Israel

The trip to Israel and Palestine was one of the most interesting holidays ever.

We stayed with our friend Ruby, who went around Jerusalem with us and showed us the main sights. It was quite impressive to see so much history in one place. We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchur,

the Western (wailing) Wall,

and the Dome of the Rock,

along with the various quarters in the old town.

The fact that there are important holy places for three of the world's major religions here meant that there were a lot of people experiencing what could be the greatest spiritual moments of their lives.  In any case it was sure crowded with Praying folks, and people selling religious souvenirs.

After Jerusalem Ruby took us out to the Dead Sea, where we slept (rather illegally probably) in a cave that he knew about in a national park.

We soaked by night in a hot spring and floated in the dead sea while enjoying the beauty of the desert under the clear starlight sky.  While the cave bed was hard and somewhat uncomfortable to sleep in, the sunrise over Jordan in the morning was worth all the tossing and turning.

After another night in Jerusalem, we spent a couple of days and a night in the West Bank at Bustan Qaraaqa, a permaculture farm run by a British woman in Beit Sahour, a Christian Arab village next to Bethlehem.

 Much of the farm is run by volunteer work, and luckily for us, they needed help carrying manure when we arrived at the farm, so we were able to earn our keep for the night AND smell like poo, which is always fun, especially in a place with water shortages due to Israel shutting off the water regularly. We also took a sunset trip through the desert to Mar Saba, one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, founded in 439.  Apparently it is where misbehaving monks were sent so that they couldn't cause any trouble.

The town was next to Bethlehem, so we took a morning trip there to see the town and visit the Church of the Nativity.  It was surprisingly low-key for such a major holy site.

Upon leaving Beit Sahour we also stopped to take a picture of one of Banksy's West Bank murals.

To tell the truth we previously had a rather naive idea about Israeli settlements as simply encroaching on the borders of the Palestinian area. It was a shock to see how large and intrusive they are, being spread right through the west bank. Also the fact that there are Israeli-only roads connecting them while cutting off the Palestinians, and that the water to Palestinian villages is routinely cut off. It's is impossible not to be moved by the plight of the Palestinians, when you see first hand the situation.

As if that wasn't enough, the religious extremes in Israel are hard to take. Sally upset an Hasidic Jew by sitting too close to him on the bus, and was pushed aside by Christians trying to get close to the spot where Jesus was supposedly born.

After Palestine we went our separate ways for a couple of days, Sally exploring Jerusalem, Haifa, and Akko and Ihor going up North with Ruby to hang out and see where Ruby lived.

Ruby's house in the Kibbutz was great, a nice peaceful place surrounded by low forests full of walking trails. While Ruby had mentioned the forests before, it was still a pleasant surprise to see so much forest there.  It was really nice spending time with Ruby and playing with his dog Bones. The days went by quickly.

On her whole day by herself Sally went on an epic solo bus journey to Haifa and Akko. She took 9 buses and 1 cable train on the trip, which took about 13 hours. Being curious about Haifa, she stopped there on the way to Akko. Haifa is built on a large hill/small mountain, so has nice views (well, mainly of the urban sprawl). Haifa is a big industrial city, and the sprawl stretches at least as far as Akko.

One of the main attractions are the Baha'i Gardens from the Baha'i faith. Someone thought that Israel didn't already have enough religions, so started this one in the middle of the 19th century.

By the time she made it to Akko, after 5 buses and 1 cable train, it was only an hour or so until dark. The last bus sat in traffic for 90 mins as the police checked each car. The muslim Eid al-Adha celebration was happening, so there were people, animals and chaos everywhere. Sometimes all at once, as there were horses and carts brimming with people racing up and down the narrow streets of the walled city. Also jumping castles.

This did detract a little from the historical beauty of the place, but was fun to watch. The main attraction was the mosque (Al-Jazzar Mosque) and to be allowed into the grounds Sally had to be wrapped in a large strip of material by the doorman.

After watching the sun go down over the harbour, began the 4 hour journey back to Jerusalem.

We met up again in Tel Aviv where we stayed at Ruby's dad's house for our last night.  Together with Sara and Ruby's brother we went out for a delicious Ethiopian dinner and walked around Tel Aviv soaking up the atmosphere.

Tel Aviv was very different than Jerusalem - it felt much more laid back, and the sea air made me think of Sydney.

In the morning we had breakfast at the best falafel place in the world (according to Ruby - and the falafels were indeed special, with a hint of cinnamon and chili in them) and walked around old Jaffo enjoying our last day in Israel.

Our final experience was the airport security where we waited for almost an hour to be be questioned about all we did and who we knew in Israel before being allowed to check in and get on on our flight home.

Overall we found that the country was very beautiful in parts and the people generally nice, the history astounding and the food delicious... all in all an amazing experience.