295746 3 Location 567319 <p>Entering the Queen of Sheba in Eilat one is reminded of the kitschy feel of Las Vegas or Miami.&nbsp; The lobby is circular with a many storied ceiling and glass elevators surrounding the bar&nbsp;area.&nbsp; The hotel is located at the northern part of the Gulf of Eilat with easy access to beach and boardwalk.&nbsp; Beach wear,&nbsp;bath shops, jewelry stores&nbsp;and a small suburban-style mall surround the Hotel, as well as the requisite stands selling flea market items and cheap souvenirs.&nbsp;</p><p>If you choose not to take advantage of the mega-size Israeli breakfast, lunch &amp; dinner buffet served at the Hilton, you will find many small &amp; large restaurants on either side of the hotel.&nbsp; I had lunch in one restaurant and was served a very fresh &amp; tasty Salad Nicoise big enough to feed a family of four.&nbsp;</p><p>On the beach itself are many rental outfits that provide Waterskiing, Parasailing, Banana Boats and Jet Skis - <strong>don't be afraid to haggle on the price.</strong> When I informed one rental agent that his competitor offered a lower price he quickly agreed to match it.</p><p>On the downside, internet service was expensive and problematic, as one needed to deposit 10 NIS for 20 minutes.&nbsp; If you were writing anything longer than a post-it size message, you had to frequently save your work or risk losing it when your time ran out.</p><p>I was stunned and quite angry when I was overcharged by double on a non-alcoholic cranberry &amp; tonic water, and received nothing but a shrug from the bartender when I complained.&nbsp;</p><p>My room came with lovely view of the harbor and the red mountains.&nbsp; Unfortunately, the air conditioning was faulty and there were not nearly enough towels for my roommate &amp; myself.&nbsp; Fortunately calls to the front desk were answered promptly and the A/C was fixed immediately &amp; towels were delivered within in 10 minutes of my request.</p><p>The swimming area was really lovely, with three pools next to each other and&nbsp; lounge chairs on various levels surrounding it.&nbsp; Beautiful young Israeli men &amp; women showed off their&nbsp;toned &amp; tanned bodies, stylish swimsuits and designer shades, while little children romped in the kiddie pool and the older folks sunned and swam laps.&nbsp; The hotel staff provided life guards, wait staff and fresh clean towels.&nbsp; I noted that the wait staff were very attentive to the guests, frequently stopping and asking for drink orders; and one young man even shlepped a rather heavy cement umbrella stand so that it would provide shade for a rather portly middle-age man, who requested the service.</p><p>Although Eilat caters to the Secular community, meaning you can get non-Kosher food and shabbat is not necessarily observed by the shopkeepers, this is still Israel and on shabbat (Friday at sundown until Saturday at sundown) elevators are divided by Shabbat &amp; Non-Shabbat.&nbsp; In strict observance of shabbat one is not permitted to work or operate anything mechanical, so Israeli hotels provide Shabbat &amp; Non-Shabbat elevators to accomodate their observant and non-observant guests.&nbsp; If you observe the shabbat, you will use the Shabbat elevators that are programmed to run automatically and will not respond to the push of buttons.&nbsp;You merely step aboard and wait until the elevator begins its ascent or descent - stopping at every floor.&nbsp;</p> 2008-04-08T00:47:15-07:00 679477255 2008-03-21T17:00:00-07:00 0 16 251021 6825324 295746 0 256881 0.0 2008-03-21T17:00:00-07:00 Published 0.0 2008-04-08T01:19:27-07:00 92324 0