The Old City of Jerusalem

To finish off our trip to Israel, we spent our last weekend in Jerusalem with Ofri and Niv.  

Wow, such an incredible city!  There is SO much to see, learn, and experience.  Such an ancient city with so much history, where do you start…?  Fortunately, Niv found a free walking tour, which we all thoroughly enjoyed!  

Here's a summary of a few of the major events that occurred here:
  • World Creation: Ok, maybe it didn't actually start here, but apparently the Jewish people believe that the Rock Under the Dome was used to create the world
  • The Mount of Olives - where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son to prove his faith to God
  • David, the first Jewish king who built his city here
  • 586 BC - Persians (now-day Syrians) took over the promised land
  • 63 BC - the Romans took over the promised land
  • 30 AD - Jesus was crucified and died here
  • 570 AD - Mohammad ascended to heaven from the Rock Under the Dome (Note that there was no Dome at the time)
  • 638 AD - Muslims took over the promised land
  • 1099 - Crusaders took over the promised land
  • 1917 - the British came
  • 1948 - Israel was created

Here's the Jerusalem history cheat-sheet that our guide showed us.  Really interesting, but… way too many names and dates to remember!

Here are some other random facts that our guide told us (that we actually remembered):

  • Jesus is actually born in -4BC… apparently some historian made a calculation error at some point.
  • Before the invention of the compass, people used East (also known as "the orient") to orient their sense of direction because it's where the sun rises every morning when they start their journey.  Therefore, the word "disoriented" comes from when people lost their sense of which way East was.
  • Concrete was invented by the Romans
  • Armenia was the first Christian nation... "after the king willed it so". 
  • The Armenian flag depicts the Turkish Mountain Mount Ararat with Noah's Ark sitting atop it.  Mount Ararat is the mountain where Noah landed after the flood
  • Only 3-4 million people can do a pilgrimage Mecca during Hajj, per year
  • Once a believer has done a pilgrimage to Mecca, men add the title al-Hajji to their name and women add Hajiiya.  They also hang a sign above the front door of their house to indicate that they have made the Hajj.
  • The Christmas Tree came from the Catholic Church who was trying to ease assimilation with the Wiccan religion (they believe in nature)
  • In ancient times, the seeds of the Carob Tree were thought to all be uniform in weight in size so they were often used as a standard of measure for both weights and lengths.

Jerusalem is a holy city to 3 major religions (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity), so the various districts and streets all had unique blends of styles and cultures.

The Dome of the Rock
  • For the Jews, the Dome of the Rock is the first rock used to create the world
  • For the Muslims, the Dome of the Rock is where Mohammad ascended to heaven to talk to god and argue about how many prayers a Muslim should perform each day.  They started at 500 and settled on 5.
  • Barak (like in Barak Obama) was the name of the horse that Mohammad rode to the Dome of the Rock

Roman Ruins in the Cardo (heart of the old city).

The Wailing Wall
  • The western wall (wailing wall), is a holy place where Jewish people go to pray.  They also write wishes on pieces of paper and push them into the cracks of the wall.
  • Apparently this didn't become a significant place until 1967... after the 6 days war.  Prior to that, Israel's territory did not encompass Jerusalem

The Outer Wall

Tel Aviv with Friends

Almost one full year ago, we started our trip in Colombia where we did the Lost City Trek and met Ofri and Niv.  After spending several days with them there, they invited us to visit them in Israel if our journey led us here... and here we are!  

Of course, our stay here was awesome!  Ofri and Niv were so accommodating and nice.. they opened their 1 bedroom apartment to us, and as soon as we arrived, they made us feel completely welcome and at home.... Thanks again guys!

We spent our first few days relaxing and doing nothing but wander the cute shops around town.  Shopping here is really cute since there are so many different boutique-style stores and very few chains.  

On the weekend, Ofri and Niv took us for a walk along the coast.  We visited the harbour, the beaches, and ended up in Jaffa (the Southernmost and oldest part of Tel-Aviv).  In Jaffa, we had an amazing Arabic lunch and tried Niv's favourite dessert called Kanafe... yum!

When we first arrived in the Middle East and Israel, our brains were still stuck in the super-cheap-Asia mindset where paying an extra 2$/night for air conditioning seemed outrageous to us (even though it was 38deg outside)!  Returning to western-world prices gave our budget-mentality a huge shock, so we had been mostly eating cereal (or other relatively-inexpensive grocery store staples) since arriving in Jordan.  We were beginning to feel malnourished from our all-cereal-diet, so, since Ofri & Niv raved about how great the food is in Tel-Aviv, we forced ourselves to splurge and get over our uber-cheap Asian budget mindsets.  Thanks to all of the great restaurant tips they gave us, we discovered and indulged in some wonderful cuisine including some delicious salads, amazing breakfast places, some of the best breads/pastries... we also got to try Ofri's favourite breakfast dish called shakshouka.  The food here really was memorable and delicious... well worth the splurge! :)  


Luckily, we also happened to be here during their Memorial Day, and Independence Day.  Memorial day is a really important holiday in Israel where they commemorate all of their fallen soldiers and victims of terrorist acts.  The following next day, they celebrate their declaration of Independence in 1948.  We went out that night to join in the festivities... the coolest part was seeing all the kids chasing and shooting each other with cans of foam. 

