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Holiday to Israel & Palestine, 2019 - A wonderful surprise
6 years ago
General
Let's start with a story that goes back to July 2018:
The moment I stepped foot back on Great Britain after my flying back from Singapore (possibly my favorite holiday of the decade) my mind immediatly turned to "Where are we going next?". Of course, my father didn't want to think about the next family holiday after still paying for the one we just had (and probably the most expensive one to date, on par or moreso then Japan two years before). But I was keen; I want to know what's next, because it gives me something to look forward to, aim towards as I lay my head down each night to wake up the following morning - travel is what I live for.
I had started watching a new youtube channel called Kara and Nate and was getting many new ideas from them. Some I can imagine doing with family and some I can't; despite this I was constantly asking my father about certain suggestions; 'exotic' countries I've never been do; Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Tanzania, Myanmar, South Korea, Australia. But every sugestion he would shoot it down with a comment of why we can't go there:
Mexico - "It's just a more expensive version of Spain; you can only go to Cancún and stay in a resort, otherwise you will also be killed there."
Brazil - "You will be killed by gangs there."
Turkey - "You will die at the hands of their goverment."
Tunisia - "Terrorist attacks every year"
Egypt - "It's not what you expect, and you will be killed there."
Tanzania - "You will be die from mosquitoes."
Myanmar - "The government is ethnic clensing."
South Korea - "You will be killed by the north"
Australia - "Everything will kill you, and I am not putting up with the distant family out there"
So essentually, I gave up asking and let him decide the holiday alone; in the mean time I went to Riga, Latvia, with Foxhound1710 in December. When I got back, I was greated with my dad at the dinner table with... "I've been looking at Eilat in Israel. Our airport is going to start flights there next year so it will be easy to get to."
I was stunned, and my first response was "After dismissing all of the places I suggested as too dangerous... you are suggesting a country which is on the news every week because of rockets from the Gaza Strip bombing people's homes in Israel fairly close to the capital?!"
"They won't have flights going there if it was too dangerous."
"There are flights going to the countries I suggested that you said that were too dangerous!"
"Well don't come if you don't want to!"
...so that's the story of how my big 2019 holiday was to the "Holy Land".
I said that I will come because I always wanted to go to Jerusalem but maybe later on in life if things had calmed down - but then I taught myself to think... "What if this is the last time everything there will be intact? What if I leave it and then something happens and I missed my chance to see it?"
So that's what I kept saying to myself; that this was my last chance to see it before it goes.
But when I was there; I was truely surprised; the place was amazing and I would definatly go there again!
I'm going to keep this section short and sweet as it was such a long time ago now for the details, but I will recomend the bits I can remember as those are the bits I enjoyed the most:
My recommendations for Israel & Palastine/West Bank are:
- Tel Aviv is the beautiful, vibrant and welcoming widely accepted capital of Israel and sits on the coast of the Mediterranean. The markets are always full to the brim with food, clothes, gizmos and other knick-knacks. We stayed here for the holiday and travelled out of here via train to various places. The food was unfortunatly disapointing as every resturant seemed to sell the same things; Chicken, Schnitzel, Burger with either Chips or Salad - I wasn't in control of where to go, that was my father, so I would of gone to a very different selection of restuarnts instead, including Russian, Yemanite and Georgian, but luckly I was still able to get some local humas with pitta, shreaded beef and other proper Israeli foods from local menus hidden away at my father's boring restaurants.
- Jaffa is the orignal old city which Tel Aviv grew out from; it is a beautiful and authentic old port and market which you definatly need to make the trip to. We managed to walk all the way from Tel Aviv to Jaffa along the coast; it's a very long walk but very plesent. You can also hire electic scooters or pedal bikes too if the journey is too long and tiresome for you; however make sure you don't miss the markets like we almost did, they are bright and colourful and quite amazing, but they are a distance away from the coast so you might miss it if you aren't leavint the coast to head into the centre of Jaffa.
- Haifa is a train journey away from Tel Aviv and is home to what can only be described as The Hanging Gardens of Haifa, more formally known as the Baháʼí Gardens. This awe inspiring terraces/tiered garden is in three parts on the side of a mountain and are open to the public for free to view from viewing areas. Most of the garden is closed off to the public in order to keep it immaculate as it is a religious site for the Bahá í faith (from my understanding, it's a religion that accepts all reglions?). I advise taking the underground funicular to the top of the mountain and make your way down visiting each of the three parts before ending up in "German Colony" for lunch. Just make sure to cover your shoulders and legs when entering the gardens for respect.
- Masada is mountain fortress with a sheer cliff on every side making it impossible to invade -or so did King Herod the Great believe when he and his people fled here when he escaped the Romans who then bult a giant ramp/earth-work up to the side of the fortress to penetrate it. Standing ontop and over looking all of the land around you cannot believe the height and size of this fortress that sits beside the Dead Sea and the amazing stories of those who used it. I visited here as apart of a tour from Tel Aviv to Masada and the Dead Sea and back.
