Metropolitan, Tel Aviv, diamonds, warm sea.
Metropolitan, Tel Aviv, diamonds, warm sea.
We arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on July 23.2009. We took a bus to the central station by bus for 1 hour and 12.6 shekels (1 shekel is about 8 rubles, 3.8 shekels per dollar). The locals prefer the train. From the station by minibus number 4 for 5.5 shekels and 15 minutes. There were no special searches in Domodedovo and back. The netbook was carried quietly.
The Metropolitan Hotel itself is grey, not pink as shown in the photo. The hotel has 16 floors, we lived on 14. Wi-Fi worked well. The room is quite large, 3 beds, 2 bedside tables, 2 tables fit comfortably. There are no balconies in any of the rooms. The safe is working. Cleaned daily with towels changed. At the front desk from 7 to 15 Russian-speaking employee. All excursions were booked at the reception, very convenient. The cost is cheaper than from Russia. The hotel has a free gym (but they only let you in sports shoes, you had to buy sneakers in the market for 60 shekels. ), free table tennis, sauna, 6x9 pool. Breakfast from 6:30 to 10. Before all the excursions, we had time to have breakfast. Breakfast is quite monotonous, buffet, in the morning they give 2 types of herring. Dinner must be ordered in advance from Russia (22 dollars), if on the spot, then already 40 dollars per person. We ate in a cafe for 15-20 dollars per person, or from a store. The room has a fridge, electric kettle, free tea and coffee bags. From the hotel to the sea to go 250 meters. The hotel is located on the second line, on the first only five stars, but from them to the sea 50-70 meters. To Tel Aviv market to go 10 minutes, to large shopping centers 15 minutes.
The beach is wonderful, very fine sand. Lots of beach volleyball courts. There was no strong heat, during the day 32-34, in the evening 25-26. No sticky suffocating heat like in Turkey. The sea is warming 29-30. Bathed with pleasure. The beach level is only 1.5 meters below the hotel levels, just a few steps, unlike Netanya.
The cost of excursions Bethlehem + Jerusalem 60 dollars, Nazareth 63 dollars, dead sea + spa + lunch (excellent buffet) 78 dollars. At the registration desk, you can sign up for a free tour to Jaffa + diamond exchange (4 hours in total, of which the exchange is 1 hour). Prices for diamonds on the stock exchange, we take Moscow prices and multiply by 2-3 times. The stones are clean and quite large, but the prices! On Allenby Street, where the market is located, there are more than 20 jewelry stores. For example, in ELI-PAZ at Allenby56, gold earrings for the second hole in the ear with a 0.15 carat diamond (VS and color GH) cost $150, while larger gold earrings with a 0.28 carat stone and the same characteristics cost from 1000 to 1350 dollars Everywhere you can bargain well. You can buy one stone, but we were interested in products.
Water 1.5l. in the supermarket costs 5 shekels, grapes in the market 6-7 shekels per kg. Back on August 1, we got by taxi (5 people) on Shabbat it cost 65 dollars. From transport on Shabbat, only a taxi runs and the price is 25% higher. Taxi booked at the hotel -cheaper. Jews do not work on Shabbat. The word freebie comes from the Hebrew freebie (milk). Since you can’t work on Shabbat, other people were invited to milk the cow, and you can’t take money for milk, then the milk was given away free of charge!