Jerusalem

Our first experience in Jerusalem was quite a shocking one. We got off the bus and decided to walk to the Old City where we were staying. We quickly discovered we were walking right through the center of the ultra-orthodox Jewish neighborhood of the city. Every person we saw, literally every single one, looked the same. The men and boys all dressed in black ‘suits’ with black, brimmed hats and two long curls of hair on either side of their face. The women and girls wore, without exception, dark colored long skirts and a long sleeve button up blouse. It seemed like a scene out of a movie. Fortunately, Maren and I had realized there was a chance we would be walking through this neighborhood, so we had both changed out of our flip flops on the bus. She had put on jeans and a sweater as well. This turned out to be a good idea, as we passed signs ‘instructing’ women how to dress so as not to ‘distress’ the residents. That concept seemed pretty sexist to both of us, but I suppose I should not question their traditions.



The first view of the walled Old City of Jerusalem was pretty amazing. Our hostel was just inside Jaffa Gate, the most used entrance through the wall. We climbed all the way to the roof where we would sleep, and we had a view of every major site in the Old City. The Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount were only a few hundred meters away. We spent our first evening just walking around a bit and getting something to eat in the New City. It got pretty cold at night on the roof, so we had to bundle up. In the morning, we took a free walking tour of the Old City. It definitely helped both of us orient ourselves better as the narrow winding streets can become confusing. We stopped by the Basilica of the Ascension, where Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected. The next stop was the Western (wailing) Wall. The Wall is open 24 hours a day and always seems to be packed with people. We picked a day where dozens of bar mitzvahs were taking place, which was pretty entertaining. There were big groups of guys everywhere singing and dancing. The men are separated from the women at the wall, so the women had to watch from afar. We walked onto a nearby rooftop to get some cool views. The next stop on our tour was the ancient Roman ruins where we learned some of the history of Jerusalem.


Later in the afternoon, we walked just outside the Old City to the City of David. This was the original Jerusalem and was discovered relatively recently. The ruins at ground level were fairly interesting, but the coolest part was underground. There used to be a spring which served as the city’s water source. The people carved a tunnel through the rock to bring the water to the town. Maren and I walked down several flights of stairs until we reached the tunnel. It is still filled with water! The water was over knee deep in some places, and the entire walk was through complete blackness. There were recommendations to bring a flashlight, but we only had the light of each of our cell phones to guide us. The tunnel is about a half kilometer long and very narrow. I had to duck my head through most of it. The walk took over half an hour, but it feels like hours and would be horrible if you were claustrophobic.


The next day we took a day trip to Bethlehem, which is not far from Jerusalem. We should have done a lot more research, however, because neither of us realized Bethlehem is in the West Bank! We opted out of an expensive tour, and took the bus there instead. The bus dropped us off at a military checkpoint and we were both confused. As we looked at the huge wall dividing Israel we figured out what was going on. We had to answer some questions to the security guys because we didn’t have our passports (they were still in Tel Aviv), but they let us through. We were still far from the main sights in Bethlehem so we negotiated a cheap taxi to take us. We got out at the Church of the Nativity, the traditional place where Jesus was born. It was crowded, and there was a long line to go down to the spot itself, so we first walked around the city a bit. There was definitely a different feeling of being in the West Bank from the rest of Israel. It is more run-down and impoverished, and I could feel the tension from the security guys. The city of Bethlehem is not at all beautiful, and I am sure there are better places to go in the West Bank. We returned to the church and saw the site of the birth. The other sights in Bethlehem didn’t sound that interesting, so we called it a day and headed back.


That evening was Friday, the start of the Sabbath. Maren was busy taking care of some things back at the hostel, so I decided to walk around the Old City to see what was going on. Everything is closed in Jerusalem from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Everywhere I walked there seemed to be Jews all hurriedly walking in the same direction. Many of them also had on funny fur hats that look Russian. I realized they were all walking to the Western Wall, so I did as well to check out the party. This was a totally different experience than seeing the wall the previous day. It was completely packed with Jews, and only a very small number of tourists. It really felt like a party, there were people singing and dancing everywhere. I was told that there were even more people than a usual Friday night, because the following week was the celebration of Israel’s independence.


On Saturday, we walked just outside the Old City to Mount Zion, which is not much of a mountain, just a hill really. The buildings and churches there have really interesting architecture. We first stopped at the sight of Mary’s ‘eternal sleep’, and then saw the site of the Last Supper. From the rooftop, we got a view of the Old City, New City, and East Jerusalem. We spent the afternoon walking through the New City. It was very quiet because it was Saturday. We walked through a couple of parks and some cute neighborhoods. We found an outdoor café that was surprisingly open (and crowded) on our way back.


