Getting Around the Holy Land

For my own sake, I want to be able to remember where we went.  Here's a little overview of our trip:

We ended up taking two organized tours of about 12 people-- one to Masada and the Dead Sea, and one to the Northern Israel Biblical sites.  Both were definitely worth it because they can drive you around directly to the places you want to see.  Some of the stops were only 30 minutes long, which was enough time to see the church and then get back in the van to head to the next place.  It would have been a mess trying to navigate public transportation all over Israel, or worse, pay a taxi or rent a car.

There were plenty of things to do in Jerusalem to keep us occupied, but after three full days, I was feeling a little burned out.  It is certainly not a "leisurely" city.  Spending the second half of the trip in Tel Aviv was a great balance: its a modern city that's fun to walk around, but there are really no "must see" sites.  After all, it is only 100 years old.  So we felt no pressure to race around seeing things.  (That's how we ended up visiting the beach for 4 days!)

By the end, we were ready to come home, and didn't feel like we needed another vacation just to recover from all the travel.  That's the best feeling to end a trip!