Traveling domestically in Israel

It’s been a year since war started with Iran. At that time we were on a river cruise on the Danube. When the cruise ended, several days later, we disembarked in Nuremberg and flew the same day to Athens, not to Tel Aviv as expected. We were stuck in Athens due to the war and very limited flights to Israel, only returning only after 10 days. Since then we’ve limited ourselves to mini-vacations: Tel Aviv, Herzliya Pituach, and Jerusalem.

It was during February, 2026 that we booked a special spa package at the venerable Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv. We picked that hotel because the Dan chain offered a special spa package which included two massages and other goodies. A vacation in Tel Aviv? Why not, because there’s lots to do there besides hang around the hotel. But I must say that one of the reasons we chose that hotel is that it has excellent lobby seating facing the beach, the Mediterranean, and the promenade. I spent 2-3 hours each day reading in that excellent spot.

One night we met friends at an upscale restaurant that I didn’t even know existed. When one travels through Tel Aviv, the number of huge hi-rise buildings is enormous. Well, among each group of buildings, or even most of them, the area in front or between buildings has many shops, restaurants, and cafes. We met at one of them, after being lost for a while despite having the exact address. We were among the oldest clientele there, which consists mostly of well-heeled people in their 30s and 40s. We did enjoy a delicious meal, which I thought was a bit overpriced. However, that’s a byproduct of the very high cost of living in Israel, especially near Tel Aviv’s Azrielli Towers and Sarona pedestrian market. Another night we ate in the market, which is jammed packed with consumers and offers many, many food outlets – including great hamburgers.

We walked extensively throughout parts of this large city. One day we walked along Frishman St. and Ben Yehuda St., close to the hotel. The latter was the construction site of a subway line that the Tel Aviv Municipality is building, so many of the shops are closed and some parts are impassable. Bograshav St. was more interesting, with no construction to impede our progress. It has many shops, some quirky and others that are more conventional. On every street there are cafes and coffee shops so there’s no need to worry about going hungry.

At the hotel, Michal enjoyed two massages and I used the fitness room. I must say that the fitness room was disappointing, but the indoor pool area was quite nice. After returning home, the continuation of the war against Iran restarted.

A few months later, our next short vacation was to another hotel in the Dan chain, Israel’s oldest hotel chain. The Dan Accadia in Herzliya Pituach is close to Tel Aviv, but with a much different atmosphere. The hotel is situated on a basalt cliff overlooking the sea, with a short walkway down to the beach. This neighborhood by the sea (Pituach means ‘open’) is part of the fairly large city of Herzliya, eponymously named for the godfather of Zionism, Theodor Herzl.

Spring had progressed and it was warm enough for some people to use the pool, but we mostly lounged around except for a brief dip. The grounds of the hotel are so nice that we didn’t feel the need to wander. One night we walked the short distance to the Herzliya Marina, where many yachts are docked, including some quite luxurious ones. There are many cafes there picked one for dinner, which turned out to be very touristy and not worth the money.

Our last short vacation was to Jerusalem. We arrived on July 1 especially to attend the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games. This iconic sporting event is held every four years, but this year’s event was in place of last year when it was postponed because of war. The opening was held in “Teddy Stadium,” Israel’s second largest sporting venue, named after Jerusalem’s long-time mayor, Teddy Kollek. We took the light rail from our hotel, the Herbert Samuel* just off of Zion Square, to the central train station, a quick ride of about 5 minutes. There we hopped on one of the many shuttles going to the stadium.

* Herbert Samuel was the first High Commissioner for Palestine, in charge of the administration of the territory.

The 22nd Maccabiah Games comprise 8,000 Jewish athletes from 45 countries, who compete in 45 sports over a two-week period. Governments in some countries, such as Australia and Canada, described Israel as too dangerous. This resulted in sky-high insurance policies, making it too expensive for some countries to send delegations. Even so, more than 4,000 athletes are competing. The US, and of course Israel, make up about half of the attendees. Some teams had large delegations (US: 900 members) while some smaller countries were represented by only a few, or even one, athlete.

