Israel

Israel

So afterwards we took a minibus to Jerusalem. In general Israel is more expensive than the Arabic countries. The currency Shekel is not that strong (1 Euro equals 5,2 Shekel) but the price level is quite high.
So we got ourselves a room in a Youth Hostel and just started walking. Most of our time in Jerusalem we spend in the Old City, which is surrounded by a thick wall. The Old city itself is divided into 4 parts: Christian, Armenian, Jewish and Islamic. So it is quite impossible not to stand in close to any important mosque, church etc pp.
At the first evening we stayed in the Jewish quarter and visited the Wailing Wall the most important part of the old temple for the jewish people. Furthermore we saw the Islamic quarter with the Great Dom of the Rock. Unfortunately we were not able to get in. This mosque is very important for the Islamic religion, it is considered to be the second most important after the one in Mekka.
In the evening we left the old city and had some drinks in New Jerusalem. There you definitely fell like in Europe or the US. Teenagers drink and dance in bars and clubs. This feels very strange when you come from an Islamic country before, because their drinking alcohol is forbidden.
I never felt insecure in Israel, although you a surrounded by armed soldiers nearly everywhere. Because military service in Israel is mandatory most of them a very young, something like 20-22. But definitely this has been the most dangerous country I have been so far. Somehow the people living in this state got used to that they live in an insecure situation (as silly as it sounds it is) and any political change can happen anytime.
On our second day we got up and visited the Christian and the armenian quarter. We weren’t that good in navigation and I can really not recommend the Lonely Plant map of Jerusalem, so sometimes we screwed up and ended up somewhere we didn't want to. In the Christian part of the town we saw some sort of procession. Because it was a Friday a very important priest came to town. People sang and prayed for him. They followed him in a large number and tried to kiss him.
Afterwards we visited a Christian church outside the old city wall. They say that in this church the virgin Mary is buried. The church was build and now is run by Germans and somehow I felt and saw that. In the room where Mary is buried we could when see some picture on the walls from Cologne, Nuernberg and Bamberg.
A very interesting thing in Jerusalem is that with a lot of things people say they think that is like this (i.e. the last walk of Jesus Christ) but the cannot prove it.
We saw the grave of Oscar Schindler and a big kitschy Coptic Church.
Afterwards we wanted to do some shopping but due to the fact that Friday is the holy day of the Jews everything closed at 3 pm. In the evening we had some drinks with some other backpackers and then a nice cold Becks in the City centre.
At the morning of the third day we went to the town of Bethlehem in Palestine very early in the morning. So we crossed the border into the Westbank which is quite a weird feeling crossing a border within a country on one hand and on the other hand this big wall just makes me as a German feel so sad, because this reminds me of the times of the Cold war in Germany. I am crying inside myself when I see such horrible things and the way the divide humans.
In Bethlehem we visited the birthplace of Jesus Christ and once more I realised that very religion is just a cult. The church that marks the birthplace is one of the oldest churches in the worlds and looked for me somehow like a Buddhist temple, because it has a large hall which dark coloured columns with no benches. The roof was made out of wood. I know this sounds strange but maybe it was a small hit from god, allah, Buddha,… that in the end all religions are the same.

I noticed a strange thing both Islamic and Jewish people say Peace in their languages when they meet somebody in the streets (al salamo a’laykom in Islamic and Saloom in Hebrew) but actually in this country they are not looking for peace, sad but true.
I hope that this place on earth and it’s people will find peace one day.
On our way back we saw a lot of graffiti’s, all of them showed how sad the people are about the situation. I kept one in my mind: ”Israel 2008=Germany 1948”
At 11am we travel to Tel Aviv. It is really a nice place at the seaside. They have beautiful beaches to chill out and swim. But that is it basically. You will find a lot of Americans there and the town centre is very hip and modern. We enjoyed being at the beach, eating some kosher food and in the evening sitting at the beach listing to the sound of the never ending waves.
On Sunday we travelled back to Eilat and crossed the border to Egypt again. Afterwards back to Cairo. To sum it up this trip has been amazing gorgeous. I cannot write everything down but I hope to share my experiences which some of you face to face soon.