I enjoyed the hell out of it. Since it was maritime related, most of my time was in Haifa and Ashdod. Haifa is a big city, Ashdod considerably smaller.

Some side trips into Jerusalem and the West Bank, also enjoyable.

I'm sure plenty has changed since then. No problem getting by as an English speaker.

We went to Jerusalem, Haifa ( which is beautiful) Tel aviv,which is a modern, young vibrant city on the Mediterranean. We also did Masada, the Dead Sea and Eilat.

We took a side trip to Petra Jordan, which was incredibly interesting. Walked across a land border between Israel and Jordan. At Eilat, the borders with Jordan and Egypt are just a few miles apart. From our hotel room,we could see Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which doesn't border Israel, but isn't far away. Up north you can see Lebanon, Syria and Jordan from Mount Bental.