The Travel

Two-week journey to the Middle East
on 19 Dec 2006 — 02 Jan 2007:
the sights, feelings and thoughts

Narrative by John Joe Mittler. This report contains
375 photos not published elsewhere on this website.

19 Dec 2006   flight to Tel Aviv
20 Dec 2006   Caesarea – Acco – Roosh ha Niqraa – Tiberias
21 Dec 2006   Hulah – Nimrod – Hermon – Belvoir – Beyt Shean
22 Dec 2006   Ramon – Beer Sheva – Arad – Metzadah – Big Crater
23 Dec 2006   Yotvatah zoo – Timnah – Eilat
24 Dec 2006   Negev – Shivtah – Nittzannah – Ashqelon – Yafo
25 Dec 2006   Jericho – Qumran – Jerusalem – Nazareth
26 Dec 2006   Jordan:    Jerash – Amman – Wadi Musa
27 Dec 2006   Jordan:    Petra (snow storm begins)
28 Dec 2006   Jordan:    8 hours in taxi (roads blocked by snow)
29 Dec 2006   Jerusalem (route of the ancient third wall)
30 Dec 2006   Jerusalem (modern wall and ancient southern walls)
31 Dec 2006   Jerusalem (Kidron Valley from Silwan to Mt Scopus)
01 Jan  2007   Jerusalem (greater Kidron Valley) – Tel Aviv – Yafo
02 Jan  2007   flight from Tel Aviv

Before taking off...

I searched reasonably priced flight tickets at Momondo.com, and chose to fly with Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then with El Al to Tel Aviv. I also compared the prices of cars at CarRentals.com, and reserved a car from Budget rental. Then I used the HostelBookers.com service to find the cheapest single rooms available in each city. (The average cost was 20 euros per night — but the quality of accommodation was not always comfortable or even tolerable. I would not try it again without budgeting at least twice as much money for the accommodation costs.)

I spent tens of hours surfing for information about places worth visiting, compiling this list of opening hours. (Most of the information on the Internet turned out to be correct when I entered the sites.) I found many helpful maps with Google search engine (including this high-resolution map of Israel), but I also ordered some maps from the Survey of Israel online map store.

Tue 19 December 2006   (Chanukkah IV)

My flight to Tel Aviv from Frankfurt was scheduled to leave at 14:45 in the afternoon. I was travelling in the best possible company — alone. The Israeli security personnel at the airport may have thought that I was in the worst possible company, though: a young man travelling alone, with visas to Arab countries in his passport. You can bet that the security check was careful and detailed.

At 19:50 the flight arrived at Ben Gurion airport, and I picked my car from the Budget car rental. I was given a Hyundai Getz with automatic gears, a brand new car straight from the factory, only a few kilometers driven. I had reserved a car with manual gears, though, as I had never in my life even tested a car with automatic gears. But never mind, I soon guessed that D means “drive”, and in no time I was speeding on the Israeli highways, heading towards Tel Aviv.

A car with automatic gears proved to be a great idea in the crowded city centers, but quite terrible on the steep mountain roads, where the driving computer often chose a lower gear than would have been reasonable. There must be a reason why automatic gears have not become popular in places like Scandinavia, and this may be the reason.

When I had arrived in Tel Aviv, I wondered where Tel Aviv was anyway, since all road signs pointed to “Ayalon” and other never-heard places. With some luck and some divine providence I ended up on “Derekh ha Shalom”, which is located in Tel Aviv (even though the road signs never told so). After another half an hour in the maze of annoying one-way streets in downtown Tel Aviv, I finally found Sky Hostel, where I had booked a single room and a parking lot for my car. During the evening and night I learned that this was one of the lowest-quality accommodations in entire Israel. (At least I hope so.)

The trip meter of the car showed 40 km at the end of the day.