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Mea She’arim
Walk north from Jaffa Rd along Strauss St and you’ll soon enter a neighbourhood with squat, stone-fronted buildings, balconies adorned with drying laundry, bearded figures in black, and long-skirted mums trailed by a gaggle of formally dressed children. If you have the sense that y
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Temple Mount/Al Haram ash
There are few patches of ground as holy – or as disputed – as this one. Known to Muslims as Al-Haram ash-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary) and Jews as Har HaBayit (Temple Mount), this elevated cyprus-planted plaza in the southeastern corner of the Old City is home to two of Islams most
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Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art
Founded by Felix Tikotin in 1957, this museum – unique in the Middle East – puts on superb exhibits of Japanese art.
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Makhtesh Ramon
Israel is a small country, but the Makhtesh Ramon is one place where it feels vast. Featuring multicoloured sandstone, volcanic rock and fossils, this geological phenomenon is 300m deep, 8km wide and 40km long and is best viewed from the lookout jutting over its edge 300m south of
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Pool of Al
The name means Pool of Arches, a reference to the majestic stone structures in this underground 8th-century reservoir. The most significant structure left from the Abbasid period, it is sometimes called the Pool of St Helena in reference to a Christian idea that the Empress Helena,
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Shrine of the Bab
The golden-domed Shrine of the Bab, completed in 1953, is the final resting place of the Bab, Bahaullahs spiritual predecessor, who was executed in Persia in 1850; his remains were brought to Haifa in 1909. Combining the style and proportions of European architecture with motifs in
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Ancient Bathhouse
When Elias Shama and his Belgian-born wife, Martina, set about renovating their shop in 1993, they uncovered a network of 2000-year-old clay pipes almost identical to ones found in Pompeii – and then, under the floor, an almost perfectly preserved Roman bathhouse once fed by water
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Coral Beach Nature Reserve
The beach at this marine reserve overseen by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority is definitely the best on this part of the coast, and the protected waters are a utopia for snorkellers. A wooden bridge leads from the shore to the beginning of the reef, which is over 1km in length
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Museum of Hungarian Speaking Jewry
Evocative artefacts, photographs and documents do a masterful job of evoking the lost world of pre-WWII Hungarian-speaking Jewry. A 17-minute film provides context. If you’re interested, museum co-founder (along with her husband) Chava Lustig will tell you about the Budapest ghetto
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Old City
Centred on Kikar Kedumim (Kedumim Sq), a paved space edged by touristy shops and cafes, this hilltop area overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and is visually dominated by the Franciscan St Peter’s Church . The surrounding laneways are home to boutique tourist accommodation, galleries a
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Golan Archaeological Museum
A real gem! Highlights include extraordinary basalt lintels and Aramaic inscriptions from 30 Byzantine-era Golan synagogues; coins minted during the Great Jewish Revolt (66–70 CE); a model of Rujum al-Hiri, a mysterious Stone Age maze 156m across, which was built some 4500 years ag
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Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation
According to Greek Orthodox tradition, the Annunciation took place while Mary was fetching water from the spring situated directly under this richly frescoed, 17th-century church (other denominations hold that she was at home during the Annunciation). The barrel-vaulted crypt , fir
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Ein Bokek Beach
This broad, clean beach, in the middle of Ein Bokek’s main (northern) hotel zone, is gloriously sandy. It has lifeguards, shade shelters, beach showers, changing rooms and bathrooms (closed at night). Camping is permitted – this is a much more comfortable option than Ein Gedi Beach
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Knights Halls
Step into the towering, stone-vaulted Knights Halls, built 800 years ago by the Hospitallers (a monastic military order), and its not hard to envision the medieval knights who once lived here. Marco Polo, on his way to meet Kublai Khan, may have dined in the refectory ; in each of
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Museum on the Seam
Located on the seam (border) between East and West Jerusalem, this gallery presents contemporary-art exhibitions that are challenging, controversial and satisfying in equal measure. The building itself served as a forward military position for the Israeli army from 1948 to 1967 and
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Flea Market
In recent years, lots of energy has gone into giving Jaffas Old City a tourism-triggered makeover, and the results are undeniably attractive. However, the real draw in this part of the city is considerably more dishevelled. Spread over a grid of streets south of the clock tower, Ja
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Clandestine Immigration & Naval Museum
A lot more evocative and dramatic than you might expect, this museum showcases the Zionist Movement’s determined efforts to infiltrate Jewish refugees from Europe into British-blockaded Palestine from 1934 to 1948. The centrepiece is a WWII landing craft rechristened the Af-Al-Pi-C
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Masada Museum
A really excellent introduction to Masada’s archaeology and history, this museum combines 500 evocative artefacts unearthed by archaeologists (and five replicas) with introductions to Masada personalities – eg Herod the Great, who built a palace here in the 1st century BCE, and Jos
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Caro Synagogue
Named (like the street it’s on) in honour of the author of the Shulchan Aruch (the most authoritative codification of Jewish law), Toledo-born Rabbi Yosef Caro (1488–1575), this synagogue was founded as a house of study in the 1500s but rebuilt after the earthquakes of 1759 and 183
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Centre International Marie de Nazareth
Almost across the street from the Basilica of the Annunciation, this stunning complex was built by Chemin Neuf, a Roman Catholic community based in France, as a venue for ecumenical work among Christians and for inter-religious dialogue. The peaceful rooftop gardens, landscaped wit
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