Tel Aviv - Eilat - Taba

Tel Aviv - Eilat - Egypt (photies in reverse order...)

We're up early on Friday to get the bus over to Tel Aviv before everything shuts down for Shabatt until Saturday night. We're experts at Jerusalem bus station after the trip to the Dead Sea, and we negotiate our way through airport-style security, and the bus leaves promptly on time. Its a short hop over to the modern vibrant TA. We're not too far from the Central Bus Station which is the biggest bus station ever seen, in the Neve Tsedek area, and wander down through a bustling market to find our lodgings for the next couple of days. The hustle and bustle is gone once we have settled into our room, and Shabbatt has begun. It leaves the place eerily quiet, so there is nothing else to do but go to the beach.

Neve Tsedek is a great area, with lots of trendy winebars, chic boutiques and cool coffee shops most of which would not be out of place on Abbeville Road. The prices though match! We found a great wine bar on the main street, with some great local wine - just a shame about the staff, who rather pointedly told us that service was not included. That lost them any tip that they may have got for bringing us 3 glasses of wine... Our hostel has a great roof terrace which is showing films when we get back, so we join in with a couple of beers and vodkas.

Its a very late Shabbat Friday night, and so not a lot happens on Saturday, which is probably just as well as everything is closed. We manage an evening stroll around the old town of Jaffa, and then back to the hostel for curry. Its run by Indians, so they do a great all you can eat buffet - perfect for a major hangover.

Our Sunday plans of getting an Egyptian Visa are thwarted once again by random embassy closures! The Egyptian embassy in TA is closed until Weds, which is ages away - we do have a back up plan, and decide to head down to Eilat, where we are guaranteed to get beach weather (its been a bit windy in TA) and we can pick up our Visa there and get over the border all on the same day to make it to Susi's hotel in Taba for evening drinks! So we are defeated, but not completely and head to the beach. After lunching on burgers to get over the ongoing Visa trauma, we have an evening wandering around the city's smart areas and streets - Sheinkin Street and Rothschild Avenue. TA would be a great weekend away break from the UK - great weather, smart shops and restaurants, and nice to wander around. Its pretty expensive though!

The next morning we are back to the enormous bus station to catch the bus to Eilat on the Southern tip of Israel, sitting on the Red Sea. The bus takes us through barren desert lands, with some startling scenery - almost lunar. There are a lot of extremes is Israel - we pass villages that are made up of corrugated iron shacks, and aware that we passing through parts of the world that have such conflict, and then we pull into a service station with the Golden Arches gleaming.

Eilat isnt the most inspiring of towns. Its a tourist destinations for the Israelis with markets selling lots of tat, big resort hotels and global brands with stores like KFC, Zara, Adidas, and the airport in the middle of the town! Planes land almost above your head. There is also a fantastic climate and a great beach, which also shows the contrasts of Israel. In the morning, our fellow beach guests are Russian overweight families, without an ounce of style between them, but the afternoon changes completely. Schools and colleges end, and kids come and pose on the beach. The beach bars kick up the Isro-pop booming out along the beach, and the only thing for us to do is get a beer and join in - even though we dont get given any flyers to the local night clubs, and feel too old.

Getting a Visa in Eilat is easy, and we are on our way by 1100am on the bus to the border. The only question we get is "are you carrying a weapon" and we are sent through into Egypt. The difference in border is stark. Israel is gleaming and new. Egypt has seen much better days, and immediately we are being offered taxis and asked where we are from. We're excited to see Susi and catch up with news from home, so are soon on our way to Taba Heights development - all the major hotel groups are represented - Sheraton, Marriott, and Susi is in the Hyatt. Its half term, so its full, and we have booked into a slightly cheaper option. But its still the biggest hotel room that we have had, has its own bathroom, TV, aircon, and we're on half board. Interestingly though, its also the first hotel that charges for wifi. We hit the pool for a couple of hours until Susi comes to meet us for drinks - we manage to blag our way onto the all inclusive deal, so get drinks free all night - until the last round, when the barman notices that we have blue wrist bands, not the pink that is the key to free everything. Still we've done pretty well out of it.

The next day we decamp down to the Hyatt, which is a huge resort; despite 1200 people checked in, it doesnt feel packed. There are 3 pools, and also a long stretch of beach, which has amazing snorkeling. It has a lovely feel to it, and we enjoy our day of luxury sunbathing, and enjoying top notch service, even if the gardens have been cut back by the new German manager. We join Susi's friends Mark, Alex, Mia and Max and Sally on 12th visit Sue's balcony for drinks, and then dinner, before heading back to our hotel at about 1230am blagging our way onto a tour bus taking a load of sleepy tourists up to Jerusalem. Its a great day, and wonderful to catch up with Susi, but we've got to get up for the 900am bus to Cairo the next morning, and a return to the budget lifestyle...