We got a late start out to the Mount of Olives on Sunday. The Mount of Olives is in East Jerusalem, which is the Arab part of the divided city. We took a bus, which turned out to be a mistake, because we still had to walk up the very steep hill on this very hot day through the massive Jewish cemetery. From the top of the Mount of Olives, the view over the Old City is incredible. We walked down the hill and saw a couple of churches. We walked through the famous grove of olive trees and to the Virgin Mary’s tomb. I am embarrassed to say, however, that we never found the site where both Jesus and Mohammad ascended into heaven. I guess we should have asked more questions or done more research. That’s what happens sometimes when you don’t take the guided tour…


We walked through the Lion’s Gate to get back into the Old City, which was the only one of the 7 entrances we had not yet been through. On Monday we took a day trip to the Dead Sea, which definitely lives up to the hype! We took a bus through the West Bank, and along the sea for awhile. We got off at a beach just outside the West Bank called Ein Gedi. It is a free beach, though very rocky. As we walked down, we saw a couple of dozen people floating out in the water, then a few other people on the beach covered in mud. We walked down the beach about 50 meters until we found the mud pit. I had to reach deep inside a hole in the ground to find some gray clay. Then I dunked it in water and started covering my whole body! Maren did the same and we walked back to the main beach covered neck to toe in mud. We waited for it to dry, then went out into the water. At first, you don’t notice how salty the water is because there is nothing to distinguish it from any other beautiful crystal clear blue lake;) That is, until you try to swim. Despite being a swimmer, I have never in my life been able to float very well. I floated so incredibly easily in the Dead Sea it made me laugh. Even when you breathe completely out, there is no chance you will sink. We both kept our faces out of the water, but I did get a tiny drop of water in my mouth and it was so salty it burned. We picked a very strange day weather-wise to go the Dead Sea. It was very hot, the sign said 41 degrees! It was also incredibly windy and dusty. We ate our picnic lunch near the beach while a windstorm blew dust and garbage all around us. We had planned to go to the nearby fortress Masada after Ein Gedi, but the air was so dusty we could barely see the mountains only a couple of kilometers away. We decided we wouldn’t be able to see much at Masada and it wouldn’t be worth it. After the bus back to Jerusalem, we went on a quest to find the best falafel in Jerusalem. After doing some research, we hunted down a place called Moshiko. There, I had what I am certain is the best falafel in the world. For 17 shekkels (3.5 euros), we both got a gigantic pita with fresh falafel and every type of topping you could imagine. We ate them at a table in the middle of a crowded street with a squeeze bottle of sauce so they didn’t get dry. Mmmmm.


Tuesday was our last day in Jerusalem. We would have left earlier, but our Indian visas were still not ready in Tel Aviv. We decided we needed to go back to find out what the problem was. In the morning, we went back to the Basilica of the Ascension (we hadn’t gone inside on our tour). It was pretty amazing inside, nothing like a church. It is made up of numerous rooms on several levels that are all controlled by a handful of different groups of Christians. Don’t ask me how the Ethiopian Christians got their own section. We saw the site of the crucifixion and resurrection, but didn’t stay long due to all the swarming tourists. We caught a bus in the afternoon to Tel Aviv. We had been told our visas should be ready that evening, even though they originally should have been done the previous week. We checked back into the same hostel we had stayed at previously, but the visa office was unexpectedly closed, so we had to wait for the morning.


Maren and I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday trying to sort out our visas for India. It was incredibly frustrating. The idiots at the visa office were hardly helpful and to this day, I have no idea why it took so long to get our visas. We even made a couple of trips to the Indian embassy to talk to them directly, but they wouldn’t let us inside. I was very close to calling off India and demanding my passport back. The delay was messing up all of our travel plans and it seemed like it was going to be more hassle than it was worth. Originally we were planning on going to Petra, in Jordan, on the 10th for a couple of days, then to Cairo for 4 or 5 days before our flight on the 17th. By Thursday evening, we were told our visas were ‘almost’ ready and we sat at the visa office for over an hour after agreeing that we weren’t leaving till we got our passports back. Finally, by some miracle, they arrived. We returned to the hostel, called our airline, and started rebooking our plans. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant someone from our hostel recommended to get a special sabihe (the Tel Aviv version of a falafel we had tried previously). This one came on a plate, however, with amazing hummus and several salads. It was a perfect meal for our last night in Israel.


There are a couple of things I forgot to mention in my last blog. The first is the weather. Northern Israel was quite warm and pleasant, though it rained a couple of times. It was mostly between 24-28 degrees during the day. Jerusalem was hotter though, in the 30s every day, which made the conservative ‘dress code’ even more inconvenient. The other thing is the cats. There are stray cats EVERYWHERE in Israel! Apparently there used to be a mice problem when the British were here, so they brought over some cats to take care of it. Now there are cats mulling about in every city. Some of them appear to be in good shape, but others (i.e. the ones crawling through dumpsters) are very rough-looking.


Obviously I have much more to write about, but this post is getting quite long! I will write about Petra, the adventure getting to Cairo, and Delhi (where I am writing this) as soon as I get the chance!