Israel has discovered the Pyrenees. The Israelis are already,
after the Catalans, the second nationality in number of visitors to the Aigües National Park-
Tortes and Estany de Sant Maurici.
According to 2012 data, foreigners were
that year 18% of the 299,658 visitors to the park. And of them, 30% were is-
raelis. What attracts them most are the virgin mountains, the whitewater rivers
and the towns that retain their old charm, far from the crowds of
territories with a long tourist tradition. They are clients who arrive very
distributed throughout the year.
The imprint of Israeli tourism is also seen in restaurants that offer the menu
in the Hebrew language and have adapted some of their dishes to the requirements
of kosher cuisine for customers who follow gastronomic standards
religious.
Ten years ago Travel Nexus was created, one of the first travel agencies
to connect Israel with Catalonia and the Pyrenees. This summer promotes a curious
tourist experience: half a thousand Israeli women will pass through the Pyrenees of
Lleida in an adventure activity called Queen of the Desert. This project
has become a phenomenon that allows discovering the most
attractiveness of the world to Israeli women who want to try what pasta
they're made.
From the first week of June and until September, successive groups of
40 Israeli women will participate, from seven days to seven days, in an experience
life that includes rafting, caving, sleeping in mountain huts, driving
off-road vehicles on forest tracks and two crossings that are part of the itineraries
routes of the Freedom Routes, which pass through Alt Urgell, Pallars Sobirà,
Alta Ribagorça and Val d'Aran.
History also links Israel with the Pyrenees. One of the added attractions
for Israeli tourists is the Sort Prison-Museum and the Mountains of the
Libertad, which commemorate the passage of thousands of refugees across the border during
the Civil War, first, and the Second World War later. This summer there
about three hundred pre-bookings from Israelis for the museum, when at the end of the year
Some two thousand people visit it in concert.
Ara Lleida Magazine.
