Why don’t people travel here? They have so many great sites…
If you read my post on Israel, you will know that I am trying to be as geographically correct with this one also, as it is hard to ascertain sometimes where Israel starts and Palestine starts in some instances. I would love to return to see some more of the Palestinian parts in the future as this was a very moving experience in my life….
The parts of Palestine I visited, I simply loved. Albeit I did not see all of the war torn parts, but I saw what I needed to see and really enjoyed it and loved how friendly the people were despite many of the hardships. I have a few Palestinian students and they requested some of the places that I should visit. So I took their accounts into consideration….
After we went to the Jordan River, we took a trip to one of the most Ancient cities in the world Jericho, known for its Walls. We saw the archaeological site as well as parts of the new city:
We took a ride through the hills and stopped at the Taybeh Brewery. This is the only micro brewery in the Middle East and has some great beers all using German Style Methods. I went overboard and bought a case(if you find a good beer, you indulge):
Next we stopped in Ramallah, which is the capital of the Palestinian Authority. We stopped at the grave of Yasser Arafat, had a great Palestinian lunch and walked around the city center for a bit. Truly my favorite city in Palestine and I would like to spend more time here one day!!!!
Our last stop of the day was of course Bethlehem. The biblical city where Jesus was born. We walked around the Shepards Fields of the Franciscan Custody as well as walls which are built up around the city to separate the two populations, and of course the church built over where Jesus was born in the manger, including the Church of the Nativity which is the birthplace of Jesus. Very cool city and glad to see many people of all faiths walking around and enjoying themselves.
The next day we did the Hebron dual narrative which in the morning we went to the Israeli side and then in the afternoon we went to the Palestinian side. Like I mentioned before this is extremely sad where a city is divided. We had to walk through a checkpoint in order to get to the Palestinian side, but on the plus side we had a beautiful lunch of a traditional Palestinian dish called upside down:
Walking in the Palestinian side of the city I can notice a different vibe. It was a clean Cairo type of city but has a tragic story behind it (as does the Israeli side), but it was nice to walk around the streets and see all the people enjoying themselves and listening to stories from people. A truly moving experience:
The next day we went to the Northern West Bank that has seen its share of controversies. We first went to the Church of Jacobs Well, the Tomb of Joseph, and the Jenin Refugee Camp that is run by the UN:
Next we stopped in the wonderful city of Nablus. This city has very good Ottoman architecture and baths from the time of the Ottoman Empire. It was fun just walking around the market and seeing peoples daily lives as well as enjoying time in the Turkish baths. We had some wonderful desert called Kunafa as well as checking out a soap making factory…
Next we were off to Sebastia which is an Ancient Roman/Byzantine ruin site that is kept up pretty good. I was unhappy to see the graffiti in Arabic on the old Byzantine church that said “No Go but Allah”, but that is besides the point. We had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant there which I was happy with…
Finally we headed over to the Samaritan city which is only one of two in the world. They follow an Abraham based religion closely following Judaism, which says they are the true ancient religion of the Israelis before the Babylonian exile. it was interesting hearing their religious leader talk about the history and the hierarchy handed down over the years in which they kept pretty good records. They hold Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian passports. They also made some really good Tahini….
