Advertisement
Published: June 26th 2017
Edit Blog Post
Geo: 31.7738, 35.2252
Arrived here yesterday after spending the day travelling from Sharm el Sheik. The first section was a 3 hour drive through the Sinai desert to Taba. This was interesting, though rather monotonous, as the scenery did not vary much from stony mountains and bare desert sands. The last section of the road ran along the side of the Gulf of Aqaba where they are building many resorts. There are also smaller camps where local people can hire a small cabin for a weekend at the beach. Across the water we could see Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Crossing the border was fairly straight forward and relatively quick. Once on the Israeli side we waited for our driver who didn't appear. A couple of phone calls later he turned up and drove us to Eilat airport. This is very small and right in the centre of town, like having the airport alongside North Terrace!
We flew to Tel Aviv and were then driven to Jerusalem. This is only a 50 minute drive. I had no idea they were so close.After checking in at our hotel, Prima Royal, we set off to explore. Walked up to the Old City and plunged onto the
labyrinth of small streets lined with shops offering all kinds of souvenirs. Having walked around for an hour or two we got rather lost but eventually headed back to the Jaffa gate. Near there we found a great restaurant, Rossini's which served French and Italian cuisine. Our dinner there was the best we have had so far on the trip and the Israeli wine is also excellent.
Today we had a tour of the Old City. We first headed up to Mount Scopus for a view of both sides of the city. From there we could see the difference between this side which is green and the other which is desert. We could also see the wall that the israelis have built between them and Palestine.. Then to the Mount of Olives where we saw the Ascension church and had a panoramic view of Old Jerusalem, The Golden Dome and the different mosques, synagogues and churches was truly remarkable. Our guide pointed out the gate which was the entrance Jesus was supposed to havve used when he entered Jerusalem. We drove past the Garden of Gethsemane on our way to the Old City . We walked through there for 4 hours.
The memorable stops were: the Western or Wailing wall which was busy today as it was the Sabbath, the church of the Holy Sepulchre; this covers Golgotha and the tomb from which Christ emerged on the Sunday. The church dates from the 13th Century and was built by the Crusaders. Inside there are elaborate paintings marking the important points. The tomb itself is divided between the Greek Orthodox and the Coptic church, each of which claim that Christ's head rested in their half. We were also taken to where the Last Supper is supposed to have been perfomed and the Dormitian Church which is where Mary supposedly lay in death until assumed into the sky.
Tonight we walked up to find the centre of the new city, a pedestrian Mall containing many modern shops. We also found another excellent restaurant, Gabriel, for a fabulous meal.
So far this is a fascinating place which contains much history amongst the mythological stories.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.085s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0461s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb