Schlagwort-Archive: around the world

Israel, World Trip 2018-19

Last stop: Mitzpe Ramon

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After challening my brain to understand the Hebron situation, I felt like it was time to challenge my body again! Trekking time. I took a bus from Jerusalem to Beer Sheva and then onwards to Mitzpe Ramon where I stayed at Green Backpackers, a cozy hostel located directly at the crater rim, at the start of many trekking routes. Also, staff is very helpful and provides you with maps and explanations for all kind of treks in the area.

I spent 2 days trekking in the area: On the first day, I took a bus to the ruins of Avdat from where I started a 6h trek, ending at Midreshet Ben Gurion – at the grave of Ben Gurion. In the course of the 6h, I passed through various stunning desert landscapes: Deep canyons, oddly carved rocks and a little oasis with a waterfall. Also, the ruins in Avdat were cool to see and offered a nice view over the area. I was hiking by myself and really enjoyed the peace and quiet. I only met about 5 other people during the whole time. Some might claim that’s a bit unsafe to go that far just by myself – but the trails were not too difficult and mostly easy to spot so I didn’t feel worried. Sometimes it’s also good to take a break from it all and just enjoy by yourself! Especially after some intense travelling days…

On the second day, I again set out by myself – this time mainly because people in my hostel seemed lazy and were only going to start trekking at around 9 or 10am which I consider too late in the desert. The best light for photos is in the morning (and evening), and also it gets soaring hot during the day! This time, I started right behind the hostel, walking down into the Makhtesh Ramon crater, traversing it, climbing the mountain Ramon’s Tooth (amazing 360 degree views!!), and hitchhiking back into town with a Dutch couple. The trek took about 5h this time and was beautiful once again. I did prefer my first day and consider the Avdat-Ein Avdat-Midreshet Ben Gurion trek one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever done!

I always had this idea of going to Mitzpe Ramon when I initially thought about visiting Israel years ago. I’m glad it worked out and did not disappoint! A good way to finish my time in Israel, or so I thought… cause what awaited be at Tel Aviv airport on my day of departure, I never would have guessed (tbc)!

Israel, World Trip 2018-19

A tour of Hebron – the divided city

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I came back to Jerusalem for the sole purpose of joining a tour to Hebron, Palestine. While I am usually not a fan of organized tours, Abraham Hostels offers an interesting dual-narrative tour of Hebron which I considered the best way to see and experience this divided city. We were going to spend half of the day on each side – the Israeli one and the Palestine one – meeting locals in each part and hearing the different sides of the story.

Some background for my readers: Hebron is the largest city in Palestine, but has been divided into two zones: H1 (Palestine) and H2 (Israel, smaller part). Basically the Palestinians claim the city as their own, and the Israelis do the same. There are frequent clashes between the two groups and both sides are accusing each other of lying about things like throwing down things on the street (to hit people below), planting weapons on someone so they would get accused, taking away houses from each other etc. It’s a mess and both sides believe they are 100% right. The epicenter of the dispute is the Cave of Patriarchs – a holy site to both religions where different graves, for example of Abraham, are supposed to be located. This is also the reason why no side is willing to give up on Hebron…

We started the day on the Palestinian side of Hebron, walking around small streets and market stalls. I quite liked that part and the city, never mind politics! While walking around, we were pointed out some metal nets that had been installed above the market streets. There was lots of waste, rocks and other stuff laying on there – supposedly thrown down by the Israeli settlers, often inhabiting the top floors of the houses, while the Palestinians still live on the ground floor. Crazy, right!?

Hebron streets
Protection from things thrown down
Typical Palestine
Typical Palestine
Israel is accusing her of lying…
Typical Palestine
Cave of Patriarchs

In the afternoon, we switched to the Israeli side, where the settlers live. Here, the streets were much emptier. Ghost town feeling. Not sure why they don’t make it nice for themselves with some cafes and shops, but there’s simply nothing. We also got the chance to talk to a settler living there which was eye-opening, fascinating and shocking at the same time. I was shocked how a seemingly smart, well-educated young man could have such beliefs. I can’t really recount all he explained to us, but if we all lived according to his beliefs, I guess I would be fine going back to Poland, finding the place where my family name originates from and kick the people living there now out of my old family house. Sounds crazy and it sure is. When asked about why many settlers have so many kids (8 on average), his answer was „what’s wrong with us trying to out-breed them!?“. Quote. And apparently he is one of the less radical settlers. Go figure. While I truly hated that arrogant a…hole, it was probably the best part of the day – best as in, providing me with insights about the whole Palestine situation and why there can be no easy solution.

Graffiti: Palestinian suicide bomber chicken
Ghost town feeling
Conservative Jew (not the settler described!)

My mind was a bit messed up after this day, trying to process all I had heard and seen. I truly hope there will be a solution for Israel and Palestine at one point – but having experienced Hebron, I very much doubt it. There is too much hate and anger on both sides, not enough willingness to forgive. Both sides have made mistakes in the past, but noone is willing to move on. It will also not get easier, if mainly radical people on both sides are trying to have more and more kids and educate them in a certain way. For anyone who wants a deeper understanding of the problem, I do recommend the tour by Abraham’s Hostels. It’s not THE most amazing tour I have ever joined, but especially meeting that settler was eye-opening.

IMG_4828 (Kopie)

Israel, World Trip 2018-19

Exploring the Dead Sea region: Ein Bokek, Masada & Ein Gedi

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When planning my last week in Israel, I had come across a direct bus from Tel Aviv to the Dead Sea beach of Ein Bokek – supposedly one of the nicest public beaches at the Dead Sea. Hence, I took a morning bus to Ein Bokek and was happy to discover a sandy beach waiting for me. Unfortunately there is no luggage storage, so I just had to carry everything to the beach. Some people were giving me funny looks, but I didn’t care! After all, I was here to float – and that’s what I did! The water is a nice turquoise blue and was a bit wavy that day, so I was floating around like a corc 🙂 There were no other backpackers though, so no one to take pics of me or join me in the fun.

So after half an hour or so, I showered, changed and got on the next bus to Masada where I was going to spend the night to climb Masada fortress next day for sunrise. The area looked really quite spectacular and made me get excited for the hike, especially when I met my room mates and trekking buddies Belinda and Valentine. We got up super early the next morning and were at the gate at the start of the snake path at 5am. Our hostel had told us that’s the opening time. Wrong. It only opened at 5.40am, so we spent 40 min waiting around while we could have still slept…. Grrrml. When we were finally allowed to start our hike, we were worried we might miss the sunrise, so raced up the mountain in something like 35 min. At least we had time to look around for THE best spot to view the sunrise like this! If only there were a sunrise… Unfortunately it was too misty so we did not get quite the spectacular view that Masada is famous for – however, it was still really cool and definitely worth seeing! The ruins at the top were larger than expected and we had to rush a bit to see it all, since we wanted to be back at our hostel in time for breakfast buffet…

Re-energized, we packed up our stuff and made our way to Ein Gedi, a beautiful national park further up North along the Dead Sea. It’s very pretty since within the dry desert landscape, there is a little oasis with lots of waterfalls. Belinda, Valentine and I hiked around the area for about 3 h or so, during which we really enjoyed the different views. Also, we went for a swim in the pools above the waterfalls. Nice and refreshing on such a hot day! Afterwards, I continued my way back to Jerusalem from where I had booked a tour to Hebron for the next day.