the Holy Land Adventures Part Two

The coffee seller in Bethlehem let Julie give it a try before we left the city early that day...

The only beer made in Palestine, "Taybeh." It is mmmm mmm good.

Our international group of friends (we had people from Argentina, China, Norway, the States, Canada AND Uruguay) we had gathered soon dispersed as we left Bethlehem on Christmas day. Out of the group I ended up sticking with my friend Casey who is also from Oregon and had been studying abroad in Amman as well but on a different program. We decided to head back to Jerusalem for a night and then explore the West Bank.

First night was spent in Palestine's capital, Ramallah. In Israel and Palestine there were so many more local fruits and veggies available than in Jordan (hint: water).

After Ramallah we headed north and briefly stopped in Nablus. There were no other travelers in sight, not surprisingly, so we got a lot of stares but had fun wandering around the old city back alleys.

Ridiculously filling lunch in Nablus for not too many Shekels.

That evening we decided to head straight to Haifa where we had plans to stay at a couchsurfers house. Re-entering Israel proper was a little stressful and involved taking a shared taxi from Nablus to Jenin, then we had to pay for a private taxi from Jenin to the border-crossing in another nearby town, and THEN we had some trouble getting through the border (they thoroughly searched our bags as we waited in an isolated room), but after finally getting approval to cross into Israel proper again we realized that we had to pay for another pricey private taxi to get to the nearest bus station in a town called Al-Fula. Finally from Al-Fula we hopped on a bus to Haifa where we luckily found our host's house without much trouble.

The view from our host's balcony the next morning was a nice reward for the exhausting evening we had the night before...

Same view but at night... Haifa is the 3rd largest city in Israel and has the largest port.

Casey and I on the balcony

The next day we mainly spent time exploring a beach outside of town on the beautiful Mediterranean.

(says "the birds" in Arabic... I was a little surprised to see Arabic on our hike in Israel proper)

The above five pictures were taken one morning when our host in Haifa gave us the wonderful idea of hiking down a Wadi (canyon) from the high hillside his home is perched on straight down to the Sea. Beautiful!

Akko. A small, dominantly Arab, fishing village just north of Haifa.

Exploring Old Akko

New and Old Haifa

View of "Jesus' Playground"(quoted from the pastor of a large group of American Christian tourists who happened to be perched up on top of the hill with us) from a small Druze village east of Haifa.

It was windy.

We celebrated New Years in Tel Aviv. Overall it reminded me of a smaller (much smaller) L.A. Really beautiful in some ways, but expensive and a sort of stressful city to hang around.

After a long journey around the Holy Land we headed back to Jerusalem for one night before Casey and I had to part ways. She was to stay in Israel but head south where she would start an internship in the bedouin village of Rahat in the Negev Desert working with a local Women's empowerment organization. I was to head back to the Allenby/King Hussein border crossing alone to recoup from the extensive travels for a few days before beginning my own internship at Ruwwad, the Arab foundation for sustainable development in the poor neighborhood of Jabal Natheef.

Currently back in Amman. The above pictures were taken from the roof of the house I am currently living in. Picture in the middle of one of my adorable neighbor friends.

More to come soon!

Sending lots of love,

Elise

Istanbul, the Holy Land, the Separation Wall, Holidays Abroad, New Home, New Friends... and on and on and on!

Uh oh... over a month has passed since I last updated this blog. My idea is that more pictures and less words will be a more time friendly way of updating whoever is reading this on what exactly I have been doing for the past month.

(the whole SIT group on the Southern Jordan trip in November... pic in Wadi Rum)

I said farewell to all of the wonderful friends I made through my study abroad program mid December as most of them headed straight back to the States in order to make it home for the holidays. I, on the other hand, was about to jump right into so many more adventures.

The day after the SIT program ended my friend Christina and I flew from Amman to Istanbul (short two hour flight) for an exciting seven day Turkish adventure. Simply stated, it was amazing. So amazing in fact that I would seriously consider moving there one day if given the opportunity.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

(inside the Ayasofya... obviously pictures cannot capture how incredible it is so I have to tell you, it was incredible)

Outside the Ayasofya and Blue Mosque... I know the lighting on our faces is dark but I like the background of the Minarets.

Another outside shot of the Ayasofya

On one of the many side alleyways off of Istiklal Street

View of the Bosphorus Strait from the hill that we lived on for the first few days in Istanbul while staying with some University Students

....I am hoping to add more Turkey pictures later when I get some of my lovely travel companion's pictures <3

THE HOLY LAND

View of the Dome of the Rock with the Wailing/Western Wall below it

Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City

Birds perched on the Western Wall

Western Wall

... from Jerusalem we went to Bethlehem for Christmas Eve

Beautiful art on the Separation Wall (Bethlehem is inside the West Bank and the wall directly wraps around many parts of the city)

"Merry Christmas World, From Bethlehem Ghetto"

Before christmas eve events we spent a long time wandering around the winding wall taking pictures... not the cheeriest few hours I have experienced on Christmas Eve.

Above by the famous Graffiti Artist Banksy

But we didn't let the serious political tone completely ruin our Christmas cheer...

Small old city roads of Bethlehem PACKED with people as a band marched through town

Lots of Mosques and Churches side-by-side in Bethlehem. From what I have experienced in Jordan and Palestine Christians and Muslims live, work, and play together peacefully. Sadly, the recent New Years day bombing at a church in Alexandria, Egypt seems to be a blatant indicator that this is not the case throughout the entire region.

That evening we went to the Shepherds' Fields (where it is believed that shepherd's saw the star of the nativity) where masses were being held in over twenty languages.

more to come soon...