Israel 2026

This was our 8th trip to Israel. We planned it quickly and prioritized seeing family and friends over sightseeing, but still visited several of our favorite sites and even some new ones. And I realized that most of the previous trip reports are in my Russian blog, so here I am putting something together in English.

1. Getting there
2. Sailing the Mediterranean
3. Jerusalem, Old City and around
4. Ir David
5. Herodium
6. En Gedi
7. Masada
8. Dead Sea
9. Beit Guvrin
10. En Keshatot
11. Gamla
12. Mt. Bental
13. Haifa

Finally, on the last day, a photo in front of a sabra in Modi'in. I knew, of course, that "sabras" are native-born Israelis and that they are named after a native cactus, but I never realized just how beautiful this cactus looks with its reddish flowers.

Getting there

When traveling to Israel, I strongly prefer to fly El Al. There is a direct flight Boston-Tel Aviv, planes are comfortable, food is good, and - most importantly - it is reassuring. In this day and age, when European or even American companies may suspend flights to and from Israel at any moment because of military uncertainties or political shenanigans, I know that El Al will fly, if at all possible. So I don't mind paying a little extra for the peace of mind.

This time, however, because we were buying tickets just a week in advance, the El Al flight out of Logan for our date was completely booked. (That's only on the way there - probably lots of people wanted to fly to Israel to take part in the elections, happening at the end of the month. On the way back, one week before the elections, we had no trouble getting seats for the direct flight and the plane was nowhere near full.) 

So on the way there, we flew Lufthansa, through Munich. And Lufthansa is one of only two companies that fly the Airbus A380-800 into Logan (the other one being British Airways). It is a monster of a plane! A quadjet double-deck aircraft (which means it has four engines and two passenger floors), with a wingspan of about 80 m (260 ft)...  Here are some photos of it that I took in 2003 over Castle Island.

And now we were flying it from Boston to Munich.

David and Katlyn also flew an A380-800 from Munich the previous year, and now David told me that if I could see the wings during the flight, I was in for a treat - how they would be curved while on the ground and straightening in the air... And as luck would have it, we were seated right above the rear edge of the wing, so I was in a great position to take photos at every stage.

Here we are on the ground.

Take-off was in the dark, so as soon as we moved away from the terminal, I couldn't really see the wing. But once we flew into daylight - here it is!

And now - bending this way and that for landing...

Finally, here is a look at our plane from inside the terminal in Munich. See how it uses a triple jetway? Two jetways connect to the lower deck, and another links directly to the upper-deck door.

> Sailing the Mediterranean

Sailing the Mediterranean

My best friend Alla lives in Kfar Saba. Her husband, Sasha, is an avid sailor and a member of a yacht club. We arrived on Friday and spent our first weekend with them. On Saturday, just like on our previous visit in 2022, they gave us a special gift: rented a boat from their yacht club and we sailed south along the coast towards Tel Aviv.

The photos speak for themselves: the sea, the sun, and great company...

> Jerusalem, Old City and around

Jerusalem, Old City and around

In Israel, weekend is Friday and Saturday. Sunday is the first day of the week (they call it "yom rishon" = "first day") and it's a work day. So on Sunday we left Kfar Saba and moved into a rented apartment in Jerusalem.

My favorite apartment hotel in Jerusalem - Shamai Suites, where I stayed on many previous visits - unfortunately, no longer exists, so I had to look for something else. I wanted something in the same general area - near Jaffa St. and Ben Yehuda, walking distance from the Old City - and the best I could find on short notice was a Savyon View apartment, on Raul Wallenberg St.

On the plus side, it was spacious, had a balcony and mamad (strong room, in case of air raids) and you could see Jaffa St. from the balcony. It also had underground parking. On the negative side, we could hardly use the balcony during the day because of construction next door (noise and dust), and a lot of things were either slightly broken or didn't work quite right - like, the shower door didn't close all the way, the AC had a mind of its own, the hot water had to be turned on and off. The first night, something kept beeping at regular intervals, waking me up - next morning I complained to the rental agent, and it stopped. (I am still not sure whether someone came in and fixed it while we were out, or it stopped on its own...) Anyway, these were all minor annoyances. We stayed there four days total.

First day (Monday) we spent mostly in the Old City. From our apartment, it is about 20 minutes by foot. 

Of course, you can take Jaffa St. all the way down (we did that next morning), but this time we opted for a slightly more intimate, scenic route. We turned off at Ben Yehuda and then onto Yo'el Moshe Salomon Street (aka Umbrella Street)...

... and from there, it's just a few short blocks to Mamilla Mall. These are all very safe, touristy areas in West Jerusalem, dotted with cafes, bakeries, and quirky little shops. 

Mamilla Mall is a very upscale shopping center, also with excellent lunch options. I don't think I ever bought anything there, but it is fun to look at the little art displays in front of the stores.

