This was the big day of adventures. We had already decided to devote this day to Jerusalem. We had been offered to use the Firm’s driver, but instead chose to take the local bus to save some money. Jerusalem is about one hour’s drive south east from Tel Aviv, and the bus trip for both of us was only 31 Shekels (=£5) – quite a bargain! The journey was quite pleasant (ah, air-conditioning!) and we got to see some of the landscape. It is quite different further in the country, being up in the mountains it is much less humid and a lot greener (someone told me that 60% of the country is made up by desert). We arrived at the bus station in Jerusalem in the late morning. (And now encountered more of the well known Israeli security – the city was full of soldiers and bag searches and metal detectors when going into shops.) We tried to get another bus to the Old City, but it turned out to be rather complicated. Orthodox jews are not allowed to travel at Shabbat, and since that was quickly coming up they all travelled now. Having saved money on the bus trip, we chose to take a taxi. After some confusing discussions with the taxi driver, he dropped us off at Jaffa Gate, one of the gates of the Old City.
We strolled through some of the bazaars. Here was the kind of things that I wanted to see… Loads of carpets, and bowls and jewellery – very touristy, but that was quite expected. On our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (which was the one thing Tim really wanted to see), we stumbled upon the Church of the Redeemer. The church itself was very simple, but had a very tall bell tower. Climbing up was quite an expedition. We were both completely out of breath (and later on we would also walk around with cramps in our calves), but the view was absolutely amazing (breathtaking, ha ha!). You could see all of Jerusalem in all directions. The view of the Dome of the Rock was of course the most impressive:
No comments:
Post a Comment