But first the story. Last month I was invited by Sorin Dutoiu &  Christian Stan  from Travel for Senses in a trip organized with Israeli Ministry of Tourism , to discover what wonderful places this country offers.

Until then, Israel meant to me, primarily, holy places full of stories, places that  I wanted to see since I was a kid . I was born into a religious family and studied the Bible every week, so to see those places was a dream come true.

But I discovered that Israel is much more than that. I was impressed by how modern this country is, they super nightlife, the food, the avant-garde designers and the last but not least, the very friendly people.

 Jerusalem

But let’s start with the beginning. After having passed through all filters corporate security EL AL Israel (not for nothing that they say that they are the safest airline in the world), along with the fun gang, we finally hit the road.

 Jerusalem was our first stopover city for 2 days. Here I stayed in a place that I loved called David Citadel Hotel, located right next to the fortress wall. The culinary experience here, was phenomenal. Besides the hotel buffet carefully prepared and very delicious (with the most diverse types of salads that I ever saw), the first night I ate very well at a roof top restaurant.

The next day I started full tour that I was looking forward to. The first place visited was the Mount of Olives where you can see the most beautiful view over Jerusalem. Then I went to the Western Wall, Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the final. Because there were many tourists at that time, I stood in line an hour and a half to enter the Holy Sepulchre, but the wait was worth it undoubtedly. I then wandered bazaar with the kinds of spices and traditional dishes. After a full day, I came back to the hotel room tired, but thinking of the beautiful places that we visited and those that will follow the next day.

Masada & Dead See

Next day we left for our next destination, Masada fortress, where King Herod built a fortress on top of the mountain and where Jews fled from the Roman invaders.

I took the cable car, and top view was breathtaking! From there you could admire the rocky desert combined with the azure of the Dead Sea. A superb array.

In the afternoon I went to the Dead Sea in the north part, where, after a delicious lunch, I went in the very salty water of the sea and I pampered my skin  with a mud rich in minerals.

Dead Sea water has therapeutic properties. I was surprised that given the level of salt 3 times higher than in the Black Sea or the Mediterranean, I was expecting my skin to remain very dry after the bath. But what fascinated me is that when you get out of the water, your skin has a nutritional oil film just  good for my dry skin. Besides this, I knew that the special mud has a lot of benefits for the body, so fully enjoyed it.

But before we got to the Dead Sea where I visited the factory of Ahava , where all products are made based on minerals extracted from the Dead Sea. Here I tested all the new products, a very good opportunity to make a very interesting material for Kanal D about that.

The new cream that caught my attention has diamond dust. In fact, it resembles more a kind of mask that you apply  once a week and basically it evens skin and gets rid of blackheads and other imperfections. So it is absolutely wow! I tested it on my  hand, let it some time and it left my skin super soft. It’s an overnight mask, sleep with it, and in the morning you rub thoroughly to remove dead cells.

Finally we arrived at The Scots Hotel in the beautiful area of Tiberias, a very interesting hotel, arranged in a former maternity ward, which makes it so special. Again, I was impressed by organic dishes, many products we served at breakfast were grown there and had an authentic taste. The hotel looks very nice, from architecture to the rooms decor, which made the stay there a very interesting experience.

The rest of the story next week!