Jesus. Kangaroos. Fighter jets. All on the same trip. Think it’s impossible? You haven’t been to Israel.
When I think of historical travel opportunities in Canada, images of frocked women churning butter at Black Creek Pioneer Village come to mind. Send me to Europe and I might be able to revert two millennia as I stroll down ancient cobblestone streets past Rome’s Coliseum. Yet, I can’t help but be constantly in awe of Israel where 2000 year old structures appear around every corner marking a mere footnote roughly half-way along the timeline of the country’s preserved human civilization.
It was with this in mind that I boldly shoe-horned my wife and two children (ages 7 and 5) into economy class seats at the back of a Lufthansa 767 on route to Tel-Aviv via Frankfurt, although a fair bit of planning went in to designing our itinerary long before departure.
Israel is a tiny country packed with endless tourism possibilities. If you were so inclined, you could stroll from Ashdod in the south to Rosh Hanikra in the north lazing away weeks on world-class beaches, but you would miss out on an incredible array of unique sights and activities. Travelling with young children also heavily influenced the nature of our trip. While I might be fascinated participating in four-hour intense tour of an archaeological site, children require a constantly shifting stream of diverse programming to maintain their interest level. During a rare ‘slow’ day on the mid-point of our trip, I drove the family north to Tiberias in the morning, hitting the hotel pool in the afternoon. After an hour of splashing, my seven-year old, turned to me perplexed and asked “Is this all we’re doing today? When’s our next activity?”
A careful balance needs to be struck between varied and diverse touring and relaxing alternatives. This is particularly true if, like us, you are travelling during the hot and dry summer season. The lowest daily high temperature we experienced over 3.5 weeks was 36c (not factoring in the humidex). Mindful of this, most days were planned with an early morning outdoor activity followed by lunch, and an indoor air-conditioned activity or wet program (water park, river rafting, etc). We could then return to further outdoor activities during the moderately cooler evening.
Finally, advance reservations are necessary for some of the most fascinating activities the country has to offer – particularly if you require an English-speaking guide. I strongly encourage interested travellers to book the Western Wall Tunnel Tours, City of David guided tour, and Holon Children’s Museum well in advance of your arrival to avoid disappointment.
Our trip began with a clear day designed to allow us to acclimate to the seven-hour time difference while settling in to our central Israel home in the city of Modi’in which would serve as our headquarters for much of the 3.5 week trip. By day two, I was sufficiently comfortable to test my defensive driving skills on the infamous Israeli highway network and we made the short trip to the Latrun Tank Memorial. This former Jordanian police station was the site of several key battles and now serves as a show case for a massive array of vehicles used by Israel’s armoured corps over the years from early World War II era Shermans and Pattons right up to the home-grown state-of-the-art Merkavah tank. It proved to be a perfect family activity as the adults were fascinated by the historical narrative while our children treated the dozens of tanks as multi-million dollar jungle gyms for over two hours clambering over cannon turrets and using tank treads as ladders.
After having our fill at Latrun, just a few hundred metres down the road we treated the kids to a terrific overview of the rest of our trip by visiting Mini Israel. The sprawling park consists of faithfully recreated dioramas of many of Israel’s most famous structures, attractions and cities reduced to a 1:25 scale. Within two hours we had literally walked the breadth of the country from Eilat to Mt. Hermon. Keen observers will enjoy a chuckle or two at the cheeky model designers – look carefully and you will notice that the usual array of miniature Volvos, Subarus and Hyundais that dot the roads and parking lots of other miniaturized Israeli landmarks have been replaced by flashy Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porsches in the parking lot of the Knesset – Israel’s Parliament. Who said government doesn’t have its perks?
