| Tips and photos of unusual, out-of-the-way Israel attractions, posted by real travelers and locals. Map |
 | Israel Off the Beaten Path | Tips 1 - 10 of 252 |  |
 Book frenzy by gilabrand
Every June for the past 46 years, Israel has set aside a block of time to celebrate the written word. Maybe there are such events in other parts of the globe, but the scale of Hebrew Book Week, and the incredible book frenzy that seizes the entire population, young and old, religious and secular, are hard to beat.
The editor of Masada Press, Bracha Peli, launched the first Book Day in 1926, offering books at a discount. From 1961, it became a week-long event featuring outdoor book fairs, price reductions at all book stores, book signings, poetry readings, lectures, literary workshops and kids activities.
Israel is a small place, but it publishes an average of 400 books a year. Some 2 million books are sold during Book Week alone.
Traditionally, the fair in Jerusalem was held in open parks but in the wake of security concerns, it moved to the grounds of the Israel Museum.
This is a people-watching event par excellence. People of every stripe, from professors and parents pushing strollers to ultra-Orthodox black-hatters and belly-button pierced teenagers, crawl out of the woodwork in the late afternoons and evenings to browse through the colorful stacks or present the booksellers with itemized lists.
The walkways leading up to the main building of the museum are lined with book stalls. Bored with books? Note the ancient sarcophagi, carved marble columns and bronze statuary interspersed between the stalls – or take a moonlight stroll in the museum’s Sculpture Garden. Whether or not you actually buy anything – sometimes the crush is so great you can hardly get near the books – just being there is an experience.
Not knowing Hebrew should not scare you off. There are some English-language books on sale, and you can pick up dictionaries, guidebooks and maps at a discount.
2007 venue: Old Jerusalem Train Station Leave a Comment
|
 | |  |
Visiting Israel?
Read reviews about Israel Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
It was Passover, the holiday celebrating the Israelites? exodus from Egypt, and our intentions of visiting the Old City were thwarted by traffic police. The whole area was blocked off to private cars in expectation of huge throngs of Israelis and tourists. So we found another way of celebrating the exodus: We visited Israel?s one and only Egyptian mummy.
Museums in Israel do not display human remains, so the existence of this mummy may be one of the country?s best-kept secrets. If you want to sidle up close to an honest-to-goodness mummy and get a good look at it from every possible angle, without standing on line or fighting crowds, Jerusalem?s mummy is just the thing.
Yarat-Hor-ru, as the mummy is called, lies in a glass case in the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem, on a little side street behind the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. The institute, in a beautiful old building hidden behind a high iron gate, serves as a residence for Catholic theology students and houses a small archeological collection of ancient pottery, arrow heads, shell necklaces, Roman tablets and incense shovels (plus a few skeletons of infants found buried in jars and stashed away under the floorboards of ancient dwellings ? a reminder of the precariousness of life in prehistoric times).
On the day we were there, the museum was deserted. Basically, it was us and Yarat-Hor-ru, a young Egyptian official, 5 ft. tall in his stocking feet, who lived somewhere near Alexandria in 4th century BCE.
Maybe it?s morbid of me, but I would have liked to see his face, which was covered with a painted mask. On the other hand, you do spy toes peeking out of the wrapping. In the corner stands the carved lid of the mummy case, covered in hieroglyphics. Despite some Egyptologist?s attempt to provide an ?English translation? ? something about Osiris ? the text was still Greek (or should I say, ancient Egyptian) to me.
(Admission: 5 shekels, if anyone is actually there to take your money)
Emil Botta Street, just past the gas station Leave a Comment Phone: 02-6252843Other Contact: Open 8 am - 1 pm (closed Sunday)
|
| | |
 Ancient Hebrew mosaic by Paul2001Leave a Comment
|
 Church of the Beautitudes by Paul2001Leave a Comment
|
 by Sharon
A short hiking (aprx 20 min') from the entrance to the Yahudiya nature Preserve will
lead you to a pool of hundreds of hexagonal rock columns which were caused by the rapid cooling of molten rock, which skirt the water's edge.
The pool is fantastic and great to swim in during summer... (although we saw some travelers whom were about to swim there just as we left !! and it was only 18c brrrr !!)
Another 40min' hiking will lead you to the Yehudiya Stream and waterfalls.
Thats a definite Off the beathen path but if you're here for a long time then its worth a visit.
Few min' drive from Katzrin (in the Golan Area. Leave a Comment
|
Visiting Israel?
Read reviews about Israel Hotels
Real Reviews from Real VirtualTourist Members.
 Picture from my friend Rose !
thanks. by Sharon
The fortress is located on a mountain about 800m' above the sea level.
It is named after a biblical hero, the hunter Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-9) who, according to local tradition, dwelt on this summit.
Better check in advance their opening hours for visitors. Leave a Comment
|
 by Sharon
In Gan-Garoo you can meet the sweet Ozzi kangaroos as well as Kuala bears and other anmals. You can spend time with the kangaroos as they arewalking, or shell i say jumping around free and used to people, The Kuala bears though are having their own kept area and people can NOT touch or bother them as they are very delicate and sensitive
and most time sleepy.
Its a wonderful attraction for Kids but even to me as an adult it was really lovely to finally meet those sweet sweet kangaroos personaly ! I just loved them. Leave a Comment
|
 En Hod by ophiro
This is an artists village with many statues everywhere , beautiful houses , small and narrow streets and beautiful view to the Mediterranean Sea.
Leave a Comment
|
 Yar Lahav, Israel by Martin_S.Leave a Comment
|
 Street from al-Bireh into
Ramallah closed down by mtncorg
Ramallah is the main city of the West Bank, sprawling about atop hillsides. Returning Palestinians who had ventured out into the World making their millions have returned putting up some very large edifices, quite in contrast to many other homes. In the evening you can look down on the lights of Israel and the metroplex of Tel Aviv - another World entirely. Ramallah is a short distance north of Jerusalem - the largest city within the West Bank is East Jerusalem which to the non-initiated appears to be similar at first glance to much of the rest of Jerusalem. Nablus and Jenin are large cities in the northern part of the West Bank with several sites both in and around to see. Hebron and Bethlehem lie south of Jerusalem. One thing you will note while moving through the West Bank are the Jewish settlements - obvious from the red-tiled roofs. The settlements are situated around Arab cities allowing the Israeli army to easily move in and choke of traffic in and out. The settlements are in no way like the kibbutzs and moshavs of the earlier Israeli phenomena. There is little for the settlers to do except collect checks from the Israeli government. Many have written on VT pages about the American exuberance at flying the US flag. Well, they haven’t been here. Each settlement has what amounts to a flag shop outside their entries. Leave a Comment
|
| | |
|
|
