Driving Through the Desert in Israel

Hello takealookers! 

Recently I spent a wonderful, but super intense week touring Israel and I had a blast. My journey started in Eilat, Israel's southernmost city located right at the border with Egypt and Jordan. Eilat lies right on the Red Sea which for me at this point is the most beautiful sea I swam in. Even in December temperature was around 27 degrees, water was very warm, it's an ideal location to escape winter if you live in Europe. Now, Read Sea for me was interesting because of it's wild life, it's full of all sorts of colorful creatures swimming around, you don't even need to be a diver to get to enjoy them as you'll find funny looking fish swimming in shallow water, as well. This definitely made sitting on the beach more enjoyable and interesting. Also what's interesting is that sitting on the beach you can see Jordan on the other side and if you just take a 15 min ride you'll easily end up in Egypt. I found this so fun, standing in one spot and being able to see 3 different countries. Anyway, if you like diving or sea creatures then visiting Eilat and spending some time on the Red Sea is definitely a good choice for you.

My trip from Eilat continued driving through the Arabah desert. You'd think that a drive through the desert would be extremely uninteresting, but that's definitely not the case. I promise you, you'll enjoy the amazing scenery, fantastic colors of the sand, date plantations and if you're having a drive in the night you'll be blown away by the stars in the sky shinning so brightly as there's no light pollution. You can literally see all the constellations, I still regret not bringing a blanket and spending more time stare-gazing. For me just seeing this was a fantastic experience. Besides, you can always make a little stop in a kibbutz for some coffee, nice cake, also you can stock up on nice wine, amazing dates and local products.

The real gem of Israel for me was the Dead Sea. Young Israelis find the Dead Sea boring and mostly for the older generation, consider me old, but I had so much fun there. The sea itself as you might well know extremely salty, that extremely salty that your sense of taste doesn't register it as salty, but extremely bitter. Naturally, due to it's consistency it's basically impossible to swim in it, but you can always float around lazily. The salty water is really good for your skin as it's full of salt and oil, so your skin will feel soft and glowy after a nice swim. I felt it has magically rejuvenated my skin after only a 15 minute swim.

Besides it being such a fascinating natural phenomenon the Dead Sea also amazingly beautiful. The salt crystals in it give the sea it's light turquoise color which is contrasting beautifully with the golden sandy beach. Looking from above this looks magical! Also there's always a bit of misty salt in the air which creates a wonderfully mysterious atmosphere through which you can see Jordan on the other side. I just found this to be so exotic and different from anything else I have ever seen and so good for your health. 

Naturally when you visit Israel you cannot not visit Jerusalem the place of so much history and importance to so many religions and cultures. My Israeli host insisted we visit Jerusalem in the evening. I'm not the one for night photography so sadly I don't have pictures from this visit. I must admit the my host was right and Jerusalem at night is magnificent, I still regret not photographing it's beauty. Naturally what left the most impactful impression on me was the wailing wall and it's significance particularly for the Jewish religion. I also enjoyed walking this old city, munching Sufganiyah, jewish Hanukkah jelly donut dessert while discovering the beautiful little corners, seeing all the different cultures at play in one city. Jerusalem is a fascinating place and I will definitely pay a day visit to it in the future.

Finally, as the last stop in todays little trip we're off to the Laturn monastery which charmed me with it's understated beauty and wine and olive oil production. This is naturally a wonderful place to see due to it's spiritual value, but it's also a fantastic place to get some lovely local products such as wine and olive oil. Also, the gardens of the monastery are impeccable and I'm sure this little oasis will charm you. 

Alight takealookers, 

That's where we stop this week. Our Israeli adventure is still not over and it continues next week. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a good one!

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