Until our ten-day tour of Israel this previous May, my mom and I had by no means been on an extended journey collectively—not simply the 2 of us, anyway. We began in Jerusalem (pictured), the place solemn visits to the Western Wall (my mom’s selection) have been punctuated by Gangnam Style-induced dancing—and Norwegian vacationer flirting—on the restaurant Machneyuda (mine), and lazy, late-morning brunches on the Villa Brown Jerusalem have been walked off on a seek for handmade pottery in the Armenian quarter. A number of days later, we took out a rental automobile and drove as much as the shiny new Setai on the Sea of Galilee, the place we ate too many buffet desserts and watched French {couples} gradual dance late into the evening. We spent a day lurching up the cliffs of Masada, bathing with swarms of Russian vacationers in the depths of the Dead Sea, and prayed (each silently and aloud) that our automobile would make it to Tzfat, the best, and one of many holiest, cities in the nation. And, like our forebears, we haggled for halva in Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, and have been rewarded for our struggles with sneakers, garments, and classy rooftop dinners. In different phrases, it was the proper selection: Israel, land of the brand new and of the (very, very) previous is a type of locations that simply fills all of the gaps. —Betsy Blumenthal, Associate Editor, City Guides