Our trip to Jerusalem!

God, what a weekend!

As some of you might already know, we went on a trip to Jerusalem last weekend. So please, take a seat, because I have a lot to tell  ;) .

Friday

We started our trip on Friday. Katharina and Susanne, the two German girls, joined us to Jerusalem as well. We got up quite early to catch our bus at 9 a.m. To go from Tamra to Jerusalem, we had to go to the city of Haifa first. In Haifa we took the bus straight to Jerusalem.

After being on the bus for more than three hours, we finally arriverd in the Holy City! We were so exicted. First, we checked in at our hostel. But after that, we quickly went into the city to get a feel for the athmosphere. Jerusalem is devided in four quarters: a Jewish quarter, an Armenian quarter, a Christian quarter and a Muslim quarter. We went to the Jewish quarter first to visit the Western Wall. After we went through a checkpoint (safety first here in Israel!), we finally saw the most holy place of Judaism. It was so awesome to visit this place. We said some prayers when we stood in front of the wall and put our letters we had written to God into the wall. It was such a sereen athmosphere and an expierence to see all the religious people pray. After we visited the Western Wall, we wanted to go to the Muslim quarter, but it was already closed because the Muslims wanted to pray. So we went back to the Western Wall, to experience the start of the sjabbat, the holy day of the Jewish people. All the Muslims behind the wall started to shout 'Allah', because they were praying as well and they were trying to offend the Jewish people.

Team Israel at the Western Wall

Gerlinde touching the Western Wall

Saturday

The first thing we did on Saterday was going to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is the Church that is build on the place where Jesus was crucified. Christians also believe that Jesus was buried here. We got there quite early in the morning (about nine o'clock), but it was crazy how many people wanted to visit this church. If someone ever again says to me that people no longer believe in Jesus Christ, I'll send them to this place. We saw people crying, almost fainting, when they were touching the gravestone of Jesus. We also stood in the line for more than half an hour to touch the place where people believe Jesus' had been crucified. It was both an awesome and crazy experience to visit this church.

Gerlinde touching the gravestone of Jesus Christ

After this, we went on a tour with a local guide. His name was Jariv and he was very entertaining. He explained us a lot about the history of Jerusalem and took us to some nice places. 

Yariv, coolest guide ever!

The Church of Nativity

We also went to Bethlehem on Saturday. To go to Bethlehem from Jerusalem is not so difficult. Except if you listen to Joachim, who claimed that we had arrived in Bethlehem, while the city was still a little bit away! (still love you, Joachim, no worries :D ). We took a cab instead, straight to the Church of Nativity. This is the church that's build on the place where Maria gave birth to Jesus. We wanted to visit the crib of Jesus, but the queue was so long! People waited for four (!) hours to touch Jesus crib and to see the 'exact' place where Maria gave birth to him. But no worries, we are clever, so we got in touch with a local guide who let us pass the queue immediately for only 10 NIS (2 euros). We saw Jesus' crib without waiting. That was a nice expierence as well. 

When we got back in the hostel, we went to sleep quite early, because we had to get up at 2 p.m.

Jesus' crib

Sunday

This day started way to early! We had booked a tour with our hostel to do three tings: climbing up Masada (to watch a beautiful sunrise), visiting Ein Gedi (a nature park) and floating in the Dead Sea. So we left the hostel at 3 p.m., straight to Masada. To climb up Masada, it takes about 45 minutes. But boy, I have never expierenced such an exhausting workout as climbing up this mountain. It was so steep! 45 minutes of pure horror. But when we - finally - got up, the sunrise we saw was breathtaking. It made you forget about the exhausting climb. Israel's nature is beautiful.

Sunrise at Masada

We climbed that mountain!

After Masada, we went for a refreshing swim in the waterfalls of Ein Gedi. Again, a beautiful piece of Israel's nature.
Lastly, after Ein Gedi, we went floating on the dead sea (highlight of the day !!!). It was such a fun experience! I recommand it to everybody! It's one of the coolest things I have ever done in my live. We also rubbed mud on our bodies, because the mud of the Dead Sea claims to be good for your skin. 

Selfie at Ein Gedi

Floating in the Dead Sea

Joachim rubbed his body with mud of the Dead Sea

So, that was about it. I have so much to tell, but I don't want to make it too boring ;). If you have any questions about our trip to Jerusalem, please feel free to leave a comment! If you want to, you can also watch our little movie we made about our trip. Because footage says a hell lot more than one thousand words, right ;).

Thanks for reading !

Nathalie 

(This blog was written by Nathalie but posted by Joachim because of some technical problems with the video)