We went to Israel to attend Gil and Lior's wedding, and I fell in love with Israel all over again. It is one of the most fun weeks that we have had overseas.

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is a young fun and vibrant city. It feels like it is inhabited by only people aged 25 to 35. The weather was beautiful so we were outside a lot.

The bike share scheme is easy to use, and since Tel Aviv is flat, it is a good cheap option to get around.

Beach bars and smoking shisha at sunset was fun.

Sabia Frishman

Sabia Frishman was close to our apartment, the food was excellent and pretty cheap. We ate here twice.

Israeli food is the best.

Josmino

Josmino is new, and we found it in a recommendation from the hotel receptionist. Super simple, the offer chicken, lamb or vegetarian. Everything is grilled over coals and then served with fresh salad. Amazing.

Hummus Kaspi

Possibly the best meal that we had in Tel Aviv was at Hummus Kaspi. We found it on a whim, while not much else was open on the Sabbath.

The owner was super friendly and have us shots of Arak and helped us order.

We had Jachnun, which is traditionally eaten on the Sabbath.

The parsley salad was the standout dish. It was made with lemon juice, cranberries, pine nuts, red onion, drizzled with tahini and served on a bed of labneh. We liked it so much we've since made it three times at home.

Carmel Market

The Carmel Market was great fun, there were lots of bars and eateries. Also, most of the vendors have music pumping so it had good party vibes when we were there.

Port Sa'id

Port Sa'id was a popular restaurant bar in the center of town. It get packed at night but they usually didn't have to wait long.

Florentin

Day Trip to Ein Gedi National Park

On one of the days we took a day trip Ein Gedi, Masada and the Dead Sea.

Masada

Dead Sea

Jerusalem

After the wedding we headed to Jerusalem.  

We did a walking tour of the old city.

We ate a delicious Malawach wrap from Jachnun Bar.

We drank Israeli craft beer at Sira Pub and Beer Bazaar.

We visited Machane Market.

Machneyuda

On our last day we had lunch at Machneyda, one of Israel's top restaurants.

You can probably gather from the images that it was an experience that we will not forget.

Oh, and the food was really good!

And then a suprise

After a crazy lunch at Machneyuda. Gil and Lior had a surprise for us.

We took a taxi to the Jewish quarter of the old city and walked until we arrived at Gil's grandpa's house. It was the most incredible house, it was filled with artwork, including an original Picasso.

We arrived at sunset, the start of Shabbat and the muslim call to prayer.

From the roof terrace, we had the most spectacular view of the western wall and the temple mount.

It was the perfect end to our trip and a wonderful way to say farewell to Gil.