Concerns: Risks of attacks, price of a taxi & traffic in Jerusalem
Number of Days: 5 - from 25th till 30th April
Places visited (& days): Jerusalem (2) and Tel-Aviv (3)
Transport (time or distances): Border to Jerusalem by sherut- small shared buses (40 km); Jerusalem by bus to Tel-Aviv; several buses and taxis to return from Tel-Aviv to Jordan
Currency: NIS (New Israeli shekel): 1 Euros = 5,34 NIS;
Funny experiences: Sleep at the hotel manager's office; having my hair cut in a woman hairdresser, Return from Tel-Aviv to Jordan
Funny experiences: Sleep at the hotel manager's office; having my hair cut in a woman hairdresser, Return from Tel-Aviv to Jordan
Yes, I know it was risky but I wanted it to go anyway. The real reason was to visit Jerusalem but I visited Tel-Aviv as well.
I read a lot and talked to other travellers, about how and what to do to avoid a Israel stamp on my passport and the only way was to cross at the King Hussein border.
I paid the tax for leaving Jordan, and had to buy a bus ticket for probably the shortest trip of my life (1 km). But this km takes longer than half an hour since there are a lot of check points on the way. Finally, at the Israel Border, I was asked to leave my passport and luggage and to get through a X-ray machine!. A lot of questions were asked, like where I was going, where I would stay and if I had a flight back already booked (for the first time I had to show my tickets and I had to explain them that I was doing a round the world trip and therefore would not fly back to Portugal).
From the Border to Jerusalem it just 40 km more.
Damascus Gate (Old City) - Jersualem
How can a city mean so much for so many people? I saw people from everywhere. It seems that each country has its own delegation. I stayed at the old city. There was so much to see: The Old City with its four quarters (the Jewish, the Muslim, the Christian and the Armenian one); Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Citadel and Tower of David; Temple Mount (which I missed!!!) with the Dome of the Rock ; Mount of Olives, The New city and a lot of Museums but my favorite one the Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Museum)
Citadel and Tower of David - Jerusalem
End of my second day, when I arrived to my hotel there was no key of my room. When I tried to figure out what was going on, I realised that the guy who was on duty didn' t speak any English. After some mimics he finally got my point. He took his master key and we went to my room. When he opened the door, to my surprise my stuff was not there and even worse some guys had already checked-in. Just imagine, 20.00 pm, exhausted, expecting to have a shower and suddenly no room no luggage, and a guy who doesn' t understand a word of what you are saying! After 10 times telling him that I needed to talk to someone in English, he stopped looking at me, turned round and started praying. Unbelievable and this is really something that I realise about the Muslim religion. Wherever they are, if it is time to pray, they just do it!
Citadel and Tower of David - Jerusalem
End of my second day, when I arrived to my hotel there was no key of my room. When I tried to figure out what was going on, I realised that the guy who was on duty didn' t speak any English. After some mimics he finally got my point. He took his master key and we went to my room. When he opened the door, to my surprise my stuff was not there and even worse some guys had already checked-in. Just imagine, 20.00 pm, exhausted, expecting to have a shower and suddenly no room no luggage, and a guy who doesn' t understand a word of what you are saying! After 10 times telling him that I needed to talk to someone in English, he stopped looking at me, turned round and started praying. Unbelievable and this is really something that I realise about the Muslim religion. Wherever they are, if it is time to pray, they just do it!
End of the story: After 20 minutes the manager finally showed up. We had a long discussion since his argument was that I had just booked for for 2 nights. The day I checked-in, I told them that I would stay 2 or 3 nights and if I was leaving after the second day I would tell them in advance. Since I didn' t say anything I presume that everything was clear. But it wasn't!!! So it was embarrassing because he didn' t assume the mistake and therefore he could not kick out the other guys from the room and give it back to me. On top of that, he informed me that there were no more rooms so he let me sleep at his office, where they put an extra bed.
Narrow streets of the Old City
View from my hotel to the gold-plated Dome of the Rock
One of my favorite sights was the Yad Vashem museum, a memorial to the six million victims of the Holocaust! I spent more than 3 hours visiting it but it is really worth it. For dinner, the best restaurants are outside the old city around Jaffa Road. At one of them (I dont' remember the name) I had probably the best steak of my trip and specially well served by a charming Israel woman (Sivan).
