Category: Israel

Tel Aviv: from ancient ports to hipster districts

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Tel Aviv: to some people the name is synonym with wild nightlife and trendy clubs. Others still associate the place with the conflict of the Middle East… To me, it’s a place I had been dying to see for a very long time! I stayed one week in what is known as the most modern metropolis of the Middle East. It allowed me to discover the markets, neighbourhoods and people of the city.  I learnt that Tel Aviv is difficult to pin down: from ancient ports to hipster districts, this Continue Reading

holy sites of Jerusalem

Jerusalem: a place of meditation and conflict

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“This is the place where Jesus met his mother on the way to the Cross” the shopkeeper explains to me. “And if you take the next street on your right, you can see where Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus to death”. I am on a trip to discover the holy sites of Jerusalem and standing on the “Via Dolorosa”, said to be the exact same road Jesus took on the way to the cross, brings back memories of my childhood, memories about the stories I heard over and over again in school… The Via Continue Reading

Why floating in the Dead Sea wasn’t quite as I imagined

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As I drive down to 400m below sea level, the landscape becomes drier and drier. The temperature rises and the stone desert looks like a hostile environment in which nothing ever grows or stays alive. I love those barren landscapes, a proof of the overpowering forces of nature. I am on my way to Ein Gedi, an Israeli oasis on the west side of the Dead Sea. Hotels and therapeutic resorts spruce up, ready to accommodate the thousands of tourists looking for mud, sulphur baths and various Continue Reading

places to visit in Galilee Nazareth

A visit to Galilee, a place where Bible stories come alive

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On a sunny Sunday morning, I leave the skyscrapers of Tel Aviv behind  and head for the north of Israel, to a place that is home to a huge number of Bible Stories, to the homeland of Jesus Christ himself: Galilee. I was raised a Catholic and although I’m no longer religious, I do look forward to seeing the places I heard so much about during my childhood! The motorway and skyscrapers soon give way to the verdant hills and the vineyards of the Rothshild family and after a two hours drive Continue Reading