Необычная страна Unusual country

Goodnight!
The hotel deserves its four stars. But there are some comments as well. On the plus side, attentive staff, great location and stunning sea views (we lived on the 8th floor), flat screen TV, free safe, kettle, tea and coffee and most importantly - our flight home was at 01:15, we were not evicted from the room at 12 noon, as was the case in Spain, where we then wandered around the hotel, walked all the time in the park or toiled in the lobby. We were picked up from the hotel at 21:30. Pretty decent breakfast buffet. Their meat and milk do not mix, so we met meat at dinner. And in the morning there were cheese, cheese, vegetables, fruits, jams, pastries (croissants and pancakes), hard-boiled eggs, omelettes. You could order fried eggs, omelettes with different fillings, soft-boiled eggs, any kind of porridge.
Dinner was good but no frills. Nobody left hungry. I really liked the language, turkey with tomatoes and sweet peppers in Chinese style, potatoes. The fried chicken was tough. There were also a lot of vegetables. Olives, pickles and herring were both in the morning and in the evening. Sometimes there were pancakes with mushrooms, krucheniki. From fruits there were watermelons, apples, melon, papaya. From sweet dishes - cakes, custards, apple, chocolate, cottage cheese pies. I also really liked the fact that despite the paid drinks at dinner, plain water was always put free of charge on each table. On Friday evening, Shabbat begins in Israel (in their language it is Saturday, the only day off) and on Friday evenings a bottle of red wine was placed on each table. True, semi-sweet. Another big plus - coffee and hot chocolate for breakfast they are very tasty. The tea was in tea bags. Juices in vending machines, but very good quality (lemonade, orange and plain water). For a fee, you can safely order any freshly squeezed juice. When few people dined at the hotel, the buffet changed to a menu and five types of appetizers were brought to us, the choice was chicken, tongue or steak. Very tasty pea soup. For dessert, cake, ice cream or fruit.

Falling asleep to the sound of the sea was amazing. Helicopters fly there every night. Still, whatever one may say, the country is on alert.
The sea is amazing, but very stormy and restless. We saw such a Mediterranean Sea for the first time. Usually it is always quite calm and in a mood. Due to strong undercurrents, you need to swim very carefully. There are lifeguards everywhere on the beaches. They follow very strictly. The bottom of the sea is sandy, you can walk for a long time in the shallows, which is quite good because of the strong waves. For surfers, this is heaven! They are there from early morning until late evening hanging on the waves.
Now for the cons. Although everything worked in the room and all amenities were present, the window was dirty, so a closed curtain always hung on it. The bed was sometimes made messily, so that the ends of the blanket dragged along the floor.
Due to Shabbat, there was a lot of noise and din in the hotel on Friday evening, as the locals, as we were told, rent restaurants in hotels for Friday evenings. On Friday mornings, the water and juice vending machines in the hotel restaurant are closed. Therefore, they brought large kettles and we poured hot water from them. In the country, on Shabbat, even TVs are not turned on (I mean the locals). In general, all equipment is resting. At that time, porridge and scrambled eggs with filling could not be ordered for breakfast either.
All the restaurants become packed at lunchtime and it's hard to find a seat. Banks and exchangers stop working on Friday at one o'clock in the afternoon and begin their work at half past eight in the evening on Saturday. When Shabbat ends. And if you didn’t change money on Friday, then at least beat your head against the wall, you can do it only on Saturday.
The beaches in Netanya are excellent, but, unfortunately, dirty. Even in the sea there were bits, bags, some kind of paper. Therefore, we did not go swimming in a dirty bay, but on a beach for surfers. But swim there very carefully. Enjoyed jumping on the waves.

Excursions are very plentiful and interesting. We visited the "Jerusalem of three religions", the Dead Sea with a five-star handsome spa hotel "Daniel" and Nazareth-Galilee-Galilee Sea (the second name is Lake Kinneret) - the Jordan River. The last tour is very easy and peaceful. Swimming in the Jordan is absolutely not scary. Very pleasant. There are a lot of catfish. They tickle your feet, but it's even nice. so to speak - a light massage. You have to swim in shirts. We bought them in Nazareth. The Sea of ​ ​ Galilee is something!
Their cosmetics are amazing. In the "Ein Gedi" complex, one could buy both cream and mud (they bought it there, and they did it right, by the way, since there was no mud in "Daniel"). True, you can’t get around such a large and beautiful store in 30 minutes, but this is not a problem. Everything can be purchased in Netanya. It is full of cosmetics from the Dead Sea and in small shops on the main street of the city, and in the Netanya shopping center. You need to stand with your back to the sea and walk straight down the street for about half an hour. There are also good Israeli cosmetics "Hlavin" and "Black Pearl", "Ahava" and "Natural Sea Beauty".
Portions in restaurants are very large, so it is better to order one hot or just a salad. Although there salads are also like troughs. The Scotsman restaurant gives you a flyer that allows you to order your choice of dessert. We had a business lunch there. It included a vegetable salad, meat or fish with a side dish to choose from, hot cakes, olives, and for dessert you could easily choose ice cream, cake, tea or coffee. The restaurant "London" is very tasty trout from the kibbutz. You could choose fried on coals, on a grill, and in general, whatever you like. The side dish was rice and potatoes. Restaurant "Alpina" is also very decent. The cuisine there has a French touch. The beach also has restaurants and bars.
On an excursion to Nazareth-Galilee-Sea of ​ ​ Galilee-Jordan River in a restaurant you can choose hot - very tasty fish on coals, which was caught by St. Peter. Snacks there as a buffet, you could take them as much as you want, and for a hot surcharge. Water, tea, coffee were free. It was also in Jerusalem (buffet), and at the Daniel Hotel they gave us four coupons - one of them for a towel, the second for lunch (there is plenty of lunch in the hotel restaurant. Take it - I don’t want to. ) The third coupon was for a glass of wine, and the fourth - 10% discount on all spa treatments.

And finally - the customs in Israel is very strict, they check everything meticulously. They scan the suitcases before putting them in luggage and ask where, what they bought. Just the main thing is not to worry and answer questions clearly and distinctly. When entering, everything is fast and absolutely non-strict, and when departing, you need to have a little patience.
In general, the holiday was a success. Although the country is specific and rather peculiar in its own way, it is quite suitable for recreation.
If you have any questions, I'll be happy to try to answer.