9/15 | Tzfat, Eilat, Ein Gedi, Tel Aviv, But Actually Just Jerusalem

This weekend was our first real break since we arrived over two weeks ago.  The first weekend was spent in the Galilee and the Golan Heights and the second was only one day long, so this was our first real opportunity to do whatever we wanted.  It was with the prospect of two full days ahead of us that Rachel and I decided it would be nice to head north towards Tzfat, the capital of a mystical form of Judaism called Kabbalah.  After calling a few hostels, or aksanyoht in Hebrew, I decided the prices were too high and that we would be better off heading towards a beach area, where the prices for a room would be lower.  Since I had done Tel Aviv in the past, we were between Ein Gedi, near the Dead Sea, and Eilat, near the Red Sea.  The hostels there seemed cheaper, but it seemed better not to commit to anything over the phone so we decided to head the a bus station and figure our rooming when we arrived at our destination.

Jerusalem has an extensive bus system called Egged, but the busses are incredibly confusing.  Every number seems to have an aleph counterpart, like 19 and 19א, and nothing is well marked.  Even the locals seem to have a hard time explaining which busses go where.  After asking around, though, we were told to take the 68 to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, from where we could head to any city within Israel.  Unbeknownst to us, this would be the easiest leg of our trip.

A typically confusing sign at a Jerusalem bus shelter.  I have no idea how anybody is supposed to be able to figure out what bus goes where.

The Jerusalem bus station is well organized, so finding the list of busses and their departure times was easy.  Unfortunately, the bus to Ein Gedi was not scheduled to run for a few hours, so we started thinking about going to Eilat.  The man at the information desk told us the direct line from Jerusalem to Eilat was not running, but that we should consider going to Tel Aviv and then taking a bus down to Eilat.  This plan, while not ideal because it would add an hour on to an already long ride to Eilat, seemed like it might work, so we decided to head to Tel Aviv.

A view of the line queued to go to Tel Aviv.  The Jerusalem Central Bus Station is a fascinating place to people watch.  Here, you can find everyone from tourists to soldiers, nuns to chasidim rubbing shoulders.

Upon arriving at the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, we headed straight for a departure board to check when the next bus to Eilat was scheduled to depart.  This, too, would have taken a while and so we decided that maybe it would be best just to spend the weekend in Tel Aviv.  Fortunately, our friend Alison was in Tel Aviv visiting a friend, so we called her to meet up.  This was not so simple.  We, for the life of us, could not find how to get out of the bus station.  Their were seven floors and nobody to direct us where to go.  When we found an information desk, the lady told us to go to floor seven and ask there; however, floor seven was almost completely deserted.  Fortunately, after lot of searching, we found an exit with a lone bus waiting outside.  This was going straight to Rothschild Boulevard, exactly where we needed to go!

After a quick bus ride, we got to Rothschild Boulevard where we met Alison outside of the Max Brenner Chocolate Bar.  This was actually very easy to find, and within a few minutes we were with Alison and her friend.  Rothschild Boulevard is a main street in Tel Aviv, so there is a lot of nightlife surrounding it.  It is also the location of the tent protests.  Since summer ended, the tent protests have mostly ended, but we were still able to see a few stragglers.

The tent protests on Rothschild Boulevard.  They are not as big as they were, but one can still get a feel for what it was like.

We decided to walk in the direction of the beach in the hopes that we could find a cheap hostel.  Tel Aviv is a fascinating city, so it was nice to walk through the different streets and take in the scenery.  The city was actually declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003 for its Bauhaus architecture.  Bauhaus includes lots of lines and curves made to look very modern.  Most of the buildings are painted white, giving Tel Aviv the nickname "White City."

An example of Bauhaus architecture in Tel Aviv.  Notice the straight line of windows in a "thermometer" style.

Our attempt to find a hostel ended in failure.  We even tried calling a few places that were recommended in my guide book, but all were too expensive for college students.  So, with much regret, we decided to head back to Jerusalem.  If nothing else, though, we learned a valuable lesson in planning that will be well-heeded in the future.

If nothing else, we had an adventure!

Our return to the Tel Aviv bus station was much less complicated than before.  A taxi took us right to the front of the building where we were able to buy a ticket straight back to Jerusalem.  The building might rank among the most confusing in the world, so it took us a little while to find our gate.  Once found, we boarded and headed right back to the bus station in Jerusalem.  Unfortunately, when we got back the light rail had stopped running and the bus we needed did not show up, so we had to take a taxi back to the Student Village.  In the end, our little adventure ended up costing a lot of money, without anything great in return.  Next time, we will definitely plan beforehand.

*Apparently, most busses skip Mount Scopus in favor of a place we thought was called Morsha.  Every bus was headed to Morsha.  Morsha, Morsha, Morsha!  Turns our Morsha is Morasha and it's an upscale neighborhood that straddles East and West Jerusalem.  Morsha > Mount Scopus.