The most expensive hotel suite: bar, pool and piano at the top of a tower
A year ago, the first hotel of the prestigious international chain Kempinski was launched in Israel at 51 HaYarkon Street in Tel Aviv. The highlight of the David Kempinski Tel Aviv is the most expensive Suite in Israel called the David Penthouse. This is a three-story suite with a total area of 380 square meters.
The first floor features a master bedroom, kitchenette, a study, walk-in wardrobe, living room, dining room for eight diners, two bathrooms (one of which has a dry and wet sauna), a rich Macallan alcohol bar and a white baby grand piano.
The second floor features another bedroom and a gym surrounded by glass windows with a panoramic view of the skyline of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. On the third floor, there is an eight-meter-long infinity pool and a variety of seating sets, sun loungers and an outdoor kitchen. The Suite guests can also enjoy the services of a private driver with a luxurious car and a personal butler.
More amenities in the suite: extra-large double bed at a length of 2.1 meters and 2 meters in width, sheets made of premium cotton with a density of 600 threads per inch, a duvet of the Icelandic Down brand, which is made of feathers from a gray goose that lives in Iceland and costs about 8,000 dollars, pillows made of 100% goose down made by the German company Muhldorfer, and towels and bathrobes that are produced exclusively for Kempinski Tel Aviv at the HAMAM factory in Turkey with advanced technology (Comb Cotton/Hydro Cotton) that is meant to make the fabric extremely soft.
The booking of the Suite and its price per night is made directly with the CEO of the hotel. It is estimated at an amount of over 20 thousand euros per night.
The most visited site in Israel - Herod Port
According to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority data, in 2022 about 670,000 people visited the Caesarea National Park - more than any other touristic site in Israel. Compared to 2021, which was still the "COVID year", this represents an increase of 76% in the number of visitors to the site.
About 213,000 visitors to Caesarea last year were tourists from abroad, but the most popular tourist site among tourists in 2022 was Masada. Among Israelis alone, the most popular tourist site is Tel Ashkelon National Park.
However, both among Israelis and among tourists, Caesarea stands in second place - which leads it to first place in the total adjusted calculation of visitors.
It should be noted that the rating refers to hiking sites only, and not to prayer and religious sites that include, among others, the Western Wall - which is estimated to attract several million visitors each year.
The lowest nature reserve in the world
On Road 90 and adjacent to the Dead Sea, at an altitude of about 400 meters below sea level, is the Enot Tsukim Nature Reserve (Ein Feshkha, in Arabic). It is an oasis abundant in vegetation and springs with clear natural spring water - which is considered the lowest nature reserve in the world, also according to the Guinness Book of World Records. In addition, one can find there archeological remains of a Second Temple-era farm and a beautiful view of the Dead Sea.
The length of the reserve is about 6.5 kilometers, and it is divided into three parts: the central part (about 500 dunams) is intended for recreation and leisure and includes a number of wading and bathing pools fed by the springs.
The northern part (about 2,700 dunams) is a reserve that is not permitted to visitors, and the southern part (about 1,500 dunams) is known as the "hidden reserve" and entry to this part is only allowed for groups accompanied by a guide.
Because the nature reserve is an “island”, ecologically isolated from other wetland habitats, it is also home to species and subspecies that are endemic (unique) to the Dead Sea region.
Four species of fish live in the nature reserve, among them the endemic Dead Sea tooth carp, the blue tilapia and the redbelly tilapia, which differ from the other tilapias in Israel and may in the future be recognized as an endemic sub-species. This is the richest spring area around the Dead Sea in terms of fish.
About 210 species of insects have been documented in the nature reserve. There are 12 species of bat that are active in the area, taking advantage of the profusion of insects, as well as dozens of species of birds – some passing through during the migration season, others that nest in the region and are here all year round. The abundant water also attracts a variety of mammals – herbivores, such as the porcupine and the rock hyrax, and predators such as the striped hyena, wolf, and golden jackal.
The first Israelis to reach the highest peaks in the world
In May 2021, Daniel Wolfson, then 43 years old, became the first-ever Israeli woman to reach the summit of the highest mountain in the world - Mount Everest (8,848.86 meters above sea level).
In a conversation with Ynet that took place afterward from Base Camp, at an altitude of 5,300 meters above sea level, Wolfson said: "The route was very, very difficult, there was a strong wind, snow, fog and there was also a queue of almost 100 people who were all waiting for the opportunity to reach the summit, it was the ultimate day of all the worst days.
The weather was not good, and on the way, you see bodies that have been lying there for years, or new bodies of climbers who died, unpleasant sights at all."
Ten years before she climbed the world's highest mountain, Wolfson was seriously injured when she fell off a cable car during a skiing holiday with friends in Bulgaria. The doctors didn't give her a chance to walk again, let alone mountain climbing.
"I woke up connected to a lot of tubes," she said in an interview with Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth. "They explained to me that I had broken my femur and that I had a platinum implant. I have platinum all down my right leg."
During the week at the hospital in Sofia, she had already set a goal for herself: "I felt that I had to do something beyond my abilities. I said to myself, 'I will show everyone, I will climb to the summit of Mount Everest'. It was delusional, almost insane." A decade later, Wolfson accomplished her goal.
The first Israeli man to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1992 was Doron Erel. Erel subsequently also became the first Israeli to complete the Seven Summits - making it to the top of the highest peak on each continent.
"If you have a dream," said Erel in a conversation with Ynet, "and you put all your effort in materializing it, and you are also lucky, then you have one magical moment where everything stops and you know that now the greatest victory you will ever have in your life is happening.
On May 12, 1992, at ten thirty in the morning, I stood on the summit of Mount Everest, and that was my moment. For an hour of complete solitude, I was a man standing at the highest point in the world, looking around and finding it hard to believe that this is really happening.
Years of dreams and hard training were drained to this moment, dozens of mountain peaks that I climbed over the years, great effort, sacrifice - and now all I wanted was to go down and stay alive."
The flight with the most passengers in history
On May 24, 1991, as part of Operation Solomon for the complete evacuation of Beta Israel Jews (Ethiopian Jews) who were concentrated in the city of Addis Ababa, an El Al Boeing 747-200 (Jumbo) flew to Israel.
Seemingly, from an aviation point of view, it was supposed to be a normal flight, but on that day, a world record for the largest number of passengers in a civilian passenger plane was broken, a record that has been uncontested to this day.
1,086 passengers took off from Ethiopia, and while the plane was in the air, two babies were born, bringing the number of passengers to 1,088. The two-story plane had a special formation without seats so that the unusual number of passengers could be accommodated. The two babies born on the flight, Yarosh Wanda and Elad Aiso, grew up in Israel, served in the IDF and started families.
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First published: 18:56, 04.25.23