Israel, Middle East
my visit to the major cities in Israel
Okay, I arrived in Tel Aviv and was immediately pleased with the bathrooms. You think its dumb, but as a girl who pees a lot, it was important to me. Tel Aviv was very modern, very much like the west.
Next I spent some time in Tiberias, Nazareth, and Capernaum. The more well known cities have huge (catholic) churches, which I (personally) found gaudy. However in smaller places like Capernaum, we took a boat across the Sea of Galilee that was very authentic looking (no doubt for tourists like me, but I liked it, so it worked).
I spent on day (and no nights) in arab-held Bethleham. It was the only place I visited that was arab-held and their was a checkpoint complete with barbed wire and armed guards on both sides and a “no man’s land” in the middle that you had to walk. Bethlehem was the first (and only) place (in Israel) that I experienced “squatty pottys” So, that already said something in my mind. Surprisingly it was the only place I was afraid and other than the armed guards at the checkpoint, those were the only guns I saw.
Which is unlike the rest of the cities. Every person (male and female) at (I’m guessing) 16 is inscripted into the army, so EVERYWHERE you go, there are kids with big guns walking around. Sometimes they are in uniforms and sometimes not, depending, it seemed, on whether or not they were on duty. They seemed to be on a day and then off for a couple of days but they always had their guns (big machine guns mostly), the kind you’d expect a soldier to be carrying.
Jerusalem, there are really two cities. One inside the other. The inside one is called “Old Jerusalem” and is literally surrounded by the walls you read about in the Bible. So, I stayed at a hotel in Jerusalem, but only went into Old Jerusalem during the day. Jerusalem was the only place that made a big deal about not mixing meat dishes with milk dishes too.
I spent 8-9 days on a tour in Israel and as wonderful as it was, and as much as I saw…I think I could spend a full week just exploring inside walls of Old Jerusalem. That’s why I want to go back. over 4 years ago
Next I spent some time in Tiberias, Nazareth, and Capernaum. The more well known cities have huge (catholic) churches, which I (personally) found gaudy. However in smaller places like Capernaum, we took a boat across the Sea of Galilee that was very authentic looking (no doubt for tourists like me, but I liked it, so it worked).
I spent on day (and no nights) in arab-held Bethleham. It was the only place I visited that was arab-held and their was a checkpoint complete with barbed wire and armed guards on both sides and a “no man’s land” in the middle that you had to walk. Bethlehem was the first (and only) place (in Israel) that I experienced “squatty pottys” So, that already said something in my mind. Surprisingly it was the only place I was afraid and other than the armed guards at the checkpoint, those were the only guns I saw.
Which is unlike the rest of the cities. Every person (male and female) at (I’m guessing) 16 is inscripted into the army, so EVERYWHERE you go, there are kids with big guns walking around. Sometimes they are in uniforms and sometimes not, depending, it seemed, on whether or not they were on duty. They seemed to be on a day and then off for a couple of days but they always had their guns (big machine guns mostly), the kind you’d expect a soldier to be carrying.
Jerusalem, there are really two cities. One inside the other. The inside one is called “Old Jerusalem” and is literally surrounded by the walls you read about in the Bible. So, I stayed at a hotel in Jerusalem, but only went into Old Jerusalem during the day. Jerusalem was the only place that made a big deal about not mixing meat dishes with milk dishes too.
I spent 8-9 days on a tour in Israel and as wonderful as it was, and as much as I saw…I think I could spend a full week just exploring inside walls of Old Jerusalem. That’s why I want to go back. over 4 years ago
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