We were also invited to a BBQ with Ofri's family.  We were warmly welcomed with open hands and enjoyed a delicious home-cooked meal with homemade lemonade from the lemon tree in the backyard.  Lucky for us, everyone there spoke to us in English (since our Hebrew is entirely non-existant). 


Acre's Crusader City

In the glorious time of the crusades, Acre became the principal crusader port in Palestine.  Being one of the oldest inhabited cities in the region, it also saw its host of conquerers: Roman, Ottoman, Muslim, etc..  The old city had a medieval feel with fortifications, a nice harbour, and really cute old street to stroll through.  

We also decided to visit the citadel and the tunnel that the crusaders built under the city so that they could easily access the port without going through the streets.... pretty cool.. going through the tunnels feels just like in the movies when they're trying to sneak out of the city to escape an attack! :)


The Druze Moustache

If you thought you had a good stache after participating in Movember, think again!  On our way to Tel-Aviv, we stopped at a Druze Village.  The Druze religion is an offshoot of Islam that started a long time ago.  Overall, the village was pretty ordinary - asphalt roads, cement buildings... The people are what makes the village particular - the women and men wear dark blue outfits and a white head dress, and the men grow some of the most awesome moustaches!!

Beit She'arim Necropolis

On our day trip around Haifa, we stopped at this Beit She'arim National Park to see it was all about.  What attracted us was the Necropolis... a bit morbid, yes.  As you follow the circuit, you notice all of the tombs carved into the rock... they're nice, but not particularly spectacular.  


However, when you reach the last burial complex, this is were the amazement begins.  The last tomb is the largest with a 50 meter central corridor, from which numerous halls branch off and hold around 130 carved limestone sarcophagi.  It was really pretty to walk through.

Dom also discovered that it's also an acoustically perfect place to sing and listen to your echo ;)

Chocolate Making

On one of the days, Jen found a place near Tiberias, where we could learn to make chocolate!

It ended up being more about the process of moulding and decorating chocolates... and it turns out we are not really good at it!  ...but we had a lot of laughs doing it and left with a nice big sugar-hangover! :)


Golan Heights

After the 6-Day War in 1967, Israel conquered the part of Syria known as the Golan Heights.  There are even remnants of tanks still scattered alongside the road... to make sure people remember their history.  

We spent a few days driving through and checking out the sites in this region.  The drive was so scenic and a complete contrast to the dry, lifeless Negev Desert.  The land is very fertile and lush... perfect for growing food and making delicious wine!

Our first stop was the Church of the Beatitude.  This, supposedly, is the site where Jesus delivered the Sermon Of The Mount.  Now the site is a tourist attraction with a church and a nice view of the Sea of Galilee (which is actually a fresh-water lake...).

From here we went near the Northern tip of Israel and visited the Nimrod Fortress, named after a brave biblical hunter who, according to legend, "could sit on the summit and reach out his hand to take water from the Banias stream...".  

The fortress was built by the Muslim ruler, ElMalik El-Aziz Uthman (that is is short name... his long name takes a few lines, so we'll skip it), in the early 13th century.  Since it's location is of strategic importance, controlling the City of Banias and important road to Damascus, the fortress has passed hands back and forth between the Muslims and the Crusaders.  

We also decided to visit a small town called Amirim where everyone in the town is vegetarian.  As we slowed to turn the corner and proceed up the hill, an older hitch-hiking couple approached the car and got in the back.  They seemed really nice and it turned out that they were from Amirim, so we decided to give them a lift up the hill.  To thank us, they invited us in for tea.  They were really nice and had many interesting stories about Israel's history and their lives, so we stayed and chatted with them for a couple of hours before heading out to wander the town and see the view.  We were planning to try out one of the vegetarian restaurants in the area but it was closed and showed no signs of opening anytime soon... so we returned to our hotel in Tiberias.  

Just as we were about to leave the hotel for dinner, we heard the sudden sounds of missile sirens screaming out through the city.  It lasted for several minutes and we looked at each other wondering if we should be doing something.  We looked out the window and people didn't seem particularly alarmed... and the hotel seemed quiet as usual.  We just shrugged it off and figured they must just be testing the alarms.  As we went to find a restaurant, we noticed that everything was closed... restaurants, shopw, grocery stores, etc..  Odd since it wasn't late and it was Sunday, which, by the way, is actually considered a week-day in Israel (their weekends are Friday and Saturday).  Luckily, we managed to find one restaurant (just about to close) and managed to sneak in a take-out order.  We asked why everything was closed so early and learned that it was a holiday called Holocaust Day... ahhh... hence the missile sirens, as a symbolic gesture of remembrance.

