Backpacking in Israel

Israel 5.1.2011 – 5.8.2011

Israel was the most interesting place I’ve ever visited. I spent 8 days in Israel and that was simply not enough. I could have spent months there, learning and seeing new things every day, but that still wouldn’t be enough. Everywhere you walk, you see stuff that’s older than you could possibly imagine, with more history that is bearable. Israel also has a different sort of energy to it too. While Europe struggles with having high birth rates and a lack of youth, Israel is flourished with the two. That might be a contributing factor to why it has so much energy, or maybe because the whole country has been in the military since the age of 18, or maybe because they are surrounded by their enemies so they have to always be alert. But as for me, I really loved this energy. I loved their humor too; it was very dry and a bit sarcastic. In general, I found Israelites to be amazingly nice. They were some of the nicest people I’ve met… and that says a lot when comparing it to our Southern Hospitality. Random strangers would invite my friend and I into their homes to use a phone or anything we needed. This country had a lot of trust within itself, and the atmosphere reflected on me. They really loved their people and the tourists that visited too. With 2 days left, Robbie & I looked into seeing how much it would cost to stay a few days longer. By the end, I wasn’t even excited about going to Italy…. And so that’s Israel in a nutshell. Here’s how it went:

Saturday 4.30.2011

So I spent the day before I got to Tel Aviv with Robbie and Eli in a train for 12.5 hours from Sevilla to Barcelona. Pretty long day, but very useful because I got a lot of rest the day before my big trip began, and I got to plan out my trip with Robbie and Eli… of whom I would be doing most of my traveling with. Eli is the Israel master, and though he wasn’t going to Israel with Robbie and I, he lived there for a while and he is literally the Israel Encyclopedia. This kid has given Robbie and I history/ geography/ religious lessons of 1-2 hours on numerous occasions. He could teach a class if he wanted to. So with him, Robbie and I got a good idea of what we were looking to do in Israel.

Then, we had to figure out Italy. That was a little difficult since Robbie has already been there and Eli will have been there for a week by then. Therefore, there was some mixed interest of what exactly we wanted to do, but after an hour of brainstorming nearly every solution, we came up with the best plan.

And there went a whole day. Left Sevilla at 8:00 am that day, and arrived in the airport at 9:00 pm. Now it was time to check in for our 12:15 am flight for Tel Aviv. Here goes nothing.

So I check in, everything is ok. Robbie checks in, and it doesn’t show his name on the computer. Scroll back down to my trip to Instanbul and remember what happened what happened when I bought my last plane ticket with Robbie. We bought tickets through a third party in Spanish, and I said never to do that… Well, this time when I did so again, I made sure we got the confirmation for him and myself so everything was would be ok. Come to find out, he was nowhere in the system. I thought Robbie was about to repeat Istanbul all over again. Come to find out, he booked a connecting flight to Latvia instead. He ended up traveling a whole 22 Hours more than I did!!! Crazy, but alas, everything was ok, and the bank accounts were untouched.

Sunday 5.1.2011               Haifa Day 1

The morning starts out in the airplane. By the time I made it to my couchsurfers place, it was 10:00 am.  This was cool, because this was my first time couchsurfing, and by myself too. You could imagine what was going through my mind as I roamed the streets of Israel by myself, in search of a house without street signs nor house numbers, and without a phone on me to call. Ringing that doorbell was an interesting feeling.

the street that lead to the couchsurfing house

That afternoon, I had lunch and hot tea with my hosts and get to know them quite a bit. Very lovely couple with a cute baby and dog. They lived off a mountain in a town called Ossfia, a bit close to Haifa.

The first thing I did then was make my way to the Baha’I Gardens. I’ve heard about it all my life, and finally, I got to see the beauty of the Baha’i Gardens in Haifa. I spent hours gazing into the gardens and visiting the shrines. Time passed by way too fast. Then I met up with a good old friend who has been volunteering there for the past year. We chatted, I met some new people from all over the world, and viola.

