You know you're going somewhere special when the passengers in the plane start cheering and clapping when the plane touches ground. I first travelled to Israel in 2007 and I went in one those set Christian pilgrim tours. I fell in love with the place before the plane landed, I could see the city through the windows and it was dark and all the lights made it look like the city was adorned with gold.

We went to the usual touristy sights that most Christians go to, Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Nazareth, Tiberius, Galilee, Capernaum, Bethlehem (part of the Palestinian authorities) and of course Jerusalem! I loved every second of it; I felt I was watching the pages of my Bible unfold before me. I had never imagined I would actually see signboards that said "Jerusalem" or "Bethlehem"!I have to agree it's all very commercial and you'll see shuks(markets) and hagglers and very orthodox churches with fancy lanterns and incense and gold paintings in most places that Jesus walked through but a good imagination comes in handy!

We went on one of those "Jesus boats" on the sea of Galilee and I would seriously advice you to look at the waters, clear your mind and imagine Jesus walking on it towards you.. call me a dreamer but it was magical! One place I can guarantee you'll be touched is the Western wall/ Wailing wall or just the Kotel (The wall). To imagine that once inside the walls in the Temple the presence of the Divine dwelled is amazing!

In the evenings we would go to a coffee shop in Ben Yehuda street and have hot chocolate and bagels (we are tourists) or muffins and walk along and chat to the locals. They called us "India!!" and told us they love India and that Goa is a mini Israeli colony. We went to a night market in chat (chatolot) square and it had people bringing handmade or local artefacts and selling them, the people were so friendly(some maybe a bit too friendly) and we got a few bargains that night! I fell in love more this time when I went. This time (a month ago) we went to a huge mall in Tel Aviv which was just like any other mall in America or the U.K. but with lots of hot Middle Eastern people, we were probably the only tourists there. We also went to the beach in Tel Aviv and it is beautiful, I highly recommend. 

I didn't want to leave on my last day. I loved the food (hummus, baba ganoush, shawarma, falafel, halvah, baklawa, kebab..), the people(and I must mention the very good looking IDF boys!), the shopping (I'm a shopaholic and please feel free to ask me about shopping!).. and I honestly can't wait to go back, Behezrat Hashem (God willing)!

Prepare to fall in love with Isra'EL! Shalom :)