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Lior Mucznik with hostesses Liron
and Tanya in the King David Executive Lounge |
Presidential Suite with kitchen at left and patio at
right |
EILAT
Dan Eilat Presidential Suite Pampers You Like A Royal
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY TIM BOXER
HEN in Israel for a luxury
vacation, you will most likely find your way to Eilat.
Especially in winter, when you’ll want to escape the showers
in Tel Aviv and the cold snap of the Jerusalem hills. That
time of year in Eilat the hotel pools are teeming, the
beaches are crowded and the Gulf of Aqaba is great for a
dip. Just watch out in the summer – keep in the shade in the
afternoon when the temperature climbs above 100 F.
Talk about luxury, you can’t do
any better than settling in at the Presidential Suite of the
Dan Eilat. Your own sophisticated butler will attend to any
needs. It’s not only luxury, it’s heaven. We know from
personal experience in January. Nina and I are still
reminiscing about it.
Check in on a regular winter day
and your bill will reflect a charge of $2,310 per person per
night. But if you stay here on peak days, meaning holidays
or summertime, expect to pay up to $2,750. To book the room
of your choice and check the price of any of the 375 rooms
and 30 suites, call 972-8-6362222 or
daneilat@danhotels.com.
And we ambled across the hall to
the King David Lounge where we nibbled on delicious desserts
and raised glasses of wine.
Resources Before you go on any trip, be sure to pack a cell phone. I found it indispensable. My phone wouldn’t work in Israel so I obtained a dedicated Israel cell phone from TravelCell. The Nokia came fully charged (up to seven hours talk time), along with a wall charger, leather case with belt clip, and carrying bag. They even gave me some business cards with the cell phone printed. To rent a cell phone visit www.travelcell.com, call 1-877-CELL PHONE or email
sales@travelcell.com. Mention my name and they’ll make you a satisfied customer just like me.
I found an essential guide in
Frommer’s Israel, 6th edition (Wiley Publishing, soft cover, 534 pages,
$23.99,
Amazon.com Price: $16.31. On the Dan Eilat: "Adam Tihany, who did the interiors of trendsetting hotels and restaurants on three continents, decorated the public areas with elegant, lively reinterpretations of contemporary décor from the 1940s, 50s and 60s that might be installations in a museum of design." You get the picture: Dan Eilat is a first-class gem among all the high-end hotels in this resort city. |
The Presidential Suite spanned
almost the entire top 14th floor; the rest of the
floor is the King David Executive Lounge. We spent time
lounging on the terrace of our Suite, with our own private
outdoor hot tub, with views of Jordan’s Aqaba(and the royal
palace) on the left, the city of Eilat on the right,
Egyptian border further out, and Saudi Arabia yonder which
you can see if you sail out in your yacht. We watched oil
tankers and gleaming yachts vying for space on the Gulf of
Aqaba.
Nina and I shared some treats in
the Executive Lounge with the affable general manager, the
refined Lior Mucznik. He’s been here for two years, having
come from his previous post at the Dan Panorama Jerusalem.
The Dan chain operates 14 hotels throughout the country. So
far Nina and I have visited five of their properties in
Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Our brief stay in Eilat is
unsurpassed.
We learned that Mucznik was born
in Tel Aviv but raised in Lagos, Nigeria, where his father
worked in the oil industry. His father is 80 years old and
still goes to his office at Amisragas in Tel Aviv every day.
The company is the largest supplier of gas in Israel.
His great grandfather, was the chief rabbi of Lisbon. He helped build the Shaare Tikva Synagogue there in 1904. The president of
Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, hosted a celebration on the
synagogue’s centennial in 2004. The president’s maternal
grandmother was a Sephardi Jew from Morocco of Portuguese
origin. Sampaio was raised Catholic, but considers himself
agnostic.
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Nina on the patio with Eilat over her shoulder |
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Dan Eilat pool before it becomes crowded |
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Arab women enjoy the sun’s rays at the pool |
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Sultan Ahmet Camii, the Blue
Mosque
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Courtyard is as big as the whole building |
IMAGES OF ISTANBUL
Blue Mosque Is One Of The Most Celebrated Mosques In The World
PHOTOS BY TIM BOXER
ultan Ahmet Camii was completed
in 1616. This magnificent structure is known far and wide as
the Blue Mosque for the blue Iznik tiles that decorate the
interior. Iznik, a lakeside town and former Byzantine
capital, called Nicaea, was famous for the most superb
ceramics in the Ottoman Empire. It is located in an historic
area known as Sultanahmet, which was the center of ancient
Constantinople.