- The Dead Sea is one of the natural wonders of the world I always wanted to visit; my dad wanted to go but didn't want to fork out the money for it, so I decided to pay for me and my family to go on a tour there via Masada. I've seen films and shows of the Dead Sea; able to float in it, having rejuvinating properties and being increadbly salty; at least two of those points were true! The 'beach' was black and hot and the water was warm and thick; and tasted increadbly salty (you aren't supposed to drink it as it can kill you! But it's hard not to lick you lips accidentally when you feel something on there). I also learnt the history about the Dead Sea, and how it used to form the Soren Sea with the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, connected to the Mediterranean, but a combination of natural and human intervention cut the seas off and now the Dead Sea is drying up; shrinking because less water gets into it then what evaporates. You can see the layers on the banks of the Dead Sea of how high it was in previous years; and it's scary to say the least that in a few years this natural wonders might be gone for good. There are plans at the moment of Israel and Jordan to build a canal from the Red Sea in the south to the Dead Sea, to fill it up or at least keep it topped up with sea water from the wider ocean and also use some of the water in this canal for drinking water in Jordan, but nothing has been confirmed yet; but I hope it gets started soon.
- Jerusalem is a modern City on the border of Israel and Palestine to all of our surprise; if we had known this we might of spent more time here but we didn't know it would be so clean and posh. We only realised this when we travelled here (2 train journeys via the airport train station) to visit the old holy city of Jerusalem. The Holy City was beautiful; a wonderful maze of walls, stairs, markets and merchants. I could of spent more then a few hours here. I could of spent a few days here exporing the old and new cities together. I visited the ruins of the City of David which took you underground to see the remains of the earlier settlements, teach you about the history of Jerusalem and finish in the ruins of the Temple Mount. I also visited the Western Wall to observe those of the Jewish faith to pray; the closest they can get to the Temple Mount before heading back to the train for Tel Aviv. Annoyingly, again because of my father, we didn't actually go up Temple Mount to see the Dome of the Rock but I did see it from afar and it did look beautiful, regardless of whose faith it is for.
So in conclusion; Israel is definatly a must see. I felt incredibly safe there despite one in five people were in military uniform and possibly holding a large rifle. I would go there again to see Jerusalem once more and go see Jericho and Bethlehem.
PS. Although Israel is a Hebrew/Jewish country you still can get non-kosher foods in Tel Aviv such as pork; but I don't recomend it as it is not going to be that well looked after and may make you ill. (My father bought pork on one of our first days to cook back at our room and made all of us some-what ill for the whole holiday and two weeks after - why on earth he would buy pork in a mostly kosher country?!)
I hate my dad... he's a fucking idiot...
The moment I stepped foot back on Great Britain after my flying back from Singapore (possibly my favorite holiday of the decade) my mind immediatly turned to "Where are we going next?". Of course, my father didn't want to think about the next family holiday after still paying for the one we just had (and probably the most expensive one to date, on par or moreso then Japan two years before). But I was keen; I want to know what's next, because it gives me something to look forward to, aim towards as I lay my head down each night to wake up the following morning - travel is what I live for.
I had started watching a new youtube channel called Kara and Nate and was getting many new ideas from them. Some I can imagine doing with family and some I can't; despite this I was constantly asking my father about certain suggestions; 'exotic' countries I've never been do; Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Tanzania, Myanmar, South Korea, Australia. But every sugestion he would shoot it down with a comment of why we can't go there:
Mexico - "It's just a more expensive version of Spain; you can only go to Cancún and stay in a resort, otherwise you will also be killed there."
Brazil - "You will be killed by gangs there."
Turkey - "You will die at the hands of their goverment."
Tunisia - "Terrorist attacks every year"
Egypt - "It's not what you expect, and you will be killed there."
Tanzania - "You will be die from mosquitoes."
Myanmar - "The government is ethnic clensing."
South Korea - "You will be killed by the north"
Australia - "Everything will kill you, and I am not putting up with the distant family out there"
So essentually, I gave up asking and let him decide the holiday alone; in the mean time I went to Riga, Latvia, with Foxhound1710 in December. When I got back, I was greated with my dad at the dinner table with... "I've been looking at Eilat in Israel. Our airport is going to start flights there next year so it will be easy to get to."
I was stunned, and my first response was "After dismissing all of the places I suggested as too dangerous... you are suggesting a country which is on the news every week because of rockets from the Gaza Strip bombing people's homes in Israel fairly close to the capital?!"
"They won't have flights going there if it was too dangerous."
"There are flights going to the countries I suggested that you said that were too dangerous!"
"Well don't come if you don't want to!"
...so that's the story of how my big 2019 holiday was to the "Holy Land".
I said that I will come because I always wanted to go to Jerusalem but maybe later on in life if things had calmed down - but then I taught myself to think... "What if this is the last time everything there will be intact? What if I leave it and then something happens and I missed my chance to see it?"
So that's what I kept saying to myself; that this was my last chance to see it before it goes.
But when I was there; I was truely surprised; the place was amazing and I would definatly go there again!
