Hollywood's beloved queen of media Perez Hilton has been living it up in Israel all week. Hilton, (real name Mario Lavandeira, Jr.) is the world renown celebrity-blogger who manages to keep track of all the dirty going-ons in Hollywood better than your average daily tabloids. Hilton is somewhat of a celebrity himself, and has received a very warm welcome from the Israeli public. The official Israeli consulate sent him a tweet welcoming him to the country and the Israeli papers have been keeping track of his escapades as he trapezes around the country with his mother in tow.

Tweeting and blogging his way through the Holy Land, Hilton has been keeping his followers entertained with daily posts and pictures from some of the most famous Biblical sites, along with little tidbits of history to educate the masses. 


We were walking around one of the many markets when we saw a very familiar face on the back page of one of the local papers - ours!

A newspaper in Tel Aviv did a little write-up about Perez's trip to Israel!

Toda raba!!!!!

Okay, so maybe we got a little too excited, but this hideously ugly pants are beyond amazing and we had to buy them.

Our first full day in Tel Aviv was a wonderful mix of going to museums and learning about the complicated history of Israel, as well as just walking around various neighborhoods and parts of town and truly exploring the city.

Tel Aviv is so beautiful! And, in many ways, it reminds us of Buenos Aires.

We are loving Israel so much. Perez feels like an honorary Jewban!  L'chaim, l'chaim, l'chaim.

On our second day of exploring the Holy Land, we visited Caesarea, where the remnants of the Roman occupation of Israel are visible in the unearthed theater, hippodrome and palace.

We then went to Haifa and stopped for a breathtaking view of the city and the Baha'i shrine. (above).

A very yummy and too filling lunch was had at a nearby Druze village, and it was fascinating to learn about that community.

After our meal, we headed to Nazareth, the childhood home of Jesus, and visited a few of the local churches.

It's such a shame that so much of Israel's history has been destroyed. Original churches and temples destroyed when new rulers occupied the land. Built again. Destroyed again.

In the grand scheme of things, the churches in Nazareth are very modern. But the history of that town is.... godly!

 On Tuesday, we went all up and down Galilee and the Golan Heights!

We began our day by visiting Capernaum, the site of Jesus' ministry, where he lived for the last three years of his life.

Once again, the ancient church had been destroyed, only to have a modern house of worship built literally on top of the remains.

We went to Tabgha, where the Miracle of Loaves and Fishes was said to have taken place, and also visited the Mount of Beatitudes.

We also explored the ancient Jewish village of Safed, where Kabbalah began, and browsed through the artists' quarte

rs and visited a lovely synagogue.

Momma Perez loved Bania and, superstitiously, made sure to clean her hands in the springs.

And, we ended our day with a lovely tour of a winery in the Golan Heights - and, naturally, had a yummy tasting too!

On Wednesday, we began our journey by paying a visit to the Jordan River and the baptism site of Yardenit on the southern tip of Galilee, near where Jesus himself was baptized (above).

Momma Perez even bought a bottle to take some water back home. Holy water! Literally!

We splashed some on ourselves and then we headed to the desert and up via cable car to the old fortress in the sky, Massada, which was built during Roman times - literally carved into the rock on top of the mountain.

Afterwards, we made our way to one of the famous beaches on the Dead Sea for a bit of a splash! And, though we're not much of a buyer of nicknacks and touristy things, we did purchase some Dead Sea bath salts and soaps.

We're taking Israel home with us too!