The following day we drove to the city of Holon (adjacent to Tel Aviv) for a scheduled tour of the Children’s Museum. This attraction is not really a museum in the traditional sense…there are no exhibits to look at or movies to watch and visitors cannot roam the grounds outside of participating in the structured program. Instead, the museum divides children by age into one of three streams leading them through an interactive environment geared specifically to them. Our children both fell into the middle age range and participated in the “Magical Forest Tour” in which their small group of five cooperatively solved puzzles under the direction of their Museum guide. While difficult to describe, the experience is akin to participating in an interactive children’s fairy tale and differs from any other museum visit I have encountered elsewhere. Older children make use of sensory deprivation techniques to encounter the challenges of being blind and deaf in the Museum’s acclaimed senior exhibit.
Later in the week we made our first sojourn into Jerusalem and were immediately struck by the contrast between ancient and modern that defines the city. After wrestling choking traffic through Jerusalem’s haphazard streets we arrived at the parking lot of the gleaming new Mamilla Mall. The Mall sparkles clad in yellow-tinged Jerusalem stone and houses high-end jewellery stores and WiFi-enabled coffee shops all literally in the shadow of the ancient Old City’s walls. After enjoying latte’s and cappuccinos from the terrace at the Aroma Cafe, we strolled a mere hundred metres through the Jaffa Gate and entered the Old City.
Jerusalem’s character changes almost instantaneously as you pass through the gates of the Old City. Coming out the other side of the Jaffa Gate the cacophony of the shuk (marketplace) is overwhelming at first. Stores are crowded so close together that awnings intertwine across the narrow pedestrian street forming a covered rooftop that darkens the market and intensifies the smells from the spice merchants and the flavours of the shwarma spits. After zig-zagging down a series of these streets, it is almost shocking to emerge into the brilliant heat and sunshine of the broad open plaza that precedes the Kotel (Western or Wailing Wall) with the gold domed roof of the Al-Aqsa Mosque perched prominently on top. Few people recognize that what stands in the public plaza is merely 11% of the total span of the Kotel which formed the Western outer wall of second Jewish temple built over 2000 years ago. We took advantage of relatively recent excavations to participate in the Western Wall Tunnel Tour that runs the full span of the wall’s 500 metres while also descending down to the base of the wall where the stonework is markedly different from the destroyed and rebuilt rubble that has come to define the wall’s face today.
After gaining a more complete understanding of Jerusalem in the period of the Second Temple, we made the short walk down the road alongside the less well-known Southern Wall to the gates of the City of David reversing time a further 1500 years to the era of King David. In keeping with Israel’s theme of mixing modernity with ancient history, our introduction to the excavations is by way of high-tech 3D movie. We then proceeded through the archaeological ruins with the highlight being a twenty-minute squeal-inducing slosh through an ancient aqueduct – Hezekia’s Tunnel. The narrow passageway was illuminated only by our flashlights and the icy water rose nearly waist-high on the adults at times.
From our foray underground, we reversed elevations the next day making an early morning drive to the desert fortress of Masada where a small band of Jewish zealots held off the might of the Roman legion for nearly six months before purportedly committing suicide in defiance. The ruins are well preserved and our superb guide had a fascinating story to accompany every room, stone and tile. By mid-day, the oppressive desert heat sent us scurrying up the nearby paths of Ein Gedi. After bypassing a family of local Ibex, we climbed to a natural waterfall and refreshed ourselves in the cool pool at the base. Before making the drive back to our home in Modi’in, we made one last quick stop by the shores of the Dead Sea to enjoy the bizarre experience of bobbing in the ultra buoyant mineral-rich water.
The following day was dedicated to exploring several of Israel’s extensive cave networks. We began with a visit to Beit Guvrin Park entering the large caves at Tel Maresha. The kids had a blast squeezing through tight openings as The Crime Traveller’s Wife and I found more…er…accessible routes. We then took in a very different spelunking experience at the Soreq stalactite and stalagmite cave. The tours are done in small groups with a guide as you walk along a defined catwalk through the guts of the cave. The variety and scope of the unique rock formations is staggering and, although the tour is short, it is well worth the trip.
