ENG -- Israel - first impressions

In this post we will introduce some general information about Israel and how we organized, on our own, the transport between Ben Gurion Airport, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but also within the two cities.

One of the reasons we chose to spend our holiday in Israel was that we could, for several days, to forget about the cold in Romania and to spend some days in February in a sunny area. Except for one single rainy day, the maximum temperatures experienced were around 20 degrees Celsius.
From Bucharest, we flew with a low cost operated by Wizz Air to Ben Gurion, an airport located close to Tel Aviv, at a distance that can be traveled by train in 10 minutes. The flight ticket, bought about 3 months ago, cost around 50 euros. The flight lasted about 3 hours.

Israel is at the intersection of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa

Before we arrived in Israel, we searched for information about the entry visa and the security check at departure. Even though from the stories of others we could have understood that it was difficult to enter and especially to leave the country, our experience was not negative at all. Upon arrival, the only check was that of passports, and the checking didn't took too much, comparable to the most of the airports we passed. The difference was that we did not received the visa stamp on the passports, but we received a ticket that held a visa and had to be kept until we left the country. This ticket was also requested at the hotel upon check-in. On departure, security control consisted of an interview where we were asked a few questions about us and about what we visited in Israel. Following this interview they stuck a bar code on the back of the passport. Important is the figure with which this code begins. Depending on the first digit, additional checks may or may not take place. Figures are from 1 to 6, 1 for locals, 2 for tourists assigned with the lowest security risk and 6 for high-risk. In our case, because we got a code starting with figure 2, we did not need to go through other security filters, except for luggage scanning, common in all airports. From the stories told by others who flew with other airlines, we understand that it is possible to carry out security checks at the departure airport and, if it is considered necessary, to check the luggages.

We decided to spend our holidays in two cities: Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The first stop was in Jerusalem. From the airport, we took the 485 bus that departs from hour to hour. The ticket cost 16 shekels and bought it directly from the driver. The trip lasted about 35 minutes, and the station where we went down is on a street parallel to the street in front of the central bus station in Jerusalem. The bus is equipped with a USB charger and WI-FI internet connection.

The tram number 1, which reaches up to one of the entrances to Jerusalem's old fortress, the Jaffa Gate, passes through the front of the central bus station. The ticket price is 5.90 shekels and can be purchased from the vending machines in each tram station.
You can watch the tram line as a landmark to reach Jerusalem's old fortress if you want to walk around and feel the atmosphere of the place even better. When we arrived, there were street shows (songs and dances of local youth), and the main market, Mahane Yehuda Market, was full of tourists and locals attracted by the flavors and variety of products displayed on sellers' stalls.

Do not expect low prices, Jerusalem being a rather expensive city. There are many small supermarkets in which a 1.5 liter bottle costs between 7 and 10 shekels. We found one larger supermarket where for the same water you paid 12 shekels for a 6-bottle pack.
Generally, in other cities, supermarkets can easily be found on Google Maps, but in Jerusalem many supermarkets were marked on the map, which in reality were just small shops with high prices and / or a degree of cleanliness that did not encouraged someone to buy food from them. A first view of the size of a supermarket can be viewed by viewing the pictures attached to the points on the map, in case they exist.
The food is expensive too, a portion of the shaworma costs about 45 shekels in most places, and even the McDonald's prices are high, the smallest and cheapest hamburger being 8 shekels.
But even so, we managed to find better food prices in the Basti restaurant in Jerusalem, close to the Damascus Gate (just cross the street from Armene Patriarchy or Stations 3 and 4 on Via Dolorosa) where we paid only 20 shekels on shaorma during happy hour (between 17.00 and 20.00).

The transfer between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv was also done by bus. There are two options: the 405 bus that has the final station in Tel Aviv Central Bus Station and 480 bus to Arlozorov Terminal. Both buses can be taken from Jerusalem's central bus station from the 3rd floor. The ticket costs 16 shekels and is bought directly from the driver and the journey takes about an hour.
We went to Tel Aviv using local buses  and the ticket for a trip cost 5.90 shekels.

To get from Tel Aviv to the Ben Gurion Airport we chose to go by train because it was simpler and faster. The other option would have been by bus but we would have to change two buses and it would take about an hour. The train can be taken from the Tel Aviv main railway stations: Savidor Center, Tel Aviv Hashalom, Tel Aviv Ha'Hagana. From Ha'Hagana, the ticket costs 13,50 shekels, and in 10 minutes you can reach Ben Gurion Airport's 3rd terminal. If your flight departs from terminal 1, you will need to take the airport bus that makes free transfer between terminals.
Unfortunately, we did not pay attention to Tel Aviv train station and we took the wrong train. We were lucky and we did not lose the plane because we left 4 hours before to the airport and the first train station was reached in 10 minutes. Ten minutes that seemed they never end when we knew we were going in the wrong direction. We arrived in Lod Ganey-Aviv where we waited another half an hour to get the train back, because the train for airport was not passing through that station. After another 10 minutes of traveling, we arrived at the Tel Aviv Ha'Hagana station again, from where we left, and this time we took the right train.
In order not to take the wrong train as we did, watch the electronic panel where the trains are displayed. The train that arrives at the airport is also announced by English station before arrival, but we rushed and took the one before. The trains are a few minutes away, so it's easy to get them wrong. In our case, the train for the airport should have gone to 6.39 of the station, and at 6.37 the other train arrived, which we wrongly assumed would go to the airport at 6.39.

The prices we spoke about above are in shekels, and in order to compare them, you should know that one dollar is roughly equal to 3.5 shekels.

In the following articles, we will write about what you can visit in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but also about how to get to the Dead Sea on your own.