I celebrated the first days of our Jewish Passover in Eilat, the popular desert resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea Gulf. The night before our plane arrival in Eilat, two Grad rockets , fired from the egyptian Sinai peninsula, have landed in the city causing big explosions and anxiety, but luckily no casualties and no damage.
Eilat airport located.. in the town center
Eilat, the southernmost city and port of Israel has lots of attractions - most of them for free: sun (as they say, ' everyday here is SUNday'), sea, sand, many beaches to choose from, red mountains, bird watching, shopping centers; some attractions require entrance fee: the underwater Observatory, coral reefs Reserve, dolphin reefs where dolphins interact with swimmers (I've visited the observatory and the reefs on a previous trip).
Eilat museum and art gallery
Hayam Mall- northern beach
Dancing near the mall
The climate here being very hot and dry, most of the time people are at the beach, sunbathing , practicing water sports such as swimming, snorkeling, surfing, diving - or inside the house/hotel/mall/museum and other air-conditioned spots.
on the beach
see the mountains in the background?
I needed a change of scenery and climate, and I fully got that in Eilat. The festive Passover meal (Seder Night) was also quite successful. As for the Sinai missiles, they'll probably 'visit' Eilat again, partly thanks to those wise guys who've encouraged what's poetically yet stupidly called ' arab spring'.