Israel or the State of Israel – a state in southwest Asia

SHOPPING
The range in Israeli stores is very wide. The choice of clothes is worse than in Europe. Audio, video and electrical equipment in Israel is unprofitable to buy.
In large cities, stores are usually open from Sunday to Thursday from 9.00 to 19.00, on Friday until 14:00. Large shopping centers, located in all cities on weekdays, are open from 8.00 to 22.00. Duty free shops are located at international airports.
In Israel, buying:
Dead Sea Cosmetics.
Cypress and mother of pearl crosses, Jerusalem candles, icons, rosaries and other numerous Christian souvenirs.
Jewish religious objects: Chanukiah (seven-candle), mezuzahs (bundle of prayer), bales (yarmulks), tallits (woolen shawls), kiddush (bowl for consecration), demon (incense vessel).
Muslim souvenirs: plates with inscriptions from the Koran, prayer rugs, rosary.
Bedouin and Palestinian carpets and fabrics, copper and brass products, Armenian ceramics.
In Israel, as in many countries, the amount of value added tax (VAT, Hebrew Maam), obligatory for citizens of Israel, is refunded to tourists (non-residents).
WHERE TO STAY
Israel’s hotels do not have an official “star” classification: instead there is a system of “classes”. Since there are a lot of hotels of different world “chains” in the country, tour operators set their classification based on their more or less objective assessments. This means that when choosing a hotel in Israel, you should not be guided by the number of “stars” (this is a very conditional indicator), but by a specific list of services and room descriptions. However, hotel service is quite clear – there is no “rebooking”. In general, hotels in the country – at an average global level.
Check-in time in hotels is usually from 2:00 pm (in hotels of Eilat and the Dead Sea – from 3:00 pm), check-out time from hotels is until 12:00 (in Eilat and on the Dead Sea – until 11:00). Hotels can set another time of arrival and departure. For example, some hotels in Jerusalem on Saturday make late check-out and, accordingly, check-in – 18:00.
In many hotels, when placing, they take credit card details, or charge a certain amount in cash (about $ 100), as collateral for additional services (telephone calls, mini-bar use, ordering drinks in the room and during dinner, using laundry and etc.). Upon departure from the hotel, after payment of all additional services, the cash deposit is returned.
SEA AND BEACHES
Beach holidays in Israel last all year round. The water temperature of the Red Sea never drops below + 22-23С, and the sun shines 359 days a year. The temperature of the Dead Sea water ranges from + 34C in August to + 25C in February. And on the Mediterranean Sea in the winter – windsurfing season.
The Mediterranean coast of Israel stretches from north to south for more than 200 km. The best conditions for a beach holiday corresponds to the location of the resort cities of Netanya, Herzliya, Tel Aviv. In these resort areas, beaches with fine fine light brown sand are well equipped for a good rest. The downside is the fact that almost all beaches are public, and hotels (with a few exceptions) do not have their own beaches.
At the Dead Sea, the most ideal sandy beaches are located in the southern part, in the Ein Bokek area. There is also a large part of the hotel. The rest of the coast is quite rocky and not adapted for beach holidays.
The Israeli coast of the Red Sea is limited by borders with Egypt and Jordan and is only 14 km long. The northern part of the coast is a good sandy beaches, in the same place – dozens of major hotels, lagoon, places of entertainment and recreation. The southern part of the coast, closer to the border with Egypt, is rocky, in some places with coral reefs near the coast.
STORY
The land of Israel is sacred to the Jewish people since the times of the biblical patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Scientists attribute this period to the beginning of 2 millennium BC. e. According to the Bible, the Land of Israel was bequeathed to the Jews by God, in order to become the Promised Land – here are all the holy places of the Jewish people.
The first Hebrew tribes appear here around 1200 BC. e. This period dates from the 250 Jewish settlements found here.
Starting from the VIII century BC. e. this territory was consistently under the rule of Assyria, Babylon (586-539 BC), the Persian empire of the Achaemenids (539-331 BC), Macedonia (332-312 BC). In the III-II centuries. BC e. was part of the Hellenistic states of the Ptolemies and Seleucids.
Having conquered, as a result of the Maccabean uprising, independence from 152 to 37 BC. e. in Judea, the Hasmonean Jewish dynasty ruled.