Happy 2010 everyone.
I hope its been a wonderful holiday season and merriment ringing out the old and bringing in the new.
I’ve had a great time traveling around and seeing parts of the world I never thought I would see. In December I took a trip to Israel/Palestine to visit a friend and check out the sights. This was my first time visiting the Middle East.
Sorry the pic is so small – I stole it from Facebook.
Entrance to the Old City
Jerusalem felt like no other city that I have ever been to. In the shelter of the walls of the old city, it really feels like you are stepping back in time. There were hardly any cars – and they couldn’t really fit anyways. You saw an occasional soldier with a gun, but other than that its just shopkeepers, vendors, and people wondering around its enclosed and winding streets. It doesn’t really feel like much has changed here, other than the fashion and a few more mobiles; Jerusalem is the first city I have been to that really has withstood the test of time. It didn’t feel ancient necessarily, just timeless. Like its always existed, and it will always be around. I really enjoyed my time there.
Streets of the Old City
Wailing Wall
2000+ year old Olive Tree
I also ventured out from Jerusalem to a place called Haifa, home of the famous Bahai Gardens, and to Jericho. The Bahai Gardens in Haifa are perfectly symmetrical in every way and they also pull from the three major religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Now if only we could find a way for these three to get along politically.
It takes two, sometimes it takes three...
I spent the rest of my trip in Jericho, which was absolutely beautiful. Some have said its the ‘ass part of Palestine’ (ahem, Nader). But I really enjoyed the mountains, the people and the laid back quality to the town – despite being in a desert it did have a resort feel to it.
Hills of Jericho in the shadow of the mountains of Jordan
Jericho is home to the only gondola that is at the lowest point below sea level. So we rode that up to Temptation Mountain to go visit a monastery. The monastery was built in the side of the mountain. See:
Monastery in the montain
We also did a day trip up to Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity. Sadly my camera died at this point, and I am waiting to get those pics off another camera. So I hope you’ll just be satisfied that I did indeed visit where Jesus was born and I can’t show you. Maybe you could just have a little faith??
I spent 10 days touring around the Holy Land, and it will be an experience that I will never forget. The trip went almost without a hitch; my last day traveling was a bit more stressful than I hoped, which ended up me being questioned by the Israeli security at the Tel Aviv airport and being stripped searched. But thankfully, I am not a terrorist, and they soon found that out. I’m telling you the highly abridged version of this story, but suffice to say I was really happy to finally leave the country.
I’m not really ready to go back anytime soon, but I wouldn’t have traded this trip for anything and I’m so glad I was able to go.
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