May is my favorite month of the year and my favorite period To travel, This year it’s quite challenging for me since most of the flights to the best destinations were canceled, it’s quite frustrating but a few days ago I went online and I found a flight to Tel Aviv !
I have never been to Israel but my friends always recommended me to visit so I went searching the web and i found Slava who is a tour guide in Israel and we had a nice conversation about my travel plans in Israel, surprisingly he recommended me to book my flight And to come.
My friends are always laughing at me since I am very spontaneous and I’m booking everything at the last moment so I took the challenge and booked my tour guide, my flight tickets, and my Airbnb flat.
Preparations for take off
When I reached my airport in New York it wasn’t full as always so it was a pleasant surprise for me, the situation is awkward since people wearing masks and you can’t see any faces, And you are under a constant fear searching for the COVID-19 next to you!
The airline was nearly empty but I think this is the best flight I could have ever asked since I got a chance to sit in business class almost alone by myself, Frankly, The situation is different but I like it, there are no people it’s quiet and you can sit back and relax,
Landing in Tel Aviv provided me another strange feeling since I didn’t know what to expect at the airport but it was great, I managed to go through the airport without any rush And also this airport was empty, I think I begin to enjoy this COVID-19.
Shalom Israel!
Slava met me at the main gate of the airport and we took his brand new SUV straight to Jerusalem, the road to Jerusalem took us just 40 minutes without any traffic and Slava claims That usually, it takes around an hour and a half, after reaching the observation point I realized this is one of the best decisions I have ever made! The view from the mount of olives was absolutely stunning and it feels like I booked Jerusalem only to myself, we discussed the history of Jerusalem and how the city was built by the great King David and continued driving to the Old City.
After parking the car we began walking towards the Jaffa gate and my tour guide in israel , was a little confused since this section of the city is usually packed and it seems like he was enjoying this private tour to Jerusalem even more than me.
The old city
The walls of the Old City amazed me, The construction was very Muslim and reminded me of Istanbul, the beige color provided a calm mood, and my photos got out really good.
Walking in the streets of the Old City was quite strange for both of us since at least half of the shops were closed but my tour guide was so happy about it since typically during May or June it’s impossible to walk and it feels like rush-hour in the subway.
The christian quarter
Finally, we reached the most important church in the world, the church of the holy sepulcher, this is absolutely amazing! the church is beautiful and has six different Christian groups dividing the church between them, we climbed up to the second floor, the Golgotha claiming to be the place where Jesus was crucified and died on the cross by the Romans, I had a chance to take my photos and also to touch and to bless this remarkable place, for many pilgrims and visitors this is one of the highlights of the journey to Jerusalem and luckily I was nearly alone! The ceiling of the second floor is stunning and the mosaic was renovated just a few years ago and has amazing gold and blue colors with all the holy and saint people painted inside.
Walking down to the first floor of the church I noticed a huge painting, this is actually a beautiful mosaic which was donated by Greece in 1990 to the church and this is the place where you can learn about the last three stations of the via Delarosa or the way of the cross.
Passing by station number 13 we saw the anointing stone, according to the tradition on which Jesus was oiled before he was taken to his tomb, we saw a few nuns praying and blessing different items like crosses and icons this is actually a very famous tradition in the Greek Orthodox Church to bless different religious icons so they will be able to protect you in the future.
The heart of the church was stunning the dome above the tomb of Jesus providing the sunlight to come in and to light the inner space of the church so you feel nearly holy!, under the dome, there is an amazing structure which is the tomb of Jesus and I had a chance to go in and to bless it, again my tour guide mentioned that the entrance To the tomb is nearly impossible during the high season so I was really really lucky.
Local Food
Walking from the Christian quarter we noticed an open hummus bar so we had a quick lunch, that hummus was truly amazing and probably the best one in my life!the place was so small and tiny but the host was very friendly and offered us a place to sit and to taste his wife cookies... Indeed a very different dish from the ones we have in New York.
We continued walking to the western wall, surprisingly again and the place was empty so we reached the site and made our traditional notes with my wishes and placed them in the wall, this site is standing in the past 2000 years and important to the Jews since it’s the last remaining from the great second Jewish temple. I also noticed a bridge through which you can climb up to the temple mount but the entrance was restricted for Muslims only so we decided to skip this part.
The Jewish quarter and the Western wall
Climbing up to the Jewish quarter we reached the synagogue in which we saw a tomb, according to the Jewish tradition this is the place where the great king David was buried almost 3000 years ago who was the founder of Jerusalem, just above this synagogue there is a room which looks very ordinary but apparently it is the same place where Jesus had his last supper with his disciples Before he left to the Gethsemane garden to pray his last prayer and betrayed by Judas.
Finishing our tour we had a traditional Arabic coffee in the Muslim Quarter, the coffee was rich with flavors and contained a local spice called cardamon, a truly unique coffee.
Conclusion
Visiting Jerusalem during COVID-19 was probably the most interesting trip in my life and a very unique experience, therefore I can truly recommend traveling now more than ever and using the services of this amazing tour guide, who is guiding tourists in the past 15 years.
Misty Jhones