GUIDE Best Tips for traveling to Israel and visiting the Holy Land

Maritza. In February the temperature is 5 degrees and there is snow because it is winter. If you are not European, you are going to have a very bad time because the fun of going to Israel is to walk uncovered through the sites you are going to visit, even more so if your trip is religious or cultural. In June and July there are places like Capernaum, Tiberias, Jericho and the Dead Sea with temperatures of more than 40 degrees. Jerusalem is about 38 degrees. Such heat is due to the fact that it is summer and that the sites mentioned (except Jerusalem) are below sea level. Such temperatures are scary but it should not be like that because in Israel semi-desert territories and the deserts of Judea and the Negev predominate and the heat in lands like this is extremely dry so it does not bother as it happens in places with humid heat because the humidity is the which generates unbearable sticky sweat, as happens for example in Paris or Rome in June or July or, in the case of my country, Colombia, in the city of Barranquilla. Such desert heat is even pleasant because there are times when the sweat comes out not as liquid but as vapor and since the body is dry, the heat seems like a very pleasant soft coat but be careful that this is dangerous because you do not realize that you are evaporating so you must be careful to hydrate yourself with your bottle of water. The sun beats down hard but the solution is the hat and that's it. Capernaum and Tiberias are on the shore of the Sea of ​​Galilee (Lake of Genezareth) they are about 10 meters away. below sea level and so do the nearby biblical sites such as Magdala and Tabgha (multiplication of the loaves and fishes) and the little church of the Primacy of Saint Peter. The Mount of Beatitudes is a little higher, 5 minutes by car from Tabgha. The Judean Desert is crossed (like all vehicle journeys) in air-conditioned buses. Jericho and the Dead Sea are 510 meters below sea level and the surface of the Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth at the level of the earth's surface. The coastal cities of the Mediterranean are cooler due to the sea breeze (Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Netanya, Hadera, Caesarea, Haifa and Acre. I would recommend a tour taken through a travel agency to save you time and for safety reasons. It is more expensive but totally quiet. The downside is that you only go to the places that are in the program and you can't see places you would like to see. An example: you would like to go to Acre to see the Crusader citadel, or go to Jerusalem to see the Palace of Caiaphas (it is the same one where Peter denied Jesus), etc., but the guide decides not to go and you don't even notice. Another: in Nazareth they offer you religious or non-carved olive wood images on the street and they ask for 30 USD but you offer 10 and they sell it to you for 12 or 15. The guide tells you not to buy there but in Bethlehem or somewhere else but you get there and he takes you where they give him a commission for sales and you discover that an identical image but half or a third of it costs you 40 dollars and there is no discount No negotiation possible. Disobey the guide politely and do not delay because you can get lost in the group and that is very problematic. For me the best tour is to start with Tel Aviv and Jaffa (this is today a neighborhood of the first) and then go along the Mediterranean coast to Caesarea (ruins of the port, amphitheater, Roman aqueduct), Haifa (Mount Carmel, cave of the prophet Elías) and Acre (walls, citadel of the crusaders and the caravan hotel from the Middle Ages and the most spectacular thing is a mosque I don't remember its name), then stay in a Kibbutz north of Acre like Hesher Haziv or go to that same on the other side of the country in Tiberias. From there go to Capernaum (Peter's mother-in-law's house, 4th century synagogue on the site of the synagogue where Jesus preached most, ruins of the town), Migdal (Magdala), Tabgha (multiplication and primacy of Peter). Here is the opportunity to go to Bethsaida about 6 or 7 km from Capernaum but almost no tour takes you there. In Tiberias you can ask the guide to take the group to take a boat to sail to Capernaum and start this part of Galilee through Capernaum through this short walk sailing exactly where Jesus and the apostles did and seeing beautiful landscapes both on the Israeli coast and in that of Syria, such as the Mount of Beatitudes and Mount Hermon. In Tiberias (Tiberias) you can swim in the Sea of ​​Galilee if your hotel is on its shore. The beaches are generally private. In Colombia there are no private beaches as they are considered public goods with free access for all inhabitants and that means that Colombians can make unpleasant mistakes. From Galilee you leave towards the south towards Jerusalem and on that trip you can go, leaving the Sea of ​​Galilee, to Yardenit and there see the site of the baptisms of various Christian churches in the middle of Jordan, they sell you little bottles with water from the Jordan or You bottle it in your bottle, then visit the city of Beith Sheán (spectacular) next to the road but the guide does not take you if you do not ask him or he is not interested or he does not have time because we delay him. The same thing happens a little further down with climbing Mount Tavor (Transfiguration of Jesus). You get in a taxi for about 5-7 dollars. Then it crosses the Judean desert which goes to the entrance to Jerusalem but on the way you know Jericho, you see the Mount of Temptation, etc. You continue to Jerusalem and there you spend 3 days getting to know all the holy places of the 3 religions, which are too long to list. On those days they take you to Bethlehem and the little town of Ein Karem (there you know the birthplace of John the Baptist and you can go up to the house of Saint Elizabeth, the cousin whom Mary visited while pregnant with Jesus). They give you a day off, which is interesting, but it is preferable to form a small group of at least 5 people so that for a few dollars, the guide will take you to see the Dead Sea, bathing in it is spectacular because those who do not know how to swim float only lying down due to the salinity of 30% (the normal sea is approx. 3%). For this it is better to go to a Jewish spa because the Palestinian ones are ugly and separate men and women on different beaches. After the unforgettable bath, you will visit the Masada fortress, whose history I advise you to read now. There the guides have the habit of not taking you to see Herod's palaces to the north and south of the mountain. Ask for it because it's worth it. Furthermore, the landscape is spectacular. Jordan is seen on the opposite coast, to the south the area where Sodom and Gomorrah were, to the west the mountains of the Judean desert, etc. A possible site to visit there is also the oasis of Ein Gedí where David hid when Saul wanted to kill him. David sees Saul coming with his army, he hides in a cave. Saúl feels the urge to defecate and enters the cave at the bottom of which David is. He approaches Saul and cuts off part of Saul's cloak and when Saul leaves, David comes out and shows him the piece of cloak and tells him that he could have killed him and he didn't. Saul forgives him. Well, sorry for the length but I hope it helps you and others.