Monday 5.2.2011             Haifa Day 2

Robbie made it in the morning, and then we skedaddle. We headed to the gardens in Haifa. We literally spent the whole day in the gardens. From the top of Mount Carmel, to the bottom, with tea in the middle, relaxing, and feeling time take us as we wanted it to. Truly an uplifting feeling. The feeling was indescribable to me. I really don’t know what else to say other than it just felt heavenly.

A little later we went into town, and then headed back up. We ended up leaving that area around 9:30 to head back home and rest.

That night, we chatted with Dori, our couchsurfer host, quite a bit. We also did a lot of planning for the rest of the trip.

This was a huge day, short of words.

Tuesday 5.3.2011             Haifa Day 3 & Bahji

That morning, we left for Akka & Bahji. I went to Bahji to visit the Shrine of Baha’u’allah, and once again… just amazing. These pictures below are from a subpar camera. These pictures absolutely do no justice. They don’t show the mist in the sky, how the sun falls on the selected roses and blades of grass, the birds at the distance, and the view yonder. This was a bold a beautiful garden, and the presence you felt was unbelievable.

Robbie spent the day in Akka, and we met up at the bus station to leave Haifa. My 3 day visit in Haifa was up and I was to head for Jerusalem. We got a night bus into Jerusalem, and quite embarrassingly, we arrived without even knowing if we were in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. We had to ask someone where we were, but we quickly learned how small Israel really is.

The funny thing is, when we arrived, it was 10:00 pm, and we had NO IDEA where we were staying that night. We didn’t have a guide book nor map. So we just asked around for advice on where we could find a hostel. Within an hour, we had our place to stay. If you’re going to Jerusalem, book Abraham Hostel days/ a week in advance if you can. It’s absolutely amazing… great environment, great people, great staff, and cheap. We only stayed here for a night because they were booked all week, but I definitely advise this place!

Wednesday 5.4.2011      Dead Sea, Masada, & Jericho

We woke up early and headed out to find a car to rent. We end up renting an automatic Nissan ( Not manual L ). It was relatively inexpensive for Robbie and I to rent the car and gas. I definitely recommend renting a car in Israel and driving because the road s are good, and the drivers aren’t too crazy.

Anyhow, we drove for the Masada and the Dead Sea. We heard from some locals of a good spot along the road where there was a hot spring. This place was more for locals, so we weren’t  swarmed with tourists… quite awesome. About that time, Robbie and I met two British people. They were really cool and easy going, so from there we went on. We dipped into the Dead Sea and it was just weird. It’s like you could try to do all you could, but you will always float. I wish I had a good book so that I could read, because floating in the Dead Sea was just that easy and comfortable. Advice… don’t shave that day. It will BURN.

For anyone that knows, the sand there is a bit special. It’s exfoliative… yes, I made up a new word, but you know what I mean. We covered ourselves with the sand/ mud and then dipped into the Hot Spring. My skin was feeling soffffft. This hot spring was the best though because the top 3 inches were cool, then it got hot immediately! It was perfect, because if you ever got too hot like in a hot tub, you could just stand up or roll around and feel a nice breeze of cool water. I wish they could make all spas like that. It was seriously perfect!

At that point, the two people we met were going to the Masada as well, so we offered them a ride to the Masada. The Masada is RICH in history. Basically what happened is there were Jewish tribes who fleeted Jerusalem and settled in the Masada territory. The Jewish- Roman War started in 66 AD and by 73 AD the Romans created a ramp that lead to the top of the Masada to reach the Jews. By the time they reached to the top, they found one of the biggest mass- ‘suicides’ in history. What happened was the Jews would have rather killed each other and died before being a slave again. One person lived to tell the story.

Unfortunately, we got there 30 minutes late and so we had to take cable cars to the top. Apparently, 3:00 pm is the latest you can hike up. We hiked all the way down though so it’s all good. We also spent about 2 hours at the top of the Masada just reading information, sight-seeing, and imagining what happened under our very own feet millenniums ago.

