Day 6 - Haifa - Jerusalem
Day 6 we woke up in Haifa - Israel. We were suppose to be going to Ashdod but due to safety with what's going on they changed it. Haifa is further away from Jerusalem and Bethlehem but Haifa itself is meant to be nicer than Ashdod.
We got up at 5:30am and breakfast was super busy as pretty much everyone was going on an excursion day out. It's not really safe to go out of Haifa on your own which meant you had to book onto something if you wanted to go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem also you need a guide to tell you about things. I actually have got a clue what she was telling us as we had an ear piece will we walked around and on the coach. Religion has never been something I've never taken interest in. And don't believe which this trip wasn't ideal but it's one of them you have to go there if you go to Israel and it was another capital city to tick off the bucket list.
Being so tired didn't help either as I had a rubbish night's sleep. I was too hot and it was too noisy. Woke up with a sore throat as well. The positive of Israel was it was actually sunny and dry!! No rain!! But I couldn't wear shorts or a dress as you're not allowed your knees out in religious places.
Being so tired didn't help either as I had a rubbish night's sleep. I was too hot and it was too noisy. Woke up with a sore throat as well. The positive of Israel was it was actually sunny and dry!! No rain!! But I couldn't wear shorts or a dress as you're not allowed your knees out in religious places.
We left at 7am for a 2.5 hour drive to Jerusalem. We stopped off at this Elvis American Diner service station which was the weirdest thing. I felt like I was in Vegas why is Elvis in Israel? It was a stupid stop as well as you needed to pay to go to the toilet. The tour guides of the other coaches were giving money to their groups to use the toilets where as our one just left us but we eventually got her to give us money. I'm not paying to go for a wee!
Old town view point
Everyone keeps asking me what Jerusalem is like and this is exactly how I imagined it to be. Old and dusty with a lot of religious buildings. Not sure what everyone else was expecting.
Church of all nations / Basilica of the agony
This is where Jesus was said to have prayed before his arrest.
You have to walk around this garden to get to the church which is full of olives and said to be thousands of years old.
The balloons were from a bar mitzvah
People praying to the wall
We then walked through the old city and followed the Via Dolorosa which is a processional route that is believed to be the path Jesus walked to his crucifixion. It's basically just streets with loads of different little stalls where people sell food and religious souvenirs. There is 14 stations along the route as well that show Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion. But it's weird because some of them are out public that everyone can see but then some are inside buildings like shops and people's houses. So people have built around it which I thought is really strange as if it's a religious thing that people follow how can people build it into their houses or shops behind closed doors?
Selling a booklet with images of the 14 stations
The ladder is known as the immovable ladder which had been there since the 18th century. It's because of a disagreement of who the ladder belongs to and who can move it so it's just been left since then.
These stairs were so narrow, steep and dangerous because of the amount of people that have walked it. The hand rail has only been put there recently as well. Don't know how people walked up it with the rail.
Jesus' empty tomb where he was said to have been buried and resurrected. There was a massive queue of people trying to go in it but didn't have time to queue in and look.
The church of the Holy Sepulchre contains 2 of the holiest sites in Christianity - the site where Jesus was crucified and his empty tomb.
Jaffa Gate
There was something about this windmill but can't remember what she told us.
After the walk we went back to the coach and we drove to Bethlehem.
Garden of Gethsemane
You have to walk around this garden to get to the church which is full of olives and said to be thousands of years old.
Old City of Jerusalem
The balloons were from a bar mitzvah
The Western Wall
People praying to the wall
We then walked through the old city and followed the Via Dolorosa which is a processional route that is believed to be the path Jesus walked to his crucifixion. It's basically just streets with loads of different little stalls where people sell food and religious souvenirs. There is 14 stations along the route as well that show Jesus Christ on the day of his crucifixion. But it's weird because some of them are out public that everyone can see but then some are inside buildings like shops and people's houses. So people have built around it which I thought is really strange as if it's a religious thing that people follow how can people build it into their houses or shops behind closed doors?
Selling a booklet with images of the 14 stations
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The ladder is known as the immovable ladder which had been there since the 18th century. It's because of a disagreement of who the ladder belongs to and who can move it so it's just been left since then.
These stairs were so narrow, steep and dangerous because of the amount of people that have walked it. The hand rail has only been put there recently as well. Don't know how people walked up it with the rail.
Jesus' empty tomb where he was said to have been buried and resurrected. There was a massive queue of people trying to go in it but didn't have time to queue in and look.
The church of the Holy Sepulchre contains 2 of the holiest sites in Christianity - the site where Jesus was crucified and his empty tomb.
Jaffa Gate
There was something about this windmill but can't remember what she told us.
After the walk we went back to the coach and we drove to Bethlehem.
Some of the photos were
taken with my Nikon 1 J2 camera while others were taken with my Samsung Galaxy
S9 phone.
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