Israel called, Europe and Australia answered

Before 25 of this year's Eurovision Song Contest hopefuls would sing their entries in front of an ecstatic audience, the contestants went signtseeing. Belgium's Sennek said: "We did a lot. We explored Jerusalem by bus and on foot. We visited the Western Wall and a few churches, which was very impressive. We also got to try some amazing vegetarian food, so I feel I truly got to taste the flavour of Israel."

Lithuania's Ieva added: "The most memorable for me was the cave we visited, which had a lot of candles. I loved visiting Jerusalem and I want to come back more often!"

Check out our recap of Israel Calling 2018:

After a tradional tree planting ceremony and a press conference, it was finally time for Israel Calling 2018, as artists from across Europe and Australia took to the stage at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, singing their songs in front of thousands of fans.

Dana International, who won the competition in 1998 with the song Diva, and Izhar Cohen, who won the competition in 1978 with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi, made the crowd go wild when they entered the stage to perform their legendary winning songs.

What's next?

After Eurovision PreParty Riga , the London Eurovision Party and Israel Calling, it's time for the fourth preparty of the season: Eurovision in Concert. As always, the event will take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on the 14th of April. Eurovision.tv will be right there to bring you more exclusive content about and with the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest participants.

All aboard for the next destination?

The Eurovision.tv team would like to thank the organisers of Israel Calling for their hospitality.