Everyday's a Holyday

We kept on following Jesus footsteps but opted for the bus to Jerusalem rather than hike. Jerusalem was an exciting place and we spent a jampacked week exploring the city and nearby locations, here follows a brief explanation of our excursions.

Jerusalem: To use a cliche, it is a place steeped in history, the old city confined inside the old city walls dates back about 3000 years and is home to some of the holiest sights of the three major religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam, today it is dived by these three groups and the fourth quarter belongs to the Armenians (of course.) We stayed in a hostel just outside the old city which turned out to be a good option as once again there was an interesting crowd of people here and the nightlife was entertaining. Jerusalem also boasts the new Holocaust Museum which was very moving although it leaves you slightly drained after spending almost an entire day inside the complex.

Hebron: A very complex situation, today most of Hebron is Palestinian, but Jewish settlers have claimed a portion of the town. So now 4000 Israeli soldiers control the border and try to keep the four hundred Jews (who appear to be the worst troublemakers) apart from the 150 000 Palestinians who live on the other side of the occupied territory.

Bethlehem: Oh little town which is in the West Bank and part of the Palestinian territory, another place very important to the life of Jesus as according to the fairytale this is where he was born. However I was more impressed with the huge wall erected by the Israelis to separate themselves from Palestine and the graffiti upon it amongst many artists I saw my first Banksy pieces in Bethlehem.

Dead Sea: We went to Ein Gedi beach at the lowest point on earth to enjoy a relaxing day at the spa, but when we reached the spa we were told they had no running water so we chose the free public beach to take in this fascinating experience which words can't really describe. Floating effortlessly in the extremely salty sea completely blew my mind.

However after more than a week, we felt we needed to get moving again and wanted to get out of Israel before the Sabbath (or Shabbat) which falls roughly between Friday sunset and Saturday sunset, and completely shuts down the entire nation, including transport. So Thursday morning we started our trip towards Jordan...