My Last Day in Israel

Woke up at the Dead Sea. I have discovered that rolling definitely takes up less room than flat packing. Now it's time to fit all those souveneirs into my bag.

After leaving the Dead Sea around 8 am, we headed towards Jerusalem. On the way, we stopped at a gas station outside of Jericho. Jericho is occupied by Palestinians, and controlled by the Palestinian National Authority. Israelis are not permitted access, and most Westerners are advised against a visit as well. We stopped at a gas station just off the highway, Jericho within sight. We picked up the token ice cream bar and dried dates and pomegranates for a morning snack. Some took a memorable camel ride, and we continued on our way.

We arrived in Jerusalem shortly thereafter. It's always surprising to me how close everything is in Israel. Jericho is only 23 miles from Jerusalem: Bethlehem is only 6 miles south! It's such a small humble place. Driving from Jericho to Jerusalem means driving through an IDF checkpoint past the retaining wall around the eastern side of Jerusalem meant to discourage rogue Palestinians from sneaking into the city. The Judean Wilderness that separates the cities is inhabited by Bedoins who, though not nomadic anymore, still herd goats and live in accomodations which I cannot imagine. Below is a picture: Click on it to see more details.


So we ended up back in Jerusalem. The tour bus dumped us off at the Jaffa Gate near the Old City. Having been there so many times before, I planned on just walking over to the Succat Hallel for the couple hours free time, but was persuaded to go with some friends for t-shirt purchases. Everyone loves a good Hebrew writing Israeli Defense Force T-shirt souveneir, and today we discovered that anybody who bought anything before had been ridiculously ripped off. We found a little shop with a one-armed guy who charged us 15 shekels a t-shirt, and 35 for a hoodie. Now divide shekels by 4, and you've got Canadian dollars, and then shave off a bit for USD. That means, something like $3.50 for a T-shirt and $8 for a hoodie. We got a lot. Now they're all a bit crooked and they shrunk like crazy, but they were $3.50.

After meeting the tour bus again, we stopped for lunch at not-kosher MacDonald's, which means the first combination of meat and cheese in a few weeks. After lunch, we stopped at the Valley where David fought Goliath. Piling out of the tour bus, we walked through the dry riverbed, and I picked up my own 5 smooth stones.

We arrived in Tel-Aviv with plenty of time to look around and shop before dinner. We all split up and started meandering towards the Mediterranean. Tel-Aviv reminded me so much of Torrejon in Spain. I loved it. We walked through open-air markets, stopped at a great little pub for a Guiness, and some of the guys loaded up on Diesel jeans. Dinner was a predictable affair with lts of hummus, but our tour had formed such a great relationship with our Israeli tour guide that it did feel like we were leaving family.

We got to the the airport in time for a 3 hour delay.