. While the tour is designed for the independent traveller, there is just enough information and hand holding to get you going before you tackle each destination yourself and the guide was always helpful, specially with our Dead Sea snaps.

There are not many tours that encompass these three wonderful destinations into one and if you plan on spending a day at the Dead Sea then don’t miss the opportunity to at least visit Masada as well. It will blow your mind.

This is just a sample of all the awesome photos we took this day. Check out our Photo Journal for the rest. 

And the Doctor said "No Cheeky Monkeys Jumping on the Bed"

We’ve had our share of great luck travelling the world. We made it 3 years and 3 months into my son’s life before his first major accident. We’ve managed to get sultanas out of his nose, tacks out of his throat and dealt with more than our fair share of exploding poo scandals. But this was enough to make my heart break.

We headed to Eilat to visit Petra, Jordan and after a tiring drive through the desert we stopped at our hostel that would be our home for the night. The Avara Hostel was not the nicest hostel we have stayed in, in fact the experience we had there was the toughest in a long time. The lady at the front desk was friendly enough letting us see the room before paying and we found it adequate. Nothing too special, but it had aircon and it’s own bathroom, with a communal kitchen.

The aircon went on immediately as we attempted to de-heat from our long drive. My kids started playing on the bunk bed and shortly after there was a crash and scream. The bunk bed had no rails and as my son attempted to climb down, clutching the mattress for support, the mattress slipped off the shiny wooden base, with nothing holding it in place, and came down on top of him - a drop of 1.8 metres onto a hard floor.

Josh was immediately checking all over his head, searching for any bumps or cuts. But it was evident after a while that he was holding his wrist not his head. We ventured out of our room searching for children’s panadol and some dinner to see if that will calm him down and hopefully help him get to sleep. He slept fitfully, but soon was wide awake and still not moving his hand. He didn’t complain about pain, but he was noticeably unhappy and we felt something was not right.

When we returned, a front desk staff member at the hostel asked Josh to wait while he continued his telephone conversation for another 10 minutes. Finally Josh interrupted and asked him for a doctor. All of a sudden the man was interested in serving and quickly phoned an English-speaking doctor for my husband to talk to. The doctor suspected a fracture and told us to take him to the nearest hospital ER and provided instructions on how to get there.

It was 8:30pm and we loaded our sleepy children into the car and drove to Yoseftal Medical Center, located 5 minutes away. We passed through a security check and entered the ER. There was no signage instructing where we should go, but a friendly man pointed to the other side of the large stark room where most of the people were waiting.

The bored-looking lady behind the counter looked at us, and before asking what the problem was, demanded “you pay now.” She wanted 1100NIS ($335 AUD) and then told us to sit. Two kids in a sterile white room, past their bedtime - it wasn’t pleasant. Big Brother Israel was playing on the flickering TV screen while nearby people sighed, moaned and coughed. It was quite a while before we were called in. A doctor speaking minimal English looked at my son’s arm and took his blood pressure while he screamed continuously, then sent us to the X-Ray department. 

Caius was not in the mood for an x-ray and by now I was crying, as I had to forcefully hold his arm down for the doctor to get a picture of his wrist. After that she told me to return to the first doctor, who then told me to wait in the waiting room again.

Hours passed and it was close to 11pm before I finally requested to be seen again. It was a shorter wait before a second doctor asked us to come in. Again he asked what the problem was and we repeat the whole story and tell him an x-ray has already been done. He sent us to a room at the end of the hall and we waited again before yet another doctor came in, asking me to hold Caius and pulled out a cast. I had to ask him what he was doing for him to explain in broken English he believed there may be a fracture and Caius needs a cast. I asked if we could see the x-ray and he said no, that we couldn’t see anything on it anyway. That seemed highly unlikely.

My 3-year-old hates bandaids on the best of days and when he realised his whole arm was getting a full bandage he started to scream in protest – a blood curdling scream. It was unbelievably hard work to keep Caius still and the doctor was getting messy wet plaster all over Caius’ clothes and arm. Mia started to cry because I was crying and it was just a horrible, tiring emotional experience.

The doctor told us nothing during the process and then left the room while we waited there with our screaming son trying to calm him. Finally he returned half an hour later and said we can leave. I had to ask him for any instructions to look after the cast such as avoiding water, however I had some experience with my daughter’s leg fracture a few years back. Luckily I knew that, because he was not forthcoming with any information, and after several probing questions all he instructed us to do was visit an orthopaedic specialist in a week.

To have to go back to the hostel where that the accident occurred terrified me, but finally after 3 hours we returned back to our room just before midnight. Oh how I wanted to sue, but we decided against it. It was not a restful sleep. Josh took the top bunk to prevent anyone else falling off, I shared the larger bed with my very emotional son and we didn’t sleep well. There was a streak of light falling through a gap in the curtain onto the bed and I tried to move being careful not to squash my son and his newly-cast arm. 

Caius woke all through the night and I pumped him with as much children’s panadol as allowed seeing we had not been prescribed any pain medication at the hospital. There was relief at 4am when Caius no longer wanted me and I swapped beds with my husband and they fell asleep together and I managed to get a few hours on the dreaded bunk.

The next day Caius was tired, but not complaining about any pain. He asked me repeatedly to take off the cast, to which I keep replying that I can’t. The new day seemed to have everyone in better spirits and we headed out to see Eilat.

We spoke to our doctor friend in Boston who believed it might be a fracture but would need to see what the x-ray looks like. Without being able to see it we decide to visit a doctor in Haifa on the 5thday instead of after the week as the original doctor suggested. He instructed us to return to the hospital to pickup a copy of the x-ray on a CD otherwise he would not be able to do anything for us.

It could not come soon enough for me and when we finally saw the Haifa orthopaedic specialist I was beyond relieved. He wanted another 900NIS ($274 AUD) to look at the x-ray and confirmed it was a torus fracture, similar to a compression fracture as Caius landed on his hand during the fall. He reported it was not too serious and by now I was crying again from relief. He cut the cast down below his elbow, saying the whole arm was unnecessary and told us to come back in 10 days after which he could take it off and the wrist would be healed.

Ten days later Caius was using his arm and the fingers easily. The cast fell down continually as the Haifa doctor never replaced the original, which I believe may have been slightly too large to cope with the initial swelling. Caius stopped complaining about any pain 2 or 3 days after the incident and only ever asked for me to take it off when he wanted to go swimming.

It broke my heart when he looked at me and said, “Mummy, you need to take it off now, I need to go swimming.” The few times we tried it was just torture for him trying to keep his arm from being submerged so we avoided all swimming activities in hot Israel.

It was a total of two weeks that Caius had his cast on. When we visited the Ortho he merely pulled the cast off his hand, asked about the pain and sent us on our way after paying another 500NIS ($150AUD).

Total bill - $759.00

Israeli skill - Sufficient.

Israeli care factor - Not much concern showed here.

Travel Insurance worth it - Fully covered by Travel Insurance Direct, with no hassles. Totally worth it. 

 

This post is sponsored by Travel Insurance Direct, Australia's #1 online travel insurance provider. Over 1 million Aussies trust TID when they're on holiday. Request a free online quote now.