My husband and I want to go for a delayed honeymoon to Israel, either later this year (September-November), or early next year. We will likely be taking a tour, but there isn't much choice in tours here (we live in Ireland), so we might organise our own. In any case, what are the must see places, and the hidden gems of this country?

From memory of a few years back, the Northern end of the Sea of Galilee was delightful. It was as tranquil as a Scottish loch. What was best about it was that you needed no imagination whatsoever to see it in New Testament terms and visualise the fishermen working, the sudden storms and all the rest of the story there. It still has atmosphere. The great, gilded, overbuilt Christian shrines had none.

You should try sending Leppi an email. (Her address should be in her profile) She lives there.

Over a seven year period in the early 80's I worked in Jordan and all around the south side of the Arabian Gulf. In those days (I believe that this situation no longer obtains, but would need to make enquiries to be certain) an Israeli stamp on one's passport would close the gate to anyone attempting to enter any of the surrounding Muslim countries with the exception of Egypt. However a trip to Israel from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, etc. could be arranged by obtaining a separate visa and having that stamped by the Israeli authorities, and then there was no difficulty on re-entry to those countries.

The reason that I mention this is that I personally would recommend a visit to Jordan, which is an amazing country, and see if it might be possible to include a visit to Israel as part of the deal. Wadi Rum, The Dead Sea and Jerash have to be experienced to be believed, and although I have been to Petra on three occasions the first sight of the Treasury on emerging from the Siq is an utterly jaw-dropping experience. Nothing you have seen prepares you for this moment, and I urge you, funds permitting, not to get so tantalisingly close and miss the experience of Petra.

However, do what you will, Silja and show us the snaps! Incidentally, our daughter, Katie & her husband, Phil have just bought a house in County Clare, which they moved into two days ago. It has a lot of land and there is a heck of a lot to do, but they seem to love Ireland (I certainly do; there are some great pubs on O'Connell St and around St Stephen's Green!... ...)

Okay, must see's in Israel...

First question, do you want to be in Israel on an organized tour or do you want to travel on your own and maybe take a day tour here/there. Either way, would you like me to find out more information about such ours for you?

One of the places that almost everyone should go to is the Western wall in Jerusalem. Near the western wall are other things to do in the old city such as the tunnel tours which are located directly left of the western wall. The southern wall excavations are also a must see in my opinion. Other great things to do in the old city, though not necessarily a must see are the burnt house (you need to make a reservation in advance if you do this because the tours are always full) and the herodian quarter. The ramparts walk is really cool, but since you'll be going not during the summer, the only part that will be open is between the jaffa gate until slightly past the zion gate. Hezekia's tunnel's in the city of david are also something I think is really cool, but if you go there, bring a flashlight, and you should go on a warmer day because you will get wet in the tunnels.

Another really cool full day thing to do is start off the day by watching the sunrise from the top of masada (take the snake trail to the top), tour around the top of there, the go down to the beach on the dead sea or go hicking on the freshwater springs of nachal david (part of ein gedi).

Like FredPuli said, Northern Irael also has a great many cool things to do. My personal favorite is the old city in Tzfat. The Synogoge of the Ari is a really cool place. If you go there without a tourguide let me know in advance and I can tell you some really cool stories about the lion at the top of the ark, and about the earthquake during the 1800's there. If you want me to go more in detail let me know.

How do you feel about going into the west bank? If you do not mind going there, one place I enjoy going (though it is more of a religiously significant place) is rachel'stomb. You can take bus number 163 from the central bus station to get there. It's a bullet proof bus and everything so in my opinion here is no reason to be frightened. Also another cool religiously significant if cntrovertial place is 'Ma'arat Hamachpela,' the tomb where adam, eve, abraham, sarah, isaac, rebecca, jacob and leah are all buried and the is located in Hvron and it's the 160 bus that goes there.

Some things to know as general knowledge about going to Israel is as follows. Almost everyone you meet will speak at least a little bit of english so even if your hebrew is not that good (or non existant) you should be able to manage. And if someone does not understand you, most of the time there will be someone nearby who can translate for you. Also when shopping for soveniers and clothing especially is placed such as ben yehuda and machane yehuda in jerusalem, they expect you to bargian and will always make the price slightly higher for someone speaking english. Israel's bargian for almost everything.

When leaving the airport, if you are going to a major city like jerusalem or tel aviv, and you don't want to take the bus, take something called a sherut. It's a big taxi that seat's normally ten people, and to jerusalem costs 45 Shekel's (or at least it did last october when I went.) The sherut driver will drop you off at your door, so whilee you might have to wait for other people to be dropped off first, It's basically hiring a taxi and you share it with other people so you don't have to pay the high price of a single taxi.

If you have any other questions feel free to post here and ask me, or e-mail me. There are a lot of really cool things and you just can't fit it into one post.

I just remembered something I should of mentioned in my last post. Very often people will tell you to visit Yad Vashem, the holocaust memorial museum. The childrens memorial was one of the most moving memorials I've ever been too. Recently, The new Yad Vashem building was built. I am told it is not nearly as good as the first one, but I don't want to tell you to go or not to go because I would rather tell you from first hand experience.
Beit Hatfuzot is an excellent museum in Tel Aviv that does a wonderful job of explaining Jewish history. All the desplays are in both english and hebrew, and you should not have any trouble understanding the exibits.
The Israel Museum very often offers free tours of different places around Israel. You still have to pay the entrance fee at whereever you go to, but the explinations are pretty good, and it is really worthwhile.
Personally, it's not my favorite place, but since many other people love it so much, the tower of David museum right by Jaffa gate. The video is horrible (everyone agrees with that) but the museum itself has displays of all the different time periods in jerusalems history.
Right across from the tower of David museum is the Israel tourism bureau, where there are people that can answer your questions on almost everything that has to do with tourism in Israel.
If I rememeber any other things I should have mentioned I'll let you know, and if there is anything specific you want to know about, I can go to the tourism center and ask them for you in advance.