Centre
Central Israel covers Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and the coastal plain between them, a stretch packed with history. The posts here range from Caesarea on the coast through Bethlehem in the Judean Hills, the Jordan Valley, and Tel Aviv’s modern skyline. The geography is small but the historical and cultural concentration is hard to overstate.
41 articles
41 articles
The Carmel Market and the synagogue that never was
The last field day of Israel’s culinary tourism course was a morning in Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market with Nurit Goren. How to read a market, why the hummus place with the ark is not what it looks like and what a horse’s saddle has to do with a herring.
Zichron Ya’akov: wine, beer and a long lunch
Day three of Israel’s culinary tourism course was billed as a wine day around Zichron Ya’akov. What I remember is a scorned grape, a brisket queue, a bar mitzvah spent in a brewery and a horse farm that turned into a restaurant.
The Sharon: Israel’s quiet Tuscany
The first field trip of Israel’s culinary tourism course took us to the Sharon: an organic farm run by an ex-lawyer, a cheese-making family spread across the religious divide, olive oil and a boutique winery that revived a forgotten grape.
What to do on Shabbat during your Israel tour
Some people think you need to plan an Israel trip around Shabbat as if it's an obstacle. I keep it myself, and I think something else. It's the one thing here you can't experience anywhere else.
The Priestly Blessing (Birkat HaCohanim) at the Western Wall
The unified Priestly Blessing (Birkat HaCohanim) at the Western Wall: a personal reflection on the service that takes place twice a year, when hundreds of cohanim recite a blessing dating back to the First Temple.
The Hebrew University on Mt Scopus
A walking tour of the Hebrew University on Mt Scopus with a local guide: the botanical gardens, the Cave of Nicanor, the tombs of Ussishkin and Pinsker, and the amphitheatre.
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.
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.
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.
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