The Holy City

Skeletor meets an Israeli Soldier
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Luckily for us we had arrived in Israel at the best possible time. There was a ceasefire in effect and there hadn’t been any trouble for some time. This meant we could explore in relative safety. Finding a hotel in the Old City was easy enough, and after the obligatory night out with other backpackers (where I managed to get a gun pointed at my head – all in good fun though) I headed into the city to have a good look round. The Wailing Wall was the first stop and it surprised me to see the female side of the wall in much more use than the male side. Make of that what you will. I followed the supposed path Jesus took on his way to be crucified and also visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Dome of the Rock was also on my itinerary as were the city walls and various other landmarks – too many to mention. There was a bit of tension in the air, I saw a few demonstrations and I even copped a whack to the head from a passer by who obviously didn’t want me there. Generally speaking though, the Palestinians were very friendly and hospitable.

I decided to take the easy option one day and take a tour of the surrounding countryside. All up we visited Jericho, Masada, St George’s Monastery, the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and of course the Dead Sea. You can’t exactly swim in the Dead Sea, but you can float about for a while. The water feels very oily and is difficult to get off when you shower afterwards – a very weird feeling. It was a bloody long and hot day and took many, many beers to get over it. All the bars we went to were in the New City, which was precisely that, new. Fancy that!

You can’t exactly swim in the Dead Sea, but you can float about for a while.