The Wanderers Stories

By Abhik Dutta

Israel has always been an enigma. While the pint-sized country has always been admired by Indians for reasons historical, scientific and political, traveling to Israel for purely leisure tourism purposes was never really on the cards for us. Trips were primarily undertaken by religious, agricultural and medical groups from India. For some reason, it wasn’t considered politically correct to flaunt a trip to Israel when previous Indian Governments were in power. Now, not only are government to government interactions at an all-time high but travel by groups other than those listed above are also seeing a sharp rise. Companies are not shy anymore to announce trips to Israel for “incentive” purposes. Individual travellers are showing a great deal of interest.

I am often asked about my travel experience to Israel by friends and clients, so here are a few of them that I thought of penning down.

Which places did you visit?

I travelled to Israel in the month of November and had the wonderful opportunity of visiting the vibrant ‘non-stop’ city of Tel Aviv (including Jaffa & Herziliya) on the shores of the Mediterranean, the ancient city of Jerusalem, the Dead Sea and the resort city of Eilat on the Red Sea. En route to the Dead and Eilat, we took detours into the Judean desert and the Negev desert.

What is the best time to travel here?

Being on the Southern coast of the Mediterranean, it enjoys a typical Mediterranean climate. While it does get cold in Jerusalem for a month in Dec/Jan (it could even snow there), one can still take a dip in the Red Sea resort of Eilat in end Jan. But I would recommend the months of March, April, May, June and Sep, Oct and November. July & August are hot months, specially around the Dead Sea and the desert area of Negev.

What is the best way to travel around the cities?

In Tel-Aviv, its easy to cab it to any of the main centres and then just walk around. In Jerusalem, you have to walk in the Old City and get lost in its labyrinthine lanes and by lanes of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish quarters. Eilat is chiefly a walking town and its great to just walk the promenade from one end to the other. It’s the most vibrant stretch in Eilat, filled with pubs, cafes, shops and restaurants.

What do you consider to be the 3 highlights of your trip? And why?

Walking through the old streets of Jerusalem.

Here time stands still. Wandering along the old cobble stoned walk ways of the city leading through the various quarters, past curio shops and galleries right up to the open view of the Temple Mount and the Western Wall is a delightful experience. To visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and laid to rest is one of my life’s most poignant moments.

Wine tasting in Tel Aviv:

There are many kinds of wine tasting that takes place around the world. But none as rewarding or humbling as that offered at the BlackOut, the pitch-black restaurant with its staff of blind waiters. This is part of the Nalaga’at Center at Jaffa, located near the wharf. The Center – the first of its kind in the world, seeks to promote interaction between deaf-blind, deaf, and blind individuals and people able to hear and see, regardless of cultural or social distinctions. At BlackOut, we were escorted by blind waiters to our seats in total darkness and over the next one hour taken through a session of wine tasting that left an indelible impression on my mind.

Floating on the Dead Sea:

We have all grown up reading books about floating on the Dead Sea. Floating here is made possible because of its high salinity (34%) which is almost 10 times more saline than Ocean water. It was an amazing experience to tread into the still waters of the Dead Sea at dawn in November, the water temperature mild even this early during the day, so late in the season. And for the next hour, I floated quietly on the ‘oily’ water chatting away with my other ‘floating’ friends, smearing my body with salt from the sea bed in what is one of my life’s most surreal experiences. Needless to say, this is perhaps the only Sea in the world where nobody even tries to swim!

What are the must do sightseeing when you travel to Israel?

If you have a week in hand, you must visit Tel-Aviv (and Yaffo), Jerusalem, Dead Sea and finally party away in Eilat. En route from Dead Sea to Eilat, you will pass the Negev Desert. You can experience a jeep safari in the Judean desert, visit the Timna Park in Eilat or snorkel in the famed reefs of the Red Sea. For those interested in the Holyland tours, a visit to Bethelhem, the Sea of Galilee etc are a must.

What are the best places to eat local cuisine?

