Mucho Matza in Israel (18/04/08 - 28/04/08)

I arrived in Israel at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover, celebrating the Israelites escaping the clutches and enslavement of the Pharaohs and crossing over into Israel. Ironically enough I had just done the same trek, no doubt my crossing into Israel was much easier for those in the biblical times. My troubles only begin when I entered Eilat airport to catch a cheap flight to Tel Aviv. I had plenty of time to waste...well so I thought! Little did I know I would make my flight by the skin of my teeth. OK hands up I was ignorant of a few things. Firstly the airport was chocablock with people going home or traveling for the holiday period, something I hadn't taken into account. Secondly I was ignorant of the fact that Egypt had yet to put their clocks forward for day light saving time and Israel already had, for sure a topic one should think about brushing up on whilst traveling around the World. And thirdly and more importantly being a lone Irish female traveler has the tendency to raise The National Threat condition from a low green to a high orange, what can I say in my defense here?!

From the moment I had my backpack off my back at security until the moment I was escorted by security to my flight gate I felt like an outcast and for some unknown reason guilty of something or other. During the 2 hour interogation I'd given my life story a million times and amused them with my future travel plans, my itinerary they failed to fathom. I was told eventually I could go but that my belongings, which were entirely stripped of me in the beginning, were to be sent on the next flight out BUT to a different airport in Tel Aviv. Eventually onboard I befriended an Egyptian who was also interogated in the adjacent cubicle, he told me it was standard procedure here in Israel and that he was well used to being dragged through the mill.

My first experience of Israel aside, I found the country stunning and the people friendly and welcoming. I stayed with some good friends in Tel Aviv where I paid my board by walking their dog daily. I was pampered and fed kosher food, all meals accompanied by Matza a dry cracker traditonally only eaten during Passover. I could not get enough of their Houmous, at any given chance I was stuffing my face with the stuff. My visits and sightseeing were at a slower pace than the rest of my trip so far. It was good to have my backpack off my back for more than a day, so I embellished by becoming a little lazy. I took a trip to Caesarea, an ancient port, a Crusader and Roman city with a fantastic Roman theater facing the Mediterranean sea.

I visited Acre or Akko one of the oldest continously inhabited cities in the world with small alleys and streets full of remnants of the Crusader, Muslim and Ottoman conquerors. I walked through the Rosh Hanikra caves right on the Israel and Lebanon border, the Mediterranean coast here is the most beautiful I have seen yet. I paid a short visit to the city of Haifa to see the Bahai gardens and its fantastic panoramic view of the city and its port.

I also took a day's outing to the oasis of Ein Gedi on The Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, 400m below sea level. I relaxed, floated and took in the scenery of the surrounding Judean Desert. Closeby is the Judean fortress of Mesada, famous for the 1st Jewish-Roman war where the Jewish solders committed mass suicide when defeat was imminent. In Jerusleum I visited David's Tower and walked along the western wall and through the massive Muslim market.
A few leisurely strolls were done in Tel Aviv, along the Bat-Yam and Jaffa beaches where we stopped for lunch and tried some Lebanese food. After 10 days of lazing about I eventually packed my backpack and took off to the Jordanian border. It was a confusing and again somewhat troublesome crossing, 3 different buses and again questioning followed by the Jordanian police taking my thumb print..I might just consider changing my passport and its suspicious picture!

Because it was a leisurely stop on my travels I think a revisit to Israel is required to see Nazareth, the south and spend more time floating and covering myself with mud in The Dead Sea. I can just hear my Israeli friends screaming...NO NOT AGAIN!!! ;-)