And finally - Jaffa Gate and the Omar Ben Al Khatab Square (this name reminds me of a popular children's book, from when I was little, so I think of it as "Old Man Khotabych Square").

The only "proper" way for me to enter the Old City is through Jaffa Gate. (General Allenby thought so too, even if for different reasons.) My reason is very simple - this is how I first entered the Old City, 34 years ago, and fell in love with it. Ever since then, coming here is like meeting an old friend, face-to-face - just seeing them from the back doesn't count, right? So every time we visit Jerusalem, until I go through Jaffa Gate and look towards the Old Man Khotabych Square, I don't feel that I am here. Afterwards, I can wander around and go wherever, but that first moment counts.

From here, there are several ways to reach the Western Wall Plaza. You can turn right and go through the Armenian Quarter, and then the Jewish Quarter - this is the safest way. You can also go straight into the street ahead - this is the beginning of the Arab market in the Christian Quarter - and then turn right (there will be a sign, and it is important not to miss it). The Christian Quarter holds the Arab market, full of little stores, and also all the Christian landmarks (Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre). Depending on the current political situation, it may or may not be safe to walk on your own. If you want to see the Christian landmarks, go with a tour group - that is generally safe - but venturing into the markets on your own is a different story (we did in 1999, 2007, and 2022 with no trouble, but were strongly advised against it in 1992 and 2016). And no matter what you do, never go into the Muslim Quarter. This time, we had neither time nor desire to go deep into the markets, but walking the first few blocks to the turn-off towards the Wall seemed safe. 

It is relatively early in the morning, so the square is almost empty, and when we enter the Arab market street, the little stores are still closed...

... and here we are, at the Western Wall plaza.

(I also came up to the Wall, on the women's side.)

We left the plaza by walking up the stairs in the far left corner - they lead to the Jewish Quarter and provide nice views of the plaza and the Temple Mount.

In the center of the Jewish Quarter is the magnificent Hurva Synagogue. We traditionally get something to eat or drink in one of the little cafes surrounding the plaza (this time, fruit shakes from Rebar) and take my picture on a stone circle in front of the Hurva.

The Hurva Synagogue spent most of its lifespan in ruins ("hurva" = "ruin" in Hebrew). It was built early in the 18th century (supposedly on the ruins of a 15th century synagogue, but never mind) and almost immediately destroyed by lenders in 1721, over the unpaid construction debt. It then lay in ruins for more than a hundred years (that's when it got the name "Hurva"), and was rebuilt as an Ashkenazi synagogue in 1864. In 1948, of course, the Jordanians destroyed it when they occupied the Temple Mount and parts of Jerusalem, and so it lay in ruins again... until we got it back in 1967, and in 1977 built a commemorative arch - which in itself became a prominent landmark in the Jewish Quarter. Here we are in front of the arch with little David in 1999.

The synagogue was rebuilt in its 19th-century style in 2010, and here we are in front of it, with a much bigger David, in 2011.

In 2018, Alex and I added a couple more chapters to our Hurva memories: climbed to the balcony at the top (you can see people up there in the previous photo) and got a great view towards the Temple Mount from there...

... and also watched a light show projected on the Hurva facade - it is a perfect canvas.

Getting back to the present moment, we left the Old City through the Jaffa Gate and went to meet my sister for lunch, but on the way there, took a couple of quick photos in Teddy Park, across the road.

This is the Jerusalem Center of the World sculpture. We first discovered it in 2022, on a casual walk -where it confusingly looked like a weird model of the globe that somehow grew an extra continent - but later we found the explanation in the link above. Apparently, it is based on the cartography of 1851 and reflects complex philosophical concepts - and it is welcome to them. We just like our reflections in shiny things...

And here I am with my dearly loved sister Anna at the beginning of the Umbrella Street...

... about to go to lunch at Piccolino (which I highly recommend). It is a "milk" restaurant - because nobody can eat meat and dairy at the same time (kashrut laws), restaurants conveniently sort themselves into "meat" and "milk". In a "meat" place, you'll find mostly meat and vegetables. In a "milk" place, you'll find all sorts of things, such as fish and pasta (including delicious chestnut raviolis that I had on this occasion).

Incidentally, our tradition of eating on the stone circles in front of the Hurva also stems from this separation of meat and milk. In 2011, David and Alex got shawarma at one of the side cafes near the Hurva, while Temma and I weren't hungry - no problem, there are tons of different options around, Temma got an ice cream and I - a milkshake, and we tried to join our boys at the outdoor table in the shawarma place - at which point a waiter forcefully shooed us away... I was slightly confused - to my American mind, his indignation had to deal with "no outside food allowed at our tables" (to prevent people from occupying tables without paying) and I tried to point out that we were joining these two paying customers at their table - but it quickly became apparent that he objected to the milk nature of our food, not to our presence as such. So Temma and I went to sit on the stone circle...

... and the rest is history.

> Ir David