On the way back, we decided to stop somewhere a bit more exotic, so we went to the oldest city in the World… Jericho. Jericho is Palestinian territory in the West Bank. Robbie and I had to ask a whole bunch of people if this was safe. Earlier that day, the US embassy advised us not to travel. The Palestinian territories of Israel had a lot of commotion with the death of Osama Bin Ladin the day before ‘on the news’, and the Israelis advised us not to go, but the Palestinian Israelis said there was no harm. It was split 50/50 if we should go or not, but we’re young, and we feel invincible… so why not? Our decision was made… we were going to the oldest city in the world.

We drove in, and it’s a complete Arab town, almost like a different nation. Jerusalem is quite industrialized, but this town, it was way different. So after driving around the town a bit, we decided to go to the city square. There was a police station nearby where soldiers were armed with AK47’s everywhere. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t feel as safe because I have never felt so many eyes look at me. Well, I guess I kind of look like them, but I was with my American friend, and two British/ blonde girls. Both of those which were a rare commodity in the walls of the West Bank. There was no conflict at all tough, we ate some delicious falafel, the best hummus I’ve ever had in my life, and tried to learn some Arabic from some locals. The people there were very nice… Once again, the media misconceives us by displaying fear and terror in our eyes. We were there past sunset, so it was just cool being there in the dark and leaving with no problems.

We went to a different hostel that night… Hebron Hostel to be exact… it was cheap and was your most basic hostel.

Thursday 5.5.2011            Jerusalem Day 1

We woke up early and started our touristy stuff. After dropping off the car, we headed for a free tour. Usually free tours are supposed to be the best because the guys are working solely for tips… but not here in Jerusalem. I advise not to do so in Jerusalem. We saw some cool sights like the Western Wall and what not, but I never got a good rundown of the history.

After that, we went falafel hunting and then took a nap.

We woke up a little too late and couldn’t make it out to see too much. We end up going to Mount Zion and we saw King David’s tomb.

Later, we went to the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem called Yed Vachem. It is a little out of town but it was great. It kind of puts you in a weird mood… well… because it’s the Holocaust, but it is a must- see.

Later, we were walking around the Old City in the market when we ran into some students we met in the Airline line in Barcelona that were studying abroad from Arizona… small world no? So then, we ended up hiking up Mt Of Olives at night. It was quite the hike but it gave an amazing view. You could see the wall of tombs from the Muslims, Christians, and Jews, the Great Wall, Old Jerusalem, the New City, and Bethlehem from this mountain. It was definitely worth the hike.

          

We went to the market and bought food to make sandwich. Good old way to conserve money while traveling.  Another early night of sleep.

Friday 5.6.2011                  Jerusalem Day 2

Friday was a good day. I felt like I saw an amazing amount.

Started off the morning going back to The Mount of Olives  again but for the history and sight- seeing  this time. Here, Robbie and I got a tour guide to actually learn about the history of it all. Turns out the Old City of Jerusalem was belonged to Jordan for up until the 70’s (only a duration of 20 years though). But that’s CRAZY. Other than that, we visited Mary’s Tomb and the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the place where Jesus and his disciples are believed to have prayed the night before Jesus was crucified.

After that, we made lunch and took a siesta.

Later, we did the Walk; of Via Dolorosa. This street is believed to be the street that Jesus Christ made his walk to be crucified. It is in the middle of the market, just as it was 2000 years ago. There were 12 stations of this walk with some of the prettiest churches I’ve yet seen. The artwork, the architecture, and the overall mood of this walk was a different feeling all together. This was a very meaningful ‘tourist’ attraction. The walk of Via Dolorsa lead to the Church of Holy Sepulchre. This was the most amazing church I have yet been to. It beats Sevilla’s, Barcelona’s, Granada’s, Lisbon’s, and everyone I have seen yet. It is not only because how pretty it was inside, but mainly because what this church means. It being at the end of the Via Doloroa path, they established the church at the site where Christ was crucified. It was a very bold church, dark colors, and a dawning feeling.

