We slept well for 9 hours – the longest on this trip so far. We travel back to Tel Aviv later this afternoon but until that we have no plans, so we will have breakfast, pack and go out to continue to explore Eilat.

The Magic Palace Hotel is quite popular with young Israeli families and is “kid-friendly.” It seems like most of the guests are young parents with young children and the hotel offers many activities for the kids.

We checked out of the Magic Palace hotel at 11am, stowed our bags, then slowly walked up and down the bustling seaside promenade. There is a noticeable quietness today compared to when we arrived two days ago during the height of the Independent Day holiday weekend.

Took photos of the Jordanian, Saudi Arabian and Egyptian (Sinai) coastlines, and sat in the shade contemplating the experiences we’ve had so far in the Middle East.

Bumped into Anna on the promenade and enjoyed visiting with her for a few more moments then wished each other safe travels and snapped a final photo. [Note - Anna later came to visit us in Tucson for a wonderful, fun long weekend.]

Arrived at the Eilat airport fairly early, which was fortuitous since security there was a confusing mass of unclear lines and puzzled travelers. There did not seem to be any logic to the process, but an hour later we were on our flight to Tel Aviv. Off the plane’s starboard side we could see far into Jordan, past the steep, brown, mineral-lined mountains and wide, winding wadis. The dusty Negev sailed by below us and Eilat and the Red Sea faded away to the south.

We soon passed over the Dead Sea, Masada and Jericho before turning west towards Jerusalem and Tel Aviv beyond. As we continued on north by northwest, the brown Negev gave way to the green of the lower Galilee.

Arrived back at Tel Aviv’s Dov Hoz airport at 4pm, took a cab to familiar Hotel Miguel and settled in. Cleaned up and packed for tomorrow’s excursion to Jerusalem. At the Miguel we had a large room on the top floor with a large balcony and a splendid view of the Mediterranean.

At 6pm we walked along the Mediterranean Sea near the hotel and enjoyed the cool air after the heat of Eilat. We then walked back to the hotel and had another delicious dinner outside in the cool of the evening. Carol spotted our Uraguayan friends from yesterday’s Petra tour and we got their attention and they walked over to say hi. We were glad to see them again.

After another delicious dinner and fun-filled day, we fell into bed at 10:30pm to rest up for tomorrow’s journey to Jerusalem.

Next Day