I'm going to keep this section short and sweet as it was such a long time ago now for the details, but I will recomend the bits I can remember as those are the bits I enjoyed the most:
My recommendations for Israel & Palastine/West Bank are:
- Tel Aviv is the beautiful, vibrant and welcoming widely accepted capital of Israel and sits on the coast of the Mediterranean. The markets are always full to the brim with food, clothes, gizmos and other knick-knacks. We stayed here for the holiday and travelled out of here via train to various places. The food was unfortunatly disapointing as every resturant seemed to sell the same things; Chicken, Schnitzel, Burger with either Chips or Salad - I wasn't in control of where to go, that was my father, so I would of gone to a very different selection of restuarnts instead, including Russian, Yemanite and Georgian, but luckly I was still able to get some local humas with pitta, shreaded beef and other proper Israeli foods from local menus hidden away at my father's boring restaurants.
- Jaffa is the orignal old city which Tel Aviv grew out from; it is a beautiful and authentic old port and market which you definatly need to make the trip to. We managed to walk all the way from Tel Aviv to Jaffa along the coast; it's a very long walk but very plesent. You can also hire electic scooters or pedal bikes too if the journey is too long and tiresome for you; however make sure you don't miss the markets like we almost did, they are bright and colourful and quite amazing, but they are a distance away from the coast so you might miss it if you aren't leavint the coast to head into the centre of Jaffa.
- Haifa is a train journey away from Tel Aviv and is home to what can only be described as The Hanging Gardens of Haifa, more formally known as the Baháʼí Gardens. This awe inspiring terraces/tiered garden is in three parts on the side of a mountain and are open to the public for free to view from viewing areas. Most of the garden is closed off to the public in order to keep it immaculate as it is a religious site for the Bahá í faith (from my understanding, it's a religion that accepts all reglions?). I advise taking the underground funicular to the top of the mountain and make your way down visiting each of the three parts before ending up in "German Colony" for lunch. Just make sure to cover your shoulders and legs when entering the gardens for respect.
- Masada is mountain fortress with a sheer cliff on every side making it impossible to invade -or so did King Herod the Great believe when he and his people fled here when he escaped the Romans who then bult a giant ramp/earth-work up to the side of the fortress to penetrate it. Standing ontop and over looking all of the land around you cannot believe the height and size of this fortress that sits beside the Dead Sea and the amazing stories of those who used it. I visited here as apart of a tour from Tel Aviv to Masada and the Dead Sea and back.
- The Dead Sea is one of the natural wonders of the world I always wanted to visit; my dad wanted to go but didn't want to fork out the money for it, so I decided to pay for me and my family to go on a tour there via Masada. I've seen films and shows of the Dead Sea; able to float in it, having rejuvinating properties and being increadbly salty; at least two of those points were true! The 'beach' was black and hot and the water was warm and thick; and tasted increadbly salty (you aren't supposed to drink it as it can kill you! But it's hard not to lick you lips accidentally when you feel something on there). I also learnt the history about the Dead Sea, and how it used to form the Soren Sea with the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee, connected to the Mediterranean, but a combination of natural and human intervention cut the seas off and now the Dead Sea is drying up; shrinking because less water gets into it then what evaporates. You can see the layers on the banks of the Dead Sea of how high it was in previous years; and it's scary to say the least that in a few years this natural wonders might be gone for good. There are plans at the moment of Israel and Jordan to build a canal from the Red Sea in the south to the Dead Sea, to fill it up or at least keep it topped up with sea water from the wider ocean and also use some of the water in this canal for drinking water in Jordan, but nothing has been confirmed yet; but I hope it gets started soon.
- Jerusalem is a modern City on the border of Israel and Palestine to all of our surprise; if we had known this we might of spent more time here but we didn't know it would be so clean and posh. We only realised this when we travelled here (2 train journeys via the airport train station) to visit the old holy city of Jerusalem. The Holy City was beautiful; a wonderful maze of walls, stairs, markets and merchants. I could of spent more then a few hours here. I could of spent a few days here exporing the old and new cities together. I visited the ruins of the City of David which took you underground to see the remains of the earlier settlements, teach you about the history of Jerusalem and finish in the ruins of the Temple Mount. I also visited the Western Wall to observe those of the Jewish faith to pray; the closest they can get to the Temple Mount before heading back to the train for Tel Aviv. Annoyingly, again because of my father, we didn't actually go up Temple Mount to see the Dome of the Rock but I did see it from afar and it did look beautiful, regardless of whose faith it is for.
So in conclusion; Israel is definatly a must see. I felt incredibly safe there despite one in five people were in military uniform and possibly holding a large rifle. I would go there again to see Jerusalem once more and go see Jericho and Bethlehem.
PS. Although Israel is a Hebrew/Jewish country you still can get non-kosher foods in Tel Aviv such as pork; but I don't recomend it as it is not going to be that well looked after and may make you ill. (My father bought pork on one of our first days to cook back at our room and made all of us some-what ill for the whole holiday and two weeks after - why on earth he would buy pork in a mostly kosher country?!)
I hate my dad... he's a fucking idiot...