Resources
DK Eyewitness Travel: Top 10 Istanbul
guides you to the 10 best sites in Turkey’s most
fascinating city. Profusely illustrated with
beautiful pictures and informative details of each
place. Includes a very useful fold-out map. Plus top
10 lists of restaurants, shops, hotels and lots of
insider knowledge. DK Publishing, soft cover, 128
pages, $14.00,
Amazon.com Price: $10.74 |
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Washing before prayer takes place at taps ranged
along the courtyard |
Washing feet as well as face,
mouth, neck and arms are an essential ritual before prayer |
Take your shoes off at the
entrance of the mosque> |
Ablutions Fountain in
courtyard is just for show, no longer used for
ritual washing |
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Disney Wonder cruise ship |
Our Odyssey
With Disney Wonder
BY SALLY AND
IVOR DAVIS
AN’T wait to file a report on a cruise
with our entire family on the Disney Wonder, one of four
ships of the Disney fleet. We sailed, we saw, and we
survived with memories that will last a lifetime.
We were celebrating a
BIG birthday with our immediate family, children and
grandchildren from Seattle and Fort Worth.
Team Cruise Disney
included our daughter Rebecca Suskind and her husband David
(who as a pediatrician would be very useful should the
captain of the Disney Wonder drive the ship too close to dry
land), their offspring, Elias 9, Sadie 5; our son Gideon
Davis, his wife Tricia and their sons, Levi 8, and Ezra 3.
Gideon Davis in hammock at
CasaDorada hotel, overlooking the harbor in Cabo St. Lucas |
They all flew into
LAX and we drove in leisurely fashion from Ventura County to
San Pedro (90 minutes)where the 2,700 passenger ship
departed on a one-week cruise with stops in Puerto Vallarta
and Cabo San Lucas. The point after all is not the ports of
call but the nonstop Disney immersion on board: a cross
between a trip to fairyland and North Korea. But more on
that later.
Boarding took longer
than we anticipated. They apologized, claiming the pesky
immigration people were to blame. But it gave us a chance to
see our fellow passengers, draped in Disney regalia, hats,
Mickey printed dresses, T-shirts, tote bags, jewelry—and
that was just the adults.
The first night at
sea we had dinner en famille at the Artisan’s Palette,
surrounded by cells from Disney cartoons which changed from
black and white, matching the restaurant’s décor, to color,
throughout the meal. Even the waiters were in on the act
with black and white Disney printed waistcoats.
The next night it was
the Parrot’s Cay dining room. Dinner was accompanied by a
cacophony of parrot squawks. Not all parrots, we discovered;
just a handful of kids in various states of meltdown.
Check Out This Hotel
Our Ventura County travel agent suggested while in Cabo we might like to check out one of the five-star hotels on the beach for a change of pace.
From the dock it was minutes to the Casa Dorada resort for lunch---and a spectacular view. (www.casadorada.com) Good choice. Hotels have been struggling in Cabo (and all over Mexico) because of the economy and those Mexican banditos who have swapped plastic swords for a more fearsome form of weaponry.
The hotel staff welcomed us as if we were guests and not just because they needed the business. They were at 80% occupancy which isn’t bad at any time, let alone in these days when Mexico has had reams of bad publicity.
We had a wonderful lunch with great margaritas, on the patio/pool area—with panoramic views of the ocean at Baja’s land’s end. The Disney Wonder sat in the bay looking like a toy ship, as scores of pleasure boats, glass bottom boats and wind surfers turned offered a view of paradise.
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Ezra Davis and Sadie Suskind with
Disney characters Captain Hook and Mr. Smee |
This was to get us
ready for the highlight of the trip – Pirate Night with more
pirates large and small than on a Somalia raid. The entire
ship got into the spirit, donning tri-cornered hats, eye
patches, frilly shirts,moustaches and side-arms. Our
three-year-old Ezra threatened to wreak serious damage with
his plastic broadsword.
