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Abrahm Hostel
Sarit and Tomer in our room at the Abraham Hostel Well here we are sitting on Moshav Manof and let me tell you how we got here. We had a great trip from Turkey to Tel-Aviv where my beautiful niece Sarit and her boyfriend were at the airport to meet us. That made our life so much easier. With the help of satnav we made it to the Abraham Hostel in Davidka square without any problem. We checked in and checked out the room - spacious and clean, separate toilet and shower and small fridge. Not a picture on the wall though. The hostel is new and I suppose they will get there. They then took us to the Old City where we had a quick look around and arrived for our tour just in time at 6.30. The Tour is the Tunnel Tour which takes you under the ground and down to the real Herodian Road and we actually walked the whole length of the Western Wall. The part we all see on the surface is only a very small part. It was mind boggeling. After the tour we went out with the kids for hummus and shishlik.
The next morning it was up early breakfast - in the main
Church of the Holy Sepulcre
This is the entrance to the church room downstairs - cornflakes, meusli, strawberry and apricot jam, cottage and smooth cream cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes and bread, tea or coffee was help yourself and clean up after yourself. Then we met downstairs and were frogmarched by the late volunteer to the meeting point. there was a free tour or you pay and go on the extended tour -which goes inside the churches and places of interest - we took that tour. After all we came all this way to go to the church of Holy Sepulca and to only see the outside would be a real shame. Kobi, form Tours of Israel was our guide and he was fantastic. He was fair to all religions and all peoples maybe it wa,s because his heritage was so mixed as he explained to us, even though he is a practicing Jew. We ended up on the Temple Mount where I had last been in 1983 but this time we could not go into the Dome of the Rock or El Aksa Mosque. We then wound our way back home we stopped in to a few more churches and of course parted with some of shekels on the wonderful goods for
Holy spot
This is the place where the cross stood. sale in the shouk. We even walked back home up the Jaffa road to our hostel and boy were we tired as this took the whole day. After a short rest we went out for dinner and joined in the merriment of Yom Jerushalai'im on Ben Yahuda street. We crawled back to our room and then heard the sounds of fireworks. Not thinking that we would see anything i still looked out our window only to discover we had a grand stand view!! what a way to end the day.
The next morning we were up early and off to the Damascus Gate to get our bus to Bethlehem. We saw the awful wall on our way and getting in was no trouble. As the bus arrived we were accosted by taxi drivers who said they would take us to Manger Square as it was another 3 kilometres away! and we thought we were there???? we chose a nice enough fella by the name of Wallid who of course upsold the ride (good man) and instead we found ourselves on our own private tour. The first stop was the field where the Shepherds were told of the birth of the
The German Monestary
As you turn corners in the old city holy places reveal themselves. baby Jesus. Of course there is church on the spot there as well as Byzantium ruins. Then it was off to Herods Castle, tea with Wallids beautiful wife and little boy - that was so lovely and I am sure done to induce a good tip - it worked! Lastly to Manger Square and chance to join the Pilgrims and touch the spot where Jesus was born. Then it was off to Wallids uncles shop where we bought a bible for Margies friend. We then called it a day and came home. Hot and satisfied with our mornings work. But that was only half the day we then made our way to Yad Vashem.
All I can say is that this Memorial does honour to millions who perished and it should be on everyone's itinerary. The building is so unusual being a triangle and we spent two and half hours and only had done half of the main building. That was all we could manage to absorb - you really need to go again and again. and I hope to come back and do some more one day. The personal stories are so touching - the museum is so modern
The Western Wall
Actually this is a very small part of the wall. As we did the tunnel tour we know how long the Western wall actually is! and its been put together so well. Don't forget PUT IT ON YOUR ITINERARY!
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