Samuel Green
Samuel has been a licensed tour guide in Israel since 2014 and has won multiple industry awards. In addition to his tour guide license, he has a BA and MA from the University of Cambridge in Hebrew and Israeli Studies. You can follow Samuel's adventures around Israel on his Instagram @myisraeliguide.
114 articles
114 articles
The Israel tour guide exam, Part One: the written exam Part A (summer 2014)
How the Israeli Ministry of Tourism's written tour-guide exam works: 50 multiple-choice questions on Part A, a three-hour itinerary marathon on Part B, with a 65% pass mark.
Just testing…
I swore off exams after graduating. The tour guide course had me sitting more tests than my entire degree: a written exam after every subject, then mid-term and final exams before the Ministry of Tourism's national exams could even begin.
In the Classroom
Although the blog has mostly tracked our weekly field trips, the tour guide course also involved a huge amount of classroom time. Here's what we actually had to study: history, geography, the main religions, contemporary Israel and the practical side of guiding.
Bethlehem
A brief first visit to Bethlehem, just over the line in Area A, to see the Church of the Nativity, shared between Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic communities, and the crypt marking the traditional site of Jesus’ birth.
Looking back – the video
With studies done and exams looming, the course gathered for a mesibat siyum (final party). One of our group had stitched together a slideshow of the past year and a half — touching, amusing, mostly in Hebrew.
Jerusalem: a summary and a conclusion
The final field trip of the course: a day around Jerusalem taking in the tomb of the prophet Samuel at Nabi Samuel, the Jaffa Gate, the Tower of David, Christ Church, a walk along the Old City ramparts, and Nachlaot and the Machane Yehuda market, before reflecting back on the past year and a half.
Settlement of the Jordan Valley
A day through the Jordan Valley and the southern Sea of Galilee: the Harod Spring, the Roman bridge and hydroelectric ruins at Old Gesher and Naharayim, the Kinneret Courtyard and Rachel the Poet, Degania, the Motor House and the Kinneret Cemetery.
Caesarea
A day around Caesarea: the Byzantine flour mills at Nachal Taninim, the Hadrianic aqueducts at Beit Hanania, the national park itself with Herod's port, hippodrome, theatre and bathhouse, and the birds mosaic to the north.
Beer Sheva and the Southern Coastal Plain
A long day through the southern coastal plain and into the Negev: Mazkeret Batya, the Museum of Philistine Culture and Ashdod Yam fortress, Ashdod Port, the Rutenberg Power Station and Beer Sheva, finishing at the Monument to the Negev Brigade.
Modern Tel Aviv
A second day of touring Tel Aviv, this time tracing its modern development — the cultural quarter, Sarona, the Tachana, the ha'apala memorial, Rabin Square, the old port and the Yitzchak Rabin Centre.
If you are going to Israel, you would be mad not to give him a call.
Amol Rajan, BBC presenter and broadcaster
Having been on trips in Israel with seven different tour guides, Samuel stood above all the rest.
Seasoned Israel traveller
Samuel is one part walking encyclopedia, one part storyteller, one part stand-up comedian.
Berkeley Haas Business School student