Has anyone spent much time in Israel even as a tourist? What was it like? Their culture and people? I traveled some and heard from others regarding just about everywhere excluding Israel. Israel population ~10M and about the size of NJ. Gdp per capita is roughly $55k.
Far from comprehensive, but strongly recommend - have been listening for years. Entertaining when circumstances suggest entertainment is appropriate An inside view of how Israel can warm your heart and make your blood boil. It’s a show by three folks who live in and love Israel even though it drives them crazy, and who each week discuss the latest in Israeli politics, culture and society. The Promised Podcast - TLV1 Podcasts
Amazing place. Tel Aviv is a great largely secular city. Beautiful coastline and very large tourist area. Wonderful places to dine— a huge cafe lifestyle. And lots of young people. In contrast, Jerusalem is largely a deeply religious City as you might imagine. The south is largely desert. Eilat is another tourist coastline city. The north is mountainous and beautiful. Safed is a city at the top of a mountain which is deeply spiritual and home to artiists, religious people. Of course, Incredible historic sites too. Everywhere you go. People will Go to protests about some issue and when they leave, give their flags to the other side of the political issue.
I was there almost 30 years ago. I really liked the people, very homely. It's quite the experience as religion is just dominant over there, from a cultural and a religious perspective. Coincidentally shit hit the fan there about 6 weeks after I visited. And as @duchen said the historical sites are amazing. Whereas the oldest stuff in the US is like 400 years old, everything there is thousands of years old. Mind blowing and worth a visit if you can.
Yes, but it was over 35 years ago. My ship ported in Haifa for a week. I had the opportunity to take a trip to Jerusalem with about a dozen other sailors and then we spent the evening in Tel Aviv. It was a great trip but I can't claim to remember all that much about Israelis per se. I recall seeing a lot of armed IDF around and the next day, others on my ship couldn't make a similar trip since there were security concerns that arose in Jerusalem.
Just like here, I imagine I would enjoy those of a more secular bent than the religious folk if I visited.
Went there in the late 70s...what struck me as different was the process of flying there...airplane separate from everything else, interviewing passengers as part of the check in process. Could never take that route again...it was from Tehran to Tel Aviv on El Al. The country was beautiful. Everyone was friendly.
Strong emotional listen relevant to the thread title The “Cities of Slaughter” Edition - The Promised Podcast
I've been there twice, but both visits were in the early 80's so things have likely changed. The first time I was a delegate to an Aglow International Christian women's convention in Jerusalem in 1981. Spent 5 of the 10 days I was there touring on a bus with other delegates. We went to all the usual sights tourists visit, from Safed to Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered, and the Essenes lived. The large bus was mostly filled with women and a few husbands who had accompanied their wives. We stopped at a gas / convenient store somewhere in the desert on the way back to Jerusalem and there was a Bedouin with a camel in the parking lot telling tourists he would allow them to sit on his camel to have someone take their picture for "only one dollah." That was a phrase heard everywhere we went. Want a Coca Cola? "Only one dolla." Want a carved olive wood trinket? "only one dollah." One lady in our tour who took him up on the offer was a lovely voluptuous blonde. She was unaccompanied by her husband and apparently made quite an impression on the camel driver. As we were reloading our bus for the last leg back to our Jerusalem Hotel the Bedouin approached the driver of the bus and engaged him in conversation. Don't know what it was. It was not English. After we were all boarded the Israeli driver came back aboard with a big grin on his face. He told us the camel driving Bedouin had made him an offer for the blonde. He assumed the driver 'owned ' all the women on the bus and was therefore the person to approach with the offer. He said he turned it down of course, but thought we would be amused to know. The blonde then asked how much he offered for her. The driver said it was a generous offer of 2 camels and several goats, giving us all a hearty laugh. At the time I went it was permissible to visit Hebron, which has been a hot spot, but there were checkpoints the bus was required to stop for soldiers to look through papers and have a look at the passengers. Security is tight wherever you go. We went to an ancient structure built by the crusaders over the caves that traditionally contain the graves of the patriarchs and matriarchs, Abraham and Sara, and their son and wife, and their childen. The Muslims gained control and converted the structure into a mosque. Posession has changed hands through the centuries but is now - or was in the 80's - back inside Israel. There was a strict schedule for who can visit and when. Part of the day or week the Palestinians held services there. The remainder of the time it was available for Jewish services. Christians could enter the structure most anytime. We were there during the time it was accessible for Muslims who were bent over on their prayer rugs facing the tomb of Abraham. The place was guarded by IDF soldiers with guns -uzi's? - who stood off to the side. I took the liberty of aiming my camera at one particular handsome young soldier and took his picture when he was looking another direction. Someone told him and he immediately charged over to me demanding my camera. He spoke excellent English so I was able to speak with him and refused his request. He was insistent and reached for it. I held onto it as it had film of other places we had been that day and I did not want to lose those photos. I started to cry I was so upset and he relented and I still have those pictures. Trucker and I returned for a visit in 1984 and not much had changed. We rented a car and explored on our own for almost a week before we took a bus tour for another week. Advantages to both. Picked up a hitchhiking IDF soldier in the desert outside Jerusalem who spoke limited English but was able to direct us to the bus terminal so he could catch a bus to go to Tel Aviv. Interesting time. We were on our way back to the city after visiting Solomon's Pools. Fascinating reservoirs hewn from bedrock they were built during the 2nd temple period, providing water for Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Herodium. The longest is over 500 feet long and they range in depth from around 25 feet to more than 50. The day we were there they were also filled with various levels of water and dozens of Palestinian kids jumping in and swimming. While we had our rented car we drove down to Hebron to see the Machpelah shrine as it was pemissible, though there were checkpoints at the time. When we arrived the shrine was closed but would open in an hour or so. While we stood on the sidewalk talking about what we should do for an hour a man came out of souvenir shop behind us. In near perfect English he graciously invited us into his shop to have a cup of coffee while we waited. There was no pressure, only an invitation. We entered the shop and were directed to a small table with several chairs. He asked our preference in coffee and I admitted I did not like or drink coffe, but thank you anyway. He asked what I did drink and I said I drank Coca Cola occasionally. Trucker was served coffee in a demitasse cup. He later said it was strong. Our host spoke quietly to his grandson who had served Trucker his coffee, and the boy 12 or so left the shop immediately. He returned less than 5 minutes later with a bottled Coca Cola. We had a pleasant conversation, part of the time speaking about the tensions and how it made life difficult for people on both sides who only wanted to live peacefully in a spirit of cooperation. The hour passed quickly and we actually visited for about 90 minutes before we left his pleasant company carrying a few souvenirs we purchased. Sabbath in Jerusalem is an unforgettable experience. The city closes down. All its industrial activity ceases and the city is imbued with a quiet peace. Trucker and I walked several blocks to a Baptist church that had its weekly service on Saturday mornings. We loved visiting Israel, I would go again in the blink of an eye if it were physically possible for me.