The following week we departed central Israel setting up camp in Tiberias along the banks of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) which would serve as our home base for four days in Israel’s north. Our focus for this leg of the trip was on child-friendly outings and our opening trip to Gan Garoo did not disappoint. I cannot explain what would possess someone to transplant a pair of koala Bears and dozens of kangaroos into Israel’s northern wilderness but that is exactly what Gan Garoo has done and the result is sheer childhood bliss. Although the park houses a number of other animals and activities (including giant bats, peacocks and a natural maze) we found it virtually impossible to pull our kids out of the kangaroo enclosure. No bars, cages or ropes separate you from the fun here…the kangaroos roam free across an expansive area as you wander through their territory. After tossing a shekel into the feed machine my five-year old became an instant kangaroo-celebrity, surrounded by the marsupials like Britney Spears sauntering out of a taxi cab.
The perfect foil to the blazing sun on the kangaroo fields of Gan Garoo is the neighbouring natural water park at Sahne’s Gan Hashlosha. Literally next door to Gan Garoo, this Israeli state park consists of streams and waterfalls where our kids managed to wash away (most of) the marsupial slobber clinging to their hands.
As ardent fans of white water rafting ourselves, the Crime Traveller’s Wife and I used this trip as an opportunity to introduce our children to rafting along the gentle flow of the Jordan River. Several outfitters will rent you simple gear tossing you on your own into the murky waters of the Jordan. During our July run, during the height of the summer dry season, the river tamely weaved its way through the grassy channel. We periodically beached our raft to cool off with a quick swim in the water before reaching the take-out point. River rafting (plus a post-rafting ice-cream break) earned us a modicum of parental peace as we spent the afternoon visiting galleries in the world-renown artists’ colony of Safed where we emerged with a custom order for a Jonathan Darmon bronze sculpture.
We closed out our time in the north with a visit to the Hamat Gader nature park. Hugging the border with Jordan, Hamat Gader is sought out by locals primarily for the natural sulphur springs and hot baths. However, the park has expanded to offer a great deal more to families including a traditional cold pool, water slide and splash pad. Although I didn’t travel to Israel expecting to see a parrot ride a bicycle across a highwire while another bird strapped on roller skates, I can’t say I was disappointed to have had the chance to see these oddities. We also traversed a series of floating bridges across reptile-infested waters in the park’s alligator farm.
Looping around to the port city of Haifa, we took in a tour of the famed Baha’i gardens. Meticulously groomed by a team of over one hundred professionals and volunteers, the gardens splash down Haifa’s central hill cascading in an explosion of green, orange, yellow and blue that is visible from almost anywhere down below. In keeping with the Baha’i’s religious faith, entry to the guided gardens tour is both fascinating and free.
Continuing our criss-crossing of this tiny country, we made our way south stopping at the Israel Air Force Museum. Anyone with even an ounce of testosterone flowing through their veins can’t help but get a thrill touring acres of fighter jets. Several older training planes and decommissioned helicopters have even been opened to the public allowing my kids to re-enact every child’s pilot fantasies. We then continued on to the tiny town of Mitzpe Ramon which sits in the middle of the Negev Desert on the lip of the massive Ramon Crater. Our jeep tour of the crater combined a few bone-jarring thrills with the fascinating geology of the exposed rock and the penetrating beauty of this bleak desert. The exposed rock strata are so rich with fossilized plant and animal remains that our children easily filled a bag of ‘souvenirs’ which they insisted find a place in our return luggage.
Israel’s appeal to history buffs and religious pilgrims has long been apparent to prospective travellers. What many people overlook is the enormous breadth and variety of tourism opportunities Israel packs into an immensely dense package. Beach lovers flock to white sand and frothing surf all along the Mediterranean while adventure travellers can mix up their adrenalin rushes with rappelling and zip-lining. Travellers with kids can easily construct an itinerary – much as we did – that satisfies adult curiosities while satiating childhood desires. With Israel’s tiny size and vast array of activities, a parent can always honestly answer “not far now!” to the inevitable back-seat cry of “are we there yet?”
Enjoy a huge selection of photos from this trip here.
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