To end off our tour of the north, we also wandered through the old town in Nazareth, and lastly, checked out two wineries for a tasting (Rimon and Dalton).  Rimon was the most interesting as their wines and ports are made from pomegranates instead of grapes.  Surprisingly, the pomegranate taste was really subtle, but the port was really good so we had a bottle :).  

Negev Desert

We decided to rent a car and do a road-trip through Israel.  We started in the Southern beach town of Eilat, and made our way up to the Golan Heights in the North.  It sounds like a lot of driving, but Israel is only around 424km North to South and 114km between the widest East to West borders. 

The first part of our trip was through the Negev Desert, which encompasses most of South Israel.  We stopped in Mitzpe Ramon, a town overlooking the Ramon Crater.  Although referred to as a crater, the formation was not actually caused by a meteor impact or volcanic eruption.  The 500 meters deep, 40 km long and 10 km wide formation is a result of natural erosion.  

The area has several hiking trails, so we checked out a couple and got to see some unique formations like the Ammonite Wall (a wall with many ammonite fossils), and the Sawmill (an area where the rock formations look like a big pile of wooden planks).

Continuing North, our next stop was Masada - an ancient fortification built on top of a mountain, overlooking the Dead Sea.  The Roman emperor, Herod, fortified the area and built himself a palace.  A group of Jewish people later overtook the fortification and turned it into a Jewish settlement... what made Masada famous came several years later.  

Toward the end of the First Jewish–Roman War, the Romans succeeded in taking Jerusalem, where they ransacked and torched the entire city and survivors were taken into slavery.  The last group of Jewish rebels retreated to Masada where they would make their last stand.  

The Romans held Masada under siege and built a ramp to reach the summit.  After finally breaching the gate, they rested for the night.  

Knowing that the situation was hopeless, and determined to never again become slaves, the Jewish people decided to commit mass suicide.  They used a lottery system to select 10 men to kill all of the others.  Then 1 man was chosen to kill the remaining 9.  Finally, the remaining man killed himself.  When the Romans entered the city the next morning, they found 960 dead bodies.  Only 2 women and 5 children (who had gone into hiding) had survived. 

This is an important event in Jewish history, as it was the last time that the Jewish people lost political control of the promised land.  It is so important that it is now part of their military's basic training swearing-in ceremony.  The ceremony ends with the declaration: "Masada shall not fall again". 

In order to reach the site you can walk up the snake-trail, or, like we did, save time by taking a gondola.  There's not much left but ruins, but it's enough to allow you to appreciate the grandeur of the city and the amazing story hidden in the walls.  Not to mention the view from the top is quite stunning.  Since we took the gondola up, we decided to walk back down using the snake path.

We also made a quick stop at the Dead Sea for a second time (http://beyondthemapletree.com/dead-sea), before heading to our hotel in the North.

Driving through the Negev desert was pretty cool with its lunar-like scenery.  If you're lucky, you might even see a tank ;)

Diving in the Red Sea

One thing that we really wanted to do on this trip was to dive the Red Sea in Egypt.  Due to a travel advisory in the Sinai region of Egypt, we decided not to travel there but still booked a boat trip from Eilat, Israel.  We walked across the Israel/Egypt border to Taba, then went 500 meters to our boat that took us to a couple of dive sites off the coast of Egypt.. 

We dove two different sites: "Marsa Elmugabila" and "The Aquarium".  The Aquarium was the best one of the two as we saw the most fish, and even an Octopus :)  The pictures from these dives are more blue than our Bali dive pics because this time we used our new GoPro camera, and it doesn't have a flash to bring out the colours of the coral.

Here's a pic of the octopus…can you spot it? :)

After our two dives we also did a quick stop near a small fortress island to do some snorkelling.

While we were having lunch, one of the ship crew actually spotted a whale shark swimming by our boat!!  Dom grabbed GoPro, aimed it off the back of the boat, and hoped for the best.  Seeing a whale shark is a really rare occurrence in the area, so we were extremely lucky!!!

Hummus

In the Lonely Planet, one of the highlights of Israel and Jordan is actually Hummus... we had our doubts at first, but after eating it more than 20 times... we are now convinced!!  Not all are created equal, but none of them were ever bad... even the stuff that they sell at the grocery store was good!  Our favourite was from a place called Hashem, in downtown Amman, where we went multiple times to have hummus, falafal, and fatteh.. yum!

The falafel was a bit more hit&miss, but the good ones were super addictive - definitely the best we've ever had!