AviaAre you looking to visit Jerusalem? Has is it been a while since you’ve been there and the urge to see this beautiful city has risen? Or maybe you’re just craving really good food?
That’s exactly what happened to us! It’s been a while since we visited the holy city and we kinda missed it.
Jerusalem is a beautiful city full of history from within the city and around it, it has amazing food and great culture and for a day you can enjoy it all in less then an hour drive from Tel Aviv!
Our itinerary has all of that and more and we highly recommend you to try it too!
Everything You Need To Know:
- Shtiley Ha’ar Nursery: open Monday-Thursday 8:30-16:00, Friday 8:30-14:00. Located on the Shalom Road, Abu Gosh.
- Ein Hemed National Park: requires early sign up on the website, optional to pay on the website as well as at the location. Price for adult 22 ILS. Open Sunday-Thursday and Saturday 8:00-17:00, Friday 8:00-16:00.
- Israel Museum: Visitors can enter to the museum only if they are fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 or after showing a negative COVID test result. Price for adult 54 ILS. Open Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday 10:00-17:00, Tuesday 16:00-19:00 and Friday 10:00-14:00.
- Mahne Yehuda: Usually will be closed on Saturday and national holidays. Open Sunday-Thursday 8:00-19:00, Friday 8:00-15:00.
The Nursery Place
Coffee! Alec can’t start the day without a good cuppa, and to be honest a good warm tea or a nice juice in the morning wouldn’t be such a bad idea for me too. We learned through our time traveling to never exclude from our itinerary food and this is no exception.
Not too far from Jerusalem in a town called Abu Gosh you should stop at this plant nursery. Not too big and full of beautiful plants for you to take home if you would like to, but bare with me, go in and keep on walking to the back of it.
Between all those plants at the back you’ll find a cute sitting nook and a coffee cart offering different natural juices, sandwiches and pastries too.
We recommend to sit there and enjoy the environment but you can also take away your loot and continue to the next destination for a little picnic in nature.
The Fort
Right on the other side of the rode to Jerusalem, there is a small national park called Ein Hemed. It’s easy to skip it since it’s not the most famous or impressive but you shouldn’t.
For a small fee you’ll be able to walk around trees and a little stream on your way to a fort, with many benches to sit and enjoy your little breakfast. If you come early enough – right when the place opens you might even have it all to yourself.
After parking don’t go straight to the fort, allow yourself to walk around and learn more about the place. Walk along the stream and between the trees, cross the stream through the small bridges and check if any of the trees bear any fresh fruit for you to maybe try (we wouldn’t tell).
The ground in this area is made of two different kind of stone that allow rainfall to gather underground and create the clean water stream that you see in front of you. This allowed people who lived here through time to enjoy fresh water and reside there.
At the end of that road is that hinted fort. It’s a structure built in the crusaders time and was used as a place to rest and regain power for the crusaders on their crusades.
If you’re lucky enough, you might meet the guardian of the fort and maybe the last standing crusader in the shape of a cat. I know it might be just a cat, I thought that too at first, but he didn’t leave us for a minute and watched every movement we made inside of the fort. When we left he quietly stood in the entrance letting us go, so what do you think?
Anyway, if he allows, you should wonder around the fort, it’s not too big but kept very well through the years, and you can try and imagine how the rooms used to look like and what was inside of it or who.
We also wrote a more detailed post about this place, it’s history and geography if you want to get more information before you go there.
The Israel Museum
This is the most famous and largest museum in Israel and is a must if you are interested in anything from art to history, archaeology or culture.
Unless you have endless time here, we suggest you plan your trip here in advance and choose the exhibitions and collections you want to visit here. It will allow you to focus on what’s interesting to you instead of wondering around, which will save you time. At the entrance grab the map to easily direct yourself to the pre-chosen parts of the museum.
On our visit we chose a temporary exhibition and went to the Israel’s archaeology and history part. Overall it took us around 2 hours and there was much more to see!
To add more value to the visit and learn much more while visiting we highly recommend you to grab an audio guide. It’s free if you bought a ticket to the museum and covers many parts of the museum. In the exhibitions you can find numbers next to the explanation texts, those numbers you put into the guide and it will explain to you in more detail the things that you see in front of you.
Now, I don’t know about you, but wondering around a museum usually makes us very hungry. After a quick check of the museum’s store we hopped to our next destination.
Mahne Yehuda
If you are in Jerusalem for whatever reason and lunch time is coming (and even if it isn’t!), you should always go to Mahne Yehuda for a quick grab or a more serious meal.
This is a huge market that sells vegetables, fruits, fish, meat and even snacks and in between there’s many stores and small restaurants that sell amazing food from all cultures and nooks of the world.
We got to warn you though, this is not a market for the faint of heart. It’s loud and on Fridays and before holidays it can get very crowded, it’s quick paced and almost never-ending. But this is also part of its charm, and the essence of the Israeli soul.
Israel is unique in the sense that it is very versatile, the people that live here vary on a very large scale and in this part of Israel this whole scale will open to you, and you’ll see them all.
Now that we got a bit more philosophical and soaked it all in lets talk about the reason we’re here – the food!
For a starter grab some juice to calm your empty stomach and allow you to make smart choices for lunch. Now wonder around, listen to the sounds, and especially to your nose when it recognizes a great smell. Follow it to check if you like what you see.
Another option would be to check google maps for positive reviews about the places around you.
Those are the two methods that Alec and I used to find ourselves some food that day, Alec followed his senses and found a burekas (a doughy pastry) full of ingredients chosen by you from a huge variety, like egg, tahini, different salads and many more.
I, on the other hand, was fixed on having good hummus for lunch so I searched for one in the area on google maps. Right next to the market, on one of the side streets I found one with great reviews. It’s called Ha’Hummus Shel Tchina, and I have to add my recommendation to the list too.
Other then waiting in line to get in (it was a friday afternoon – pretty busy time), I have no complaints, the prices were good and the hummus was just what I needed, great taste and it came with refillable soda!
In Conclusion
Jerusalem is not too far from anywhere in Israel and has so much to offer. If you’re like us coming from Tel Aviv or the area, we think this could be a great itinerary for you to have a quick visit to one of the best cities in the world.
HOPE YOU’LL ENJOY!
