Eilat

Eilat is Israel's southern-most city. It is a resort town situated at the northern tip of the Red Sea with many nice hotels and is known for its beautiful coral reefs (one of the best in the world), scuba diving, undersea observatory with many tropical fish, as well as its fun and 'free spirit' atmosphere. The temperature there was 85 degrees when we visited and the water temperature a bit colder but I thought it was just perfect. My sister Rely and her daughter Rotem joined me on the trip to Eilat. We took a bus from Rishon - it is a 4.5 hours ride, mostly through the Negev desert, with two stops along the way. The bus was totally full and we even picked some soldiers in Beer Sheva who stood all the way to Eilat. The seats were small and not too comfortable, not the best way to travel (was hard to take a nap!). The driver told me that Egged, Israel's national bus company, is in the process now of changing the buses to Eilat. I really hope so - because you need to be about 4 feet tall to fit in these chairs.

The most unexpected surprise was the hotel where we stayed, the Hilton Queen of Sheba in Eilat. The reviews for the hotel were mixed online so I didn't expect too much but we were pleasantly surprised. They treated us like royalty - great service, huge breakfasts, free terrific dinners at the "business lounge" (I'm Hilton Honors Gold member), free soft (and not so soft) drinks - you need to drink a lot in this weather. I also booked a trip to Petra, Jordan though a travel agent in the hotel (an unforgettable experience that I'll try to write a separate post on but will include some pictures here for now). For one thing I also attribute this top-notch service to the intense competition for customers among the hotels in Eilat who are also competing with hotels in the neighboring Aqaba, Jordan, just few miles away, which also have many fancy hotels (and has a gigantic project underway to build a separate lagoon with 5 five-star hoels financed by the Hariri family of Lebanon). In the pictures you will notice the rugged, purplish color mountains in the background, these are the Moab mountains on the Jordanian side. Amazing - especially at sun-set. All in all - we had a very relaxing weekend here and returned by plane from Eilat to Sde Dov, a tiny airport along the beach in Tel Aviv.


Description of the pictures - from top to bottom:

1. Nabateian dwelling caves in Petra, Jordan (day trip from Eilat)
2. At the 'Treasury' in Petra, Jordan - amazing and truly breathtaking building carved into the red rocks
3. The Hilton Queen of Sheba Hotel in Eilat at night
4. Swimming at "Rimonim" beach in Eilat
5. Morning walk on the beach in Eilat
6. Eilat at night (from the hotel's roof)