Hello Tel Aviv!

After a 25 hour journey I have finally arrived in Israel. I had heard from other travellers, most recently from colleagues who had arrived before myself, that the Israeli border control was intimidating and interrogation could be lengthy. I was prepared for this and nervously clutched my documents in my hand as I approached the officer. He inquired "have you been to Israel before Miss?" to which I obviously replied in the negative. He then asked "do you intend to work whilst you are here?" which was again denied. I was given an entry ticket and he wished me well. I would say that this process took no more than a minute and I was immensely relieved as all I wanted to do was be away from the airport. The entry ticket is in lieu of a passport stamp as many other Middle Eastern countries will then give you trouble if you try to enter them with evidence in your passport of a recent visit to Israel.

The shuttle service that took me from the airport to the Prima Kings Hotel in Jerusalem was equally as efficient due to the Saturday being the second day of Shabbat, the holy time in which the city only maintains minimal services. Amongst many other forms of observance, not driving is one of them so the streets were empty. Once leaving my bags at the hotel a few other inter-state teachers who were also on my flight decided to use the 4 hour wait for our rooms to be ready to explore the Old City of Jerusalem. Although many of the small traders were closed the Arab Quarter was still quite lively and we were able to explore the small cobbled streets and even stopped for a yummy traditional Israeli lunch.

 Photo 1: Entry into the Old City

Photo 2: Me in front of the Damascus Gate. Note to the left hand side the heavily armed guards. These guards were on almost every corner throughout the Old City and sit behind barricades. There were sometimes a few as in this photo but on larger corners there could be up to ten.

Photo 3: Cobbled streets

Photo 4: Our yummy first lunch. Pita bread, chilli, pickles, a delicious carrot salad, hummus and pickled red cabbage. I wouldn't mind this for lunch every day!

Our final stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This church is found in the Christian Quarter of the Old City and contains two of the holiest sites in Christianity. The site of Jesus of Nazareth's crucifixion and Jesus's empty tomb where he was buried and resurrected. There was tight security and any type of disturbance was quickly dealt with. While we were there a group of men began singing gospel style hymns praising Jesus Christ and there was no time wasted by security in escorting them away.

Finally I just thought I might add a short video here of the 'call to prayer'. This was heard many times at regular intervals across the morning.

Tomorrow's schedule includes a half day tour to Bethlehem and then the official start to the Holocaust Studies program in the evening.