I can heartily recommend the following places where we tried our luck:

Tel-Aviv: At Vicky Cristina at the Old train station or sea food at White Pergola at the Port area. Or you can just walk through Carmel open market and pick up food from the local stalls. In Jaffa, you could try Dr. Shakskuka restaurant. Its been featured in a few travel channels as well and seems like a favourite with the locals.
Jerusalem: Try the seafood at Adom restaurant in the Old train station area (yes, Jerusalem too has one!). The food is delicious and the atmosphere of the area is electric!

Eilat: If you want to try Asian fusion cuisine, try Ginger Asian Bar and Kitchen. I heartily recommend whatever the chef throws at you. The Bar beach restaurant cooks up great sea food menus.
But no matter, where you are, you MUST try Israeli wine. Its great stuff. I heartily recommend the Galil Mountain red wine made from Syrah grapes.

Can you name a few flea/famous markets where one can pick up souvenirs?

Don’t miss the great atmosphere of the Carmel market in Tel Aviv, an open air market selling everything from food to locally made (innovative) window cleaning equipment, curios and flowers. On Tuesdays and Fridays, you are in for a treat as the next door Nahlat Binyamin Pedestrian street comes alive with local craftsmen lining the street with their exceptional crafts that range from miniature rice paintings to stone paintings, sculpture etc. It’s a feast for the eyes.

Can you recommend a few ‘watering holes’ to be at post 7 pm?

Tel-Aviv is known as a Non-Stop city! With a reputation to live upto, its no wonder that the city is full of bars and pubs that stay open well past the break of dawn. Unlike other large cities in the world, the cities pubs are small but allow for a great pub hopping experience. Its best to see a few and then return to the one you like best. I would recommend that you head for Lilienblum Street and then take it on from there! In Eilat, my favourite was the “Three Monkeys Pub”.

Can your company organise incentive tours for groups?

Yes of Course. The Wanderers can offer unique programmes for corporates in Israel. Including visits to companies to understand the innovation culture in Israel, or to a local farm to get an insight into latest “innovations” in agriculture or to a state of the art medical centre to share latest medical advancements.

-by Abhik Dutta, Director & Co-Founder of The Wanderers

By Alka Deshpande

PROLOGUE

The US visas for our co-travellers were not happening which meant that we had a whole week of vacation before proceeding to New York and Columbia University to attend our son’s graduation. With barely 10 days left, getting a visa from the country of our choice (Spain/Portugal/Greece) in time was difficult, if not downright impossible. Our travel consultant, Farah from Wanderers suggested Germany (of course, the Germans would be the most efficient!!) as that was the only consulate that would give us a visa in a week. So we planned to visit Munich (our port of entry), Vienna, Salzburg and Budapest.

AUSTRIAAAAH!!!

Europe is one of our favourite traveling destinations for all the variety it offers…scenic surroundings, history, architecture, art, cuisine and good weather….if you are lucky!!

We landed at Munich and were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves upgraded to a suite at the Le Meredien – what a nice start to our holiday! We wandered around the city on a Hop-on Hop-off tour that allowed us to spend as much time as we liked at any of the spots or skip ones that did not interest us. The problem, however, is that sometimes by the time the guide finishes his explanation in three languages the object of his verbosity is left far behind!!! One of the must see places in Munich is undoubtedly the BMW Museum. This ‘Mecca’ for automobile fans, it impressed and intrigued even a casual visitor like me. The sprawling Scloss Nymphenburg spread luxuriantly amidst acres of well laid gardens is beautiful too. Munich seemed a friendly city and it is a relief that English is more widely understood now than it was during our first trip to Europe in the 1990’s.

One of he highlights of our trip was the train journeys between destinations. Farah did not have to work too hard at encouraging us to splurge and travel first class. It may have cost us an arm and a leg, but it was worth every penny. The trains are clean, fast, and efficient and our seats were booked and marked out with our names. We were met promptly at all the stations by distinguished looking and extremely courteous chauffeurs and many of them were quite knowledgeable about the city and its history. To our astonishment we also encountered a couple of them who had traveled to India!!