One of my favorite sights was the Yad Vashem museum, a memorial to the six million victims of the Holocaust! I spent more than 3 hours visiting it but it is really worth it. For dinner, the best restaurants are outside the old city around Jaffa Road. At one of them (I dont' remember the name) I had probably the best steak of my trip and specially well served by a charming Israel woman (Sivan).
Yad Vashem museum - Jerusalem
It was time to have my hair cut. Comparing to a lot of people I had never had problems to cut it anywhere. Maybe I should because the result was terrible. My mistake was to go to a woman hairdresser (of course no way to show the result on the blog!!!)
Then I moved to Tel-Aviv where I spent 3 days. Modern city, vibrant people, fashion caffes & bars and a good beach.
Of course, arriving at Tel-Aviv the first thing I did was to have my hair cut again. But this time I made sure to go to a man hairdresser.
I stayed at KDA's apartments at Dizengoff (centre of the city). The apartment was very good as well as the staff. With one of them, Aviv, I had a good chat to better understand Israel's point of view in their conflit with Palestinians.
It was very difficult to walk around the city without seeing big groups of the army (men join the army for 3 years and women for 2 years!) and a lot of Israeli flags (by the way the only time I have seen Portuguese flags all around my country was during the Europeean Soccer Cup in 2004).
Israel flags everywhere in the city
Interesting sites to see are the Yeminite quarter downtown, the Neve Tsedek neighbourhood, the observatory for a great view of the city, and of course a walk along the beach.
City view from the observatory
I met Enbal and Tom at Ilka' s bar. Tom was working there as a bar man and gave me some tips on how to prepare cocktails and where i should go if I wanted to join any course during my round the world tour (definitely to Buenos Aires!)
Comming back from Tel-Aviv to Jordan was a nightmare. First because there is no information and secondly because I made some mistakes. When I arrived at the main station to take the sherut I told them that I wanted to go to the Allenby (Israel border - to cross to Jordan at King Hussein border). They pointed out the sherut that I should take and 5 minutes later, seeing that we were driving to the centre again I realised that the sherut was not going to the border but rather to a street with the same name in Tel- Aviv (Allenby Street).
Comming back from Tel-Aviv to Jordan was a nightmare. First because there is no information and secondly because I made some mistakes. When I arrived at the main station to take the sherut I told them that I wanted to go to the Allenby (Israel border - to cross to Jordan at King Hussein border). They pointed out the sherut that I should take and 5 minutes later, seeing that we were driving to the centre again I realised that the sherut was not going to the border but rather to a street with the same name in Tel- Aviv (Allenby Street).
I jumped out of the bus very quickly and took another sherut back to the station. Then I was informed that there was no way to go directly to the border and that I should take a sherut to another bus station and from there finally take a bus to the border. Arriving there, nobody knew (even the guys from the information centre) which bus I should take.
After losing more than 1 hour, I decide to go back to Jersualem . The bus stopped at the "Jewish" station (there is a separation between the Jewish and the Muslim part). I then took a taxi to the "Muslim station" and from there took another bus, the number 961, as suggested by the counter to go to the border.
At the bus station waiting for the 961 bus (the wrong one by the way)
The bus was full with young people from the army. I just found a place at the end of the bus, and immediately asked the guy next to me how much time it would take us to reach the border. He answered 2 hours (I was expecting 30 minutes). Oooopppssss something is wrong again!
He told me then, that we were going to Beit She' an. Immediately I checked on the guide where it was and to my surprise I was going to the north instead of going to the east (what's going on with me since for more than 2 months I managed so well and today everything went wrong!) Again, I asked the driver to stop, took another cab and this time I told them to go to the Damascus gate which was the one where I arrived at Jerusalem coming from the border. At 14.00 there were no more buses and the only way to go to the border was to take another taxi.
At the border I met Andrei, a bright young Ukranian guy living in Israel. His english was perfect and when I asked him where he had learnt it, he told me watching TV! He would like to go to US to study but had some doubts if he would be accepted at one of the universities. I encouraged him to apply (I hope he will, because if so, he will make it!)
