Shalom, y'all!

So this year, Stefanie and I caught the travel bug again and visited the beautiful Holy Land of three Religions. Why Israel, especially in these times? Friends and family have asked that a lot. Well, first of all, we watched the new Murder on the Orient Express movie, which starts in Jerusalem, and thought "This is pretty", then I played (well, started, then got frustrated because it's difficult) the first Assasssin's Creed game, which is partially set in Jerusalem and Akko and I thought "Nice towns!", then Israel won the Eurovision Song contest and we thought "Neat" and lastly, who knows how long all the gorgeous historical buildings will stand before they get destroyed? I was already so sad I would never see Damascus like it was in Assassin's creed, so what better time to visit Israel than now?

We spent five nights in Jerusalem and five in Tel Aviv. The whole country is about the size of Lower Austria, so it is possible to see most of it in one journey, although I wouldn't mind coming back at all!

Jerusalem is a stunning city. And the old town does indeed resemblre the virtual Jerusalem of the Third Crusade! Of course, there are tons and tons of minarets, churches, mosques and synagogues.

The jewish graveyard at the Mount of Olives

The most famous building of the City is probably the Dome of the Rock, on the strictly guarded Temple mount. The view above is from the Mount of Olives.

Gethsemane, a little Garden with some of the few Olive trees on the Mount of Olives and one of the best songs of Jesus Christ Superstar

Inside the Church of All Nations

Inside the Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary

 There is an Austrian Hospice in Jerusalem, just in case you miss overpriced Apfelstrudel while you're there. It's in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem and the view from the roof is absolutely amazing.

And the funniest thing about that is that the restaurant right on the other side of the Street is called Basti! I hope they change the name when we finally get a new Chancellor.

From Jerusalem, we visited Bethlehem and the biblical birthplace of Jesus.

Bethlehem's real and 100% legal, licenced, official Starbucks

 After standing in line for a long, long time, we managed to get access to the Temple Mount and see the Dome of the Rock up close

It's separated from the rest of Old Jerusalem by the Western Wall, and tourists can only access it by a bridge

 On the picture above, you can also see the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the right.

There are many stray cats in Israel

 Jerusalem doesn't seem that big if you're at the centre, since there aren't many huge skyscrapers, but if you take the Light Rail Train to the outer parts of the City, you'll see how it stretches over the mountains.

Our hotel also had a great view, and offered free tours! So if you ever want to stay in Jerusalem relatively cheap, I can only recommend the Post Hostel!


We also did a couple of day trips. The first one was to Jesus' Baptism site, Masada, En Gedi, and the Dead Sea.

 The water didn't really look inviting, to be honest

 The view from Masada is absolutely amazing.

En Gedi is a picturesque oasis in the desert. It was so nice to get some refreshment from the cool water.

The Dead Sea is really very salty. Like for real, you don't want to get that stuff into your eyes. Ever.

Our second day trip took us to the north of Israel. First, we saw the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth.

 Then we visited the Church of the Multiplication,

 We also saw the ruins of an old synagogue, the star of david is here used purely as decoration with no religious meaning.

 Then we stopped at the Sea of Gallilee.

 And we found a tree to climb instead of spending a lot of money on lunch.

 Then we stopped at a commercial baptism site, it's not the "real" one, but it's also at the Jordan river so I guess it counts as super special baptism? At least the water was cleaner there.

 We also took some Jordan river water home.

Our last day trip took us to the northern coast of Israel. First, we stopped at the Caesarea.

 Then we visited the beautiful Rosh Hanikra Grotto

 Unfortunately, we didn't see much of Acre, but here's a picture of the Citadel's toilets. They had a water sanitation system!

 We also saw the Bahai Gardens in Haifa

The food in Israel is great, by the way. Not as cheap as in Kenya, but absolutely delicious. And very vegan friendly. In Jerusalem, you can find falafel and hummus at every corner, and in Tel Aviv, every restaurant has a vegan section on their menu. It was never so easy for Steffi and I to find a place to eat we're both happy with!

I think I miss the falafel most of all. 

In Tel Aviv, we spent two days at the beach and also visited Jafo. 

 I'm immensly proud of this picture of two mating Lang's short-tailed blue butterflies!