The Race To The Finish! - Tel Aviv

2/9/11

Dahab, Egypt

1628 (local time)

Gday again guys, bit of a late update but I have been pretty busy with lots of windsurfing and also helping out a mate at the local bar here in Dahab.

Alright, so ill start where I left off. So I caught a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, the bus ride went really well, it was only a 1 hour journey. I met an American girl on the bus, who then hung out with me for the rest of the afternoon. We visited the beautiful sights of Old Jaffa and the old port! It was quite nice with a lot of character!

So, Tel Aviv is a very liberal city and in all honesty, the only reason you would go there, is for Sun and Parties! So that’s what I intended to do! So after the epic walk to the old city, I went for a swim in the lovely Mediterranean Sea!

It was dinner time so I sorted myself out with a lovely shawarma, I was fortunate enough to met some guys in my hostel who were up for some drinks so we bought some beers and had an epic night in Tel Aviv!

Not going to lie though… Its not a cheap place to party!

The next day was a chill out day where me an Joe (a welsh bloke) played beach Tennis all day and just went for swims! Quite a chilled out day!

The next day I was doing a day trip to Nazareth… so I caught the bus out there… and pretty much as soon as I got there I wanted to leave! The city was pretty average! But it was fine, I was able to catch a bus to the Sea of Galilee, but unfortunately didn’t pack my boardies, and I desperately wanted to go for a swim, so… I did it Euro style in my Undies! What was cool, is that the Sea of Galilee is fresh water, so when I started swimming I almost drowned, because I just sunk to the bottom! So after I spent about an hour there, I started to EPIC journey back to Tel Aviv… Bit of a waste of a day, but I’m glad I went.

The aim was to get an early night as the next day I was heading back to Dahab. I was catching a bus from Tel Aviv bus station at 6.30am, so I set all my alarms to go off at 5.30am so I could have breakfast in the morning. All my alarms went off at 5.30am, but I turned them all off! Which means, that I woke up at 6.00am! I stuffed everything in my backpack and just ran out the door!!

Fortunately I made it to the bus station and endured the 7 hour and 2 bus’s journey from Tel Aviv to Eilat!

All in all, the my adventures in Israel was absolutely fantastic! I really enjoyed it, and it is defiantly one of my favorite countries ive been to.

Before I finish, a HUGE thanks goes out to Sandra and Chaym for putting up with me for 5 days! You were absolutely fantastic and looking forward to chat soon!

Take care guys!

PS: I have put up photos from my Time in Spain, as I now have a card reader! ENJOY! xx

The city of Tel Aviv

In Jaffa the Old City's Port

Just chilling out watching the locals pack up a market!

Epic Beach Tennis with Joe

The average beach i found in the Galilee Sea

Sea of Galilee

THE FOLLOWING PHOTOS ARE FROM MADRID, SPAIN

A cheap 'meat' market in Spain! Amazing food

Building in Madrid

this isnt in Madrid... This is for Sam Village's Bday!

Getting Very Wet In Tunnels!

26/8/11

Jerusalem, Israel

1016 (local time)

I’m currently writing this on the  26^th of August, my final day in Jerusalem. I have had such an amazing time here!

If you have been following my stories, I have been getting up at (kinda early) and then leaving the house by 9.30am only to return by about 5.00pm absolutely exhausted! The thing is that is different to any other city I have been to, is that I have been wanting to explore the city. Normally when you get to a new city exploring the city for 2 days is normally the limit (obviously there are exceptions) but after that it just starts getting the same. But Jerusalem, totally amazed me every single day! If I was going to Bethlehem and Hebron, or if it was just walking around the old city in Jerusalem it was an experience I will never forget.

Anyway, yesterday the 26^th, I left Sandra’s humble apartment at 10am and headed off to The City of David to explore Hezekiah's Tunnels, Hezekiah’s tunnel was use to bring water in the city, so when I explored the Tunnels started off with being knee deep in water and then subsiding to just over ankle deep. Not great considering I had my Salomon hiking shoes on. When I finished they were literally full of water!

It took a few hours for them to finally dry out.

After some homemade lunch (Thanks Sandra) I wandered back to the Western Wall so I could explore the Western Wall Tunnels which is located under the Old City. Amazing stuff, especially looking at the biggest stone weighing in at something like 570 tonnes. Simply massive, and you have to wonder how they got it down there!

After exploring the Tunnels I headed back to the apartment and just relaxed as tomorrow (today the 26^th) I was heading to Tel Aviv!

Woop Woop!

Anyway, take care!

Shalom!

Steve x

Dome of the Rock... and Realizing the Holocaust!

25/8/11

Still in Jerusalem

2135 (local time)

So I’m writing this about my adventures yesterday the 24^th. Today was the day that I ‘tried’ to get up early so I could go to visit the Dome of the Rock which closes at 11am due to Ramadan! So after an extensive breakfast I headed out to the old city to where I then went to the Dome of the Rock.

The Dome of the Rock is a Muslim shrine located on Temple Mount, the reason why this is so significant and seen as such a holy place for the Muslims is because according to Islamic tradition, the rock is the spot from which Muhammad ascended to Heaven accompanied by the angel Gabriel. Further, Muhammad was taken here by Gabriel to pray with Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. After Muhammad's return, he called all who would believe him to join with him and be Muslim (source: Wikipedia)

Unless your Muslim, you are not allowed in the Dome of the Rock or the Mosque, but it is very beautiful just from the outside, so I stood around took some photos and just admired how beautiful it is. At 11am I was asked to leave as it is Ramadan, so I happy left and made my way to the light rain tram and took it all the way to the end as I was heading to Yad Veshem this is the Holocaust Museum. I knew a little about the Holocaust, about what happened etc, but not to this extent.

In the museum they obviously had war hero’s telling horrific stories of their ordeal with the Nazi’s. Truly 

terrible things!

I stayed in the Museum for over 2 hours, when I left the exit lead to a beautiful view overlooking the mountains, so it turned something that got most people quite depressed, to something quite beautiful.

I caught the tram back to Sandra’s and enjoyed a nice quiet evening.

The End! Until tomorrow!

Much love!

Shalom

Steve

Dome of the Rock

Dome!