To end the night, we switched Hostels to Abraham Hostel. I HIGHLY recommend this hostel. One of the cooler hostels I’ve ever been to AND they support couchsurfing too! They had a helpful staff, great rooms, and awesome environment, while being relatively inexpensive.

Saturday 5.7.2011            Jerusalem Day 3

In the morning, we left for the Israel Museum. Here, they had some of the some ancient archaeological findings… they had a skull that dated back to 9,000 B.C.!!! They had findings from era to era, that dominated the ancient lands of Israel. Israel has been ruled by m many kingdoms… the romans, the Greeks, the Babolonians, the Persians…and so on. They show how society has progressed over time, how they started using more tools to live, where they lived, and basically the evolution until this present day.

They also had a section of the Israel Museum that had Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls reveal writings of the Bible… Old Testament & New Testament. Basically, people are still finding scrolls in caves and what not that have the story of the Bible on it… quite amazing. On the way to the Dead Sea from Jerusalem, you see a whole bunch of caves… If I had another day, I would have loved to park my car and gone exploring in those caves.

At night, Robbie and I went to Mayishurum to see the craziest thing yet. There, the Haredi Jews were protesting against people who were not following the Jewish Sabbath. The Jewish Sabbath is from Sundown Friday night to Sundown Saturday night, and it goes against the proper use of electronics & technology, and it is the day of rest. Generally, the Haredi Jews are ultra- orthodox, and from what I have noticed and heard within the Jewish community, they don’t get along well with other Jews. The Haredi Jews have a huge political say even though their numbers are so small, and so the police can’t do much. This protest was on the streets for people who were driving their cars, and they have been protesting like so for the past two years… it’s pretty crazy.

Later that day, we left for Tel Aviv. My friend back at Tech has a friend who lives in Tel Aviv and so the friend’s friend spotted us the coolest place to see. It was along the beach in Tel Aviv, and he could see the Mediterranean Sea out his room. He had a sick Balcony, which basically was like a Bachelor’s pad. Even better, he was one of the coolest people I have yet met. He had stories of life, been through a lot, and is living the dream. He’s one of those people that walk into a room, and you can feel not only feel his energy, but how open- minded and accepting he is. Truly a great person.

Sunday 5.8.2011               Tel Aviv (I have no pictures of Tel Aviv because I captured them with my phone, and my phone was stolen before I uploaded the pictures)

That morning, we woke up and went to the Beach to relax and sleep. It was a tad bit chilly, but we managed. Later on, we sort of went to Jaffa, which is a huge free market in Tel Aviv. Went back and chilled more on the beach. The beach of Tel Aviv was amazing. I’ve been to the Beaches of California, Florida, Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, Spain, and more… but never have I seen such a cool setting. Not only that, the waves were the highest I have yet seen (not saying much). There were so many surfers, and just a clean atmosphere. One thing that’s cool about the beach we were at is that it was along the downtown area and literally a 1 minute walk from my friends place. The mix of the two was like you were in the center of it all.

I totally ripped this from google images :/

Later that evening we had to head for Italy. We got to the airport three hours early (4:30 pm). We had the most exclusive search I have ever been in.. and yes, the number of times are many. It was a 2 hour exclusive search where they went through everything. They took us to the back room, patted us down, and made sure every inch of our body wasn’t hiding anything. I don’t quite know what they were looking for, but oh well. They also broke our glass of coffee, and they said we could sew them for it if we wanted to. We passed the idea, but it’s funny to think I could have sued the Israel Airport and won… though it would have only been for $5.

The plane was delayed 3 hours, and we ended up getting into Rome at 2:30 am. I met some local Italians, and they gave me A LOT of travel advice. The right people to sit by at the right time. They lived in Tuscany… which is what you can read about in my Italy section. Anyhow, we arrived at 2:30 am… and so Italy begins.

So ya, I will 100% return to Israel at least a few more times in my lifetime. Israel will keep you on your feet to the second your plane takes off.