From the Mount of Olives

After visiting Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum, we visited the Mount of Olives. Our trip to the Mount of Olives was a little haphazard, in that we had tried to go the last time we were in Jerusalem, but had been warned off by the concierge and also by the police. However, we did manage to find our way up there, through the Muslim Quarter of town, through two checkpoints and such. But we did make it, and it was so worth the view!

We found a hanging Tree!

Yes, in the middle of Jaffa is a hanging tree. Hanging off the sides of three buildings and held up with wires, is a hanging tree. After Googling it, I found it is a piece of art by Ran Morin.....well...as art goes I guess it is quite interesting to hang an orange tree off of three buildings!

Walking through Old Jaffa

In the morning, we decided to explore Old Jaffa. Jaffa is the old part of the city, I guess which was there before Tel Aviv really was, and so now it is part of Tel Aviv. Since we had only explored it at night, I really wanted to get to see the little streets during

the day. It did seem like we were there so much earlier than everyone else and we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves! In the 1990's, they really revived Jaffa, fixing up the churches and the mosques, and making it home to lots of little restaurants and tons and tons of little art galleries. Really, there are art galleries here, there, and everywhere! And stairs - lots of stairs leading everywhere, even to the port. And the port is quite cute,

as old ports go, with an art gallery and some snazzy seafood restaurants! Along with lots of old men fishing along the harbour, and as such, it was filled with stray cats. Israel seems to have just as many stray cats as Greece does! It is lovely just to wander around the little side streets and see where they lead. I found myself by the end of it being able to navigate around quite well! And while art galleries aren't really my thing, I did find them interesting to

look in and peek through the windows at. We were quite well placed in that our apartement was only a five minute walk from Jaffa, so the one night we had wandered to the old flea market to try some food there. It was lovely, and actually the only part of Tel Aviv that we really saw much of!

A lovely view of Tel Aviv

The next morning, we decided to check out Old Jaffa, again, but this time in the daylight. It was so nice, because this time we could actually see the lovely view and the sky scrapers along the beach! And the beach was so deserted too! Maybe we were just a little early for everyone to be out and about!

A Camel at the Petrol Station Forecourt

I so, so, so wanted to ride a camel in Israel. I even looked up directions to go to Camelland in the desert, but it just wasn't going to fit into our timetable. On the way to Masada, we had driven past a petrol station with what looked like two camels, but we were all of differing opinions weather the camels were real, or just statues. On the way back, we found out that they were real! I was so excited! I know that they were just there for the tourists, but we got some petrol, and then I had to go take their photo! It was quite possibly the weirdest place to find a camel, but I was so glad we found one just the same!

Floating at the Lowest Place on Earth

As you get closer and closer to the Dead Sea, you see these markings about how far below sea level. The Dead Sea is 430 meters below what is normal sea level, so it really is the lowest place on Earth. We happened to go back to the same place I had swum in the Dead Sea when I was a child! It was so hard to get into the water, because of all the sharp salt,

but once we were in the water, it was so much fun floating! I had a great time, and floated for ages! It was wonderful! Josh and Steph covered themselves in the Dead Sea mud, but I just couldn't do it! We had such a great time and my hair was hilarious because it was so full of salt! We felt gross, but we had to head home! It was great to be at the beach!

Our first up close view of the Dead Sea!

Aftere we left Masada, we drove back past Ein Gedi, where we were going to swim in the Dead Sea. On the way, we passed a checkpoint, and got out and took this photo when we got close enough! It was so exciting and so beautiful!