A Trip to the Holy Land

The definite benefit of studying is to have holidays. For that matter, holidays are also the treasures of working life. We had one week Autumn "holiday" from school, which we used to travel to the Holy Land - Israel. Just to make things clear: we didn't do any pilgrimage stuff, simply holiday, and Israel was a  perfect place for that!

Wonderful warmth (btw 20-30C), beautiful sunshine, interesting places to visit (history, sightseeing, multi-cultural food, religious significance), and good company (wife+baby+parents). The only downsides were rather expensive hotels/hostels and general cost level being similar to Finland, but those money issues were resolved by savings and sharing the expenses. :) Mediterranean, Sea of Galilee, and the Dead Sea were great waters to visit and take a dip, unfortunately we didn't manage to swim in Galilee due to time restrictions (welfare of baby).

Here are some pictures that hopefully transmit a bit of the atmosphere and experiences of our trip. By the way, images are captured with Nokia N9. :)

On the way to Israel we had an overnight stop over in Kiev, Ukraine. It made travelling with Viivi much easier. While in Kiev, we really enjoyed Slavic hospitality (you can take this either way) and magnificent Slavic food! The Blinies pictured here were delicious and rather cheap considering it was room service. :D

In Israel the sun set already at 17:30, here is a picture looking at the old Yaffa with some Mediterranean waves. We actually did not notice the 1 hour time difference btw Finland and Israel, thus the first day in Israel was spent in Finnish time.

Some older part of Tel Aviv. As said, weather was terrific for holidaying. Rental car was working well and GPS navigator co-operated seamlessly, until we went to West Bank. :D

Old Roman Aqueduct in Cesarean, besides the sea. We heard this was the only "sight seeing" place in Cesarean with free entrance. :)

Let the Mediterranean flow... 

Beach under the ancient aqueduct. Warm, nice, holiday. :D Viivi was actually afraid of the sounds that waves produced, otherwise she did really well!

On the mount Arbel overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It's actually a lake. We were first in the city of Tiberias, then visited the national park of Arbel. 

The hordes of people in the street of Old Town of Jerusalem. Actually there were groups of dancing Jewish men carrying Torah and singing something. Traffic jam, polices patrolling, and the atmosphere was a bit tense. This was actually at the Arab quarter of the Old Town. :)

Best meal for me during the trip: Arab shashlic (meat on sticks). 

The Garden Tomb, the only place I actually enjoyed in Jerusalem, besides the hostel. :) Quiet and beautiful, one could spend whole day there meditating on life and the Word of God. Thumbs up for recommendation!

One of the slogans on the wall of the hostel we stayed at. Perhaps meaningful for some of you? :)

Overview of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. While going up there the car tyres actually slipped several times at the steep hill of ascension. I really wondered how those buses managed to get up! Also, the GPS failed us miserably as this area obviously belonged to West Bank. 

One of the eight natural wonders of the world: the Dead Sea. We arrived at Minerals Beach and spoke Russian to achieve mutual understanding with ticket officers. The place was well worth the visit: floating, mud, cleaning facilities, sulfur pool, children's pool... Dead Sea is a wonder. 

The mountains surrounding the Dead Sea at its western side. The Qumran was only 20km away from this place in North, Masada some kilometers towards South. Impressive views.

The Sabbath meal cooked together by the residents of the hostel and enjoyed together. It was great meal!

The Shrine of the Book. This is in the Israel Museum, and contained some portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Qumran. It also contained the introduction of the Aleppo Codex and also the Codex book itself! Very interesting place to visit. A sense of sacredness certainly dwelt there, though same cannot be said of the Israel Museum in general. Nice Museum nonetheless.

On our journey back we had another stop-over in Kiev, Ukraine. This view is from the hotel we stayed at. Our taxi driver to the airport happened to be a believer! He had Hillsong music playing in his car, and it was good to hear his stories about Ukraine...

The trip was pleasant. Now getting back to the books and essays, only 6 weeks left of school this semester...