Austria is beautiful…probably as good as Switzerland. We spent 2 days at Vienna which is a huge bustling city full of the most beautiful old buildings. On our first evening at Vienna we visited the Kursalon theatre for a musical performance of Strauss melodies. It was very entertaining and the female lead vocalist irrevocably reminded one of the famous Bianca Castafiore (of the Tintin comics fame) even though this lady was pencil slim and very pretty!!

An evening city tour took us up a TV tower from where we could get a beautiful view of Vienna and the Danube by the light of the setting sun. The highlight of the tour was a visit to a little tavern with live musicians and a warm and cozy ambience. We spent a lovely evening chatting with tourists from around the world, sipping wine and enjoying the lively melodies – waltzes, folk music, and even the theme from ‘Titanic’!

Outside Mayerling Hunting Lodge, Vienna Woods

A day trip took us through the beautiful countryside to the Mayerling hunting Lodge with its haunting history of the tragic romance of Crown Prince Rudolf and his mistress Baroness Vetsera. The lodge has now been converted into a church and nunnery and incredulously the bedchamber where the lovers were found dead is now the chapel!!!

Kumar and I on the Danube River Cruise, Budapest

Following the Danube further south brought us to Budapest (Hungary), another old and historic city with a huge rambling castle and grounds sitting atop a hill. Our guide, Catherine took us on a 4 hour walking tour around the city and yes, up the hill to the castle as well. Because their economy is in a shambles, the city seems a bit run down but it is very beautiful nevertheless. The city has a lot of history of invasion and influences of different cultures as, pretty much like Rajasthan in India, it bore the brunt of invasions into Europe. One of the advantages of the walking tour is that one gets to see curious and interesting little known places, charming inns and buildings which would otherwise be lost in a group tour. It was also lovely talking to Catherine as she was really knowledgeable and was quite easily the best guide we had. That evening we went for a performance of Hungarian Folk dances which was exhilarating. The dances were energetic and intricate, the music foot-tapping and the costumes gorgeous.

The Danube at Budapest is broad and majestic and divides the city into its two original quarters, Buda and Pest. The evening river cruise on the Danube beckoned… and watching the lights come on and light up the elegant and historic buildings and bridges on either side of the river was a sight worth seeing. Hungary is also famous for the delicate porcelain and dainty lacework …but it is prohibitively expensive!

And finally we reached Salzburg is probably one of the quaintest and most charming places we have seen. Right from our heritage hotel, the Aldtstat Radisson Blu to the Salzach river, its just picture perfect.

The hotel is housed in a 600 year old building and has been renovated most tastefully. The coffee shop, called Picnic, had delicious food and we found ourselves eating there almost every day. There are many well organized tours to see every part of Salzburg including the hugely popular ‘Sound of Music’ tour (and, NO, we did not take that tour. Its like one of our chauffers said, “The movie was made 40 years ago and people still want to run around like Maria Von Trapp!!”). One highly recommended trip is the one to the Salt mines and another to Eagles nest and the Nazi bunkers. The latter is a chilling experience. Also, not to be missed is the Lakes and Mountains trip that stops at the tiny village of St.Wolfgangsee. Yes, its all very touristy and recreates the ambience of tiny picturesque village with hazaar quaint shops selling zillions of overpriced souvenirs, but its fun as long as you don’t think this is the real Austria. What is worth seeing at St.Wolfgangsee, however, is the winged Gothic altar by Michael Pacher (one of only 2 that he made). Pacher’s masterpiece is considered one of the leading and most remarkable carved and painted altar shrines in all of European art. Do not forget to pick up your supply of ‘Mozart Balls’ before you leave Salzburg, they are available everywhere!

EPILOGUE

So what did I enjoy most about the trip to Austria? Undoubtedly the lavish breakfasts that were spread out each morning no matter where we stayed. Nothing like starting a day with a King sized repast and then walking it all off exploring the fascinating and engrossing cities and countryside.

So here’s a HUGE ‘Thank You’ to Farah and The Wanderers – All the meticulous planning and the excellent arrangements certainly made our holiday a truly memorable one.

Tag: cuisine

Israel – The highs and lows