Israel/Palestine

To explain why I decided to visit Israel we have to go back to Skopje, Macedonia. As I wrote in my post somebody drank  my god damn apple juice and ate my salami in Skopje. So I started cursing this person again as I found my leftovers to be frozen  in the fridge. It's no fun to eat frozen chicken pasta I tell you. So this woman from Israel looked at me embarrassed and confessed that she was the one who caused the the fridge to turn into a freezer. My frozen chicken pasta turned to be the joke of the day as I kept having fun with the issue. So after a couple of sarcastic remarks and a shared breakfast with the Israelis they asked me to couchsurf on their place if I decided to visit Israel.

So then I was in Istanbul trying to decide what to to next and I happened to find reasonably priced flight to Tel Aviv and I got green light from the Israeli couple so Israel it was then. I did my tour around Turkey and returned to Istanbul for my flight. 

Tel Aviv baby! Or to be exact you can see the old Jaffa on the
background. 

"Why are you here? What do you wanna see? How long are you gonna stay? Do you got friends here? Where are you gonna stay?"

I had heard that Israeli border control is tight ass but I somehow believed that with my Finnish passport it would be a stroll in a park. Hah. As I was giving my usual vague answer which didn't help the situation they politely asked my to step out of the line and wait for further questioning. Well to be honest I was not the only one. So first I needed to wait in small waiting room as somebody told me to go to the other waiting room in other side of the hall and wait there. Finally I was asked to enter this private booth and the questions started again. "Do you got any money?" -No but I got my credit card.

"Where are you staying?" - I don't remember the name of the hostel but I got the booking reservation in my email. "What do you wanna see here?" - Well, I heard that Jerusalem is nice so maybe I go there after Tel Aviv"

Sometimes my having no plans plan is a bit hard for officials to understand but they eventually let me go and wished a nice stay in Israel.

It is a beach. Tel Aviv.

It is not just Cava. It is Kosher Cava! Yarrrrr!!

I knew it was not just fiction! I found the secret HQ of
transformers.  

You know what this is for? It is an anti-urinatation
corner. Imagine your self peeing here. It would
just splash all over your shoes and pants.

So at this point the most clever ones are thinking why I booked a hostel if I had a couch to surf in Israel? An apple to those who where clever enough and sticks to the rest of you. After I got the green light to couchsurf I heard nothing from the couple so I needed some place to stay. I'm not gonna go into details of that but I have heard about the couple now so everything is fine now but I was a bit annoyed by the fact that they were the sole reason I decided to go to Israel. The most important thing is that I really enjoyed my stay. Good food. Met nice people and saw quite a bit of history. 

There is a reason i took this picture in Tel Aviv but what?

Open Mic-night in Jerusalem. Look at that guy playing
the Cajon. He is digging my tunes, or not =)

It can flood in Tel Aviv also. Not often but it's possible it seems.

This next paragraphs may contain some exaggeration but definitely none of that is taking any sides! I'm just telling this how I felt it. So please don't get offended.

Even for me although not being a religious person it was really intriguing to see muslims, jews and christians worship the same places and still "hate" each other. There was still some tension going on because a Palestinian guy was shot to dead by Israeli police because the Palestinian guy shot a jewish guy campaigning for their right to pray on Temple Mount which is the holy for both muslims and jews. Only jews are not allowed to pray there. Not to speak of the separation wall. I had a word with a Palestinian guy in the Palestinian side and he said he he has nothing against the jews but he doesn't understand the wall. So yeah, I went to the "other side" also. West bank, done! Bethlehem, done! 

I absolutely hated Bethlehem but I'm still glad I went there. I you are a hard core christian it might give you something but for me it was just one overcrowded place for mass tourism, street vendors and taxi drivers trying to hustle you. 

West wall!

The suffering. The pain.

There was even a "Don't worry, be Jewish"-Kippa
and of course you favourite football team kippa 

Even the bagels are holy in Jerusalem. Amen.

Separation wall! Jiiihaaa. This on the Palestinian side.

Have you ever heard about the Jerusalem syndrome? I had two guys from Czech Republic in my dorm and the other one was really keen on going to churches and praying and I totally respect that but the funny thing is that when I asked his friend if he is like that back in Czech his friend said no. So this guy had a plant to pray whole night in a church before they were leaving Israel and his friend was getting a bit concerned about his behaviour and what he would say at the border control. "I am the new messiah!"- or something like that. Well it was not a real case of the syndrome but it was weird to witness ones spiritual awakening and his friend's concern :D

ps, I hope this one girl with the "Free Palestine!"t-shirt didn't have any problems getting out of the country...