The show ended at 11
o’clock with a terrific fireworks display from the bridge
over the ocean—the only ship at sea permitted to engage in
pyrotechnics. Kids were tottering around the poop deck like
drunken sailors, so excited and overtired that they refused
to go to bed until they collapsed in a pile of exhaustion.
And talking about the
poop deck, we all got used to the fact that the two kid’s
pools on board Goofy’s and Mickey’s, (thank heavens there
was also an adults only pool) were often closed without
warning for "emergency repairs" which of course, was a
euphemism for ….well you can guess. With all those excited
young ‘uns jumping into the heated waters there was bound to
be an accident…or two.
The kids had a ball
and so did we as we lined up with the grandkids for thirty
minutes or more to have photos taken with Mickey and Minnie,
Captain Hook and Mr. Smee and the rest of the Disney gang.
Sadie Suskind as a savage pirate
of the Caribbean |
Oh sure, sometimes
the Disney ballyhoo got a bit much.
That’s the North
Korean bit. All that Fairy dust, the constant Disney music
playing everywhere, the Disney movies screening in a loop on
our stateroom TV screens and in the two big public theatres,
the endless promotion of "Walt’s dream" and "Walt’s spirit,"
and the "if you believe it will happen" Disney
philosophy...Disney as propagandist could teach North
Korea’s Junior Kim Jonga thing or two.
Occasionally it felt
like being on a very large retreat with a religious cult.
But the food was
excellent. The buffets in between meals provided an endless
supply of snacks, drinks, smoothies and sundaes. And you can
imagine our joy when the kids gobbled up dinner every night
---and rushed off to the well serviced Oceaneers club
leaving us older kids to enjoy a glass of wine and a
tranquil meal—topped off by desserts galore.
One night the kids
announced grandly, "We’re going to the club," and the adults
enjoyed dinner in peace at the featured restaurant Palo
where you pay a modest $20 supplement per person for the
finest Northern Italian dinner we ever had.
The entertainment was
very professional. The movies were mostly Disney offerings.
We sat through the Muppet Movie and can now sing, not very
well, two verses of the Oscar winning Man or Muppet
song.
Our favorite show was
the hilarious ventriloquist/comedian Michael Harrison from
Canada ( www.funnyguy.ca)
We saw him twice.
Our balcony cabins
were comfortable, with lots of storage space. We loved
having two separate bathrooms—one full and one half.
We enjoyed the gym
(you need one after four or five nightly desserts) and the
spa where the sauna was so hot you could fry two-minute eggs
in ten seconds.
Pint-size pirates of the
Caribbean, Levi Davis and Elias Suskind |
Service was superb,
except in the Triton restaurant where breakfast was
surprisingly slow and creaky. And where the multinational
staff didn’t understand that for Americans coffee comes as
soon as you sit down.
We were relieved that
the Captain of the Disney Wonder turned out to be a
strapping Scandinavian – always a source of confidence.
Italians need not apply.
The service crew were
a real mix: Indians, Indonesians, Burmese, Eastern
Europeans, Irish, English and assorted Aussies. All were
gracious, hardworking and incredibly patient with the squads
of kids who took half an hour to make up their minds what
they wanted to eat and then changed them half a dozen times
in ten minutes.
The offshore trips
went smoothly. At Puerto Vallarta we took the local bus to
the old town for lunch. Public transport is actually safer
for those nervous about Mexico.
Our daughter took her
kids to swim with the porpoises. Our son found a remote
beach to snorkel.
Sally and Ivor Davis with
grandchildren Ezra and Levi |
Cabo San Lucas felt
very safe. It seems to have been spared the vicissitudes of
some of the resorts on the Mexican mainland. Nice beaches
and tons of cafes with views of the water. We decided to
lunch at the five-star Casa Dorada Hotel (see sidebar). It
was a splendid afternoon by the pool and beach.
Our stateroom was on
Deck 6 midship—with a balcony at $1,230 per person. The
entire family trip was booked by Martha Jaffe, Travel
Planner International of Ventura California (phone
805-642-6034: cell 805-218-3324). Check out diverse prices
as kids travel much cheaper.
One tip: Don’t use
the ATM machines offering US currency in Mexico. They
clobber you for astounding extra bank charges.
We probably won’t go
on another Disney Cruise for awhile. Cunard’s Queen Mary II
from New York to London is our next odyssey.
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