After finding our seats to be too far back, we then, in Israeli fashion, moved to much better located ones. These seats happened to be among a Mexican-S. American group of fans, mostly parents and friends of the competitors. I’d say the general theme of the event was to honor the many Israelis who died on 10/7 and after: the music festival-goers, kibbutz members, soldiers, policemen, and others.

For example, “The open-water swims honored fallen soldier and youth national team swimmer Eden Nimri. The commander was murdered standing guard at an IDF shelter, shielding 17 unarmed soldiers inside. She was honored with a symbolic swim of 170 meters – 10 meters for each of the 17 lives she saved in her final moments – remembered in the sport she loved. Nimri was one of 18 fallen Israelis honored with memorial pins that their families designed and personalized. One pin featured a cat that soldier Adi Leon drew for his little sister in the farewell letter he wrote before entering Gaza. Each pin, said Maccabiah chairman Assaf Goren, is “a reminder of love, values and lives cut short too soon.”

Also entering onto the field were the families of the 12 Druze children who were murdered in 2024 by a Hezbollah rocket while playing soccer. The families were given the honor to carry the Maccabiah banner into the stadium during the ceremony.

What is the origin of the Maccabiah sports festival, which is one of the world’s largest sporting events? The Maccabiah website answers: “The first Maccabi Jewish sports club was founded in 1895 in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey), after a group of Jewish gymnasts were denied membership in a local sports club because of antisemitic discrimination. Rather than giving up, they established their own Jewish sports club, which quickly flourished and inspired the creation of similar clubs across Europe, including Hakoah Vienna, Bar Kochba Berlin, Hagibor Prague, and many others. The movement later expanded to Latin America, North America, Australia, South Africa, and, of course, Israel. In 1921, Maccabi World Union was officially founded during the 12th Zionist Congress in Czechoslovakia.”

The opening ceremony, naturally, was very Zionistic, and I’m sure nearly all of the attendees were deeply moved by the 2.5 hour ceremony, which combined music, dance, singing, acrobatics, and more. The last hour of the event was televised across Israel, so many more thousands of Israelis were able to watch. The logistics had been well-organized; we exited the stadium directly onto one of the waiting buses to return us to the train station. The sporting events began the next day and lasted for two weeks. Quite a big deal for the thousands of athletes and their families who come to Israel, some for the first time.

The next day we met friends at the Israel Museum, which is always a treat. The special exhibit in place now is all about the ancient Isaiah Scroll. “The Isaiah scroll from the Dead Sea Caves has been dated to around 200 BCE. Isaiah wrote his original scroll around 700 BCE and it may have been in use up until around 200 BC. This means that it is possible for the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Caves to be a copy made directly from Isaiah’s original scroll. The Isaiah scroll, as well as many other scrolls and fragments from the Dead Sea, are currently stored and on display in Jerusalem at the Shrine of the Book.”

FACTS: “In celebration of the Israel Museum’s 60th anniversary, the Great Isaiah Scroll, spanning 282 inches (717 cm), is showcased in its entirety for the first time since 1968. This magnificent Dead Sea Scroll is the oldest known manuscript of a complete biblical book. The exhibition provides a new perspective on the scroll as an archaeological object, with a focus on its materiality and content, offering visitors a rare opportunity to explore the rich history of this precious artifact.”

This is only the second time that visitors have been able to view the original scroll, last exhibited 50 years ago. Admission is by reservation only and small groups are allowed in the exhibition space to examine the scroll for only about 10 minutes, which is followed by a very interesting film and lots of other educational tools, all to appreciate the inestimable value of this very ancient artifact.

It was lunch time when we finished at the museum. Instead of having a meal on the premises, our friends – who reside in Jerusalem – suggested we cross the street to the National Library, where we enjoyed a very nice lunch. We then caught a bus to the train station, picked up our bags, and headed home before the trains stopped for Shabbat.

Where will we go next? No idea, but it won’t be abroad during the intense, hot, tourist season.

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Steve Kramer is an American Israeli freelance writer.