Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: Tel Aviv Museum of Art

After spending 5 nights in Palestine, I headed back to Israel. I still had two nights left, before I was scheduled to fly back to Berlin. I was couchsurfing this time, and stayed with a friend of my partner's for two nights. The first day I spent just talking with him, discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which did me good, as I needed a bouncing board to process what I have seen back in Palestine. And the next day, I spent it just lounging around during the morning, and after that, I headed to the city for one last chance of sight-seeing. I went to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art for it. It was Shabbat, and I was glad that there are cultural centers like these that were open and were not following religious sentiments and closing their doors.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: The Old City of Jerusalem

Of course, when one visits Jerusalem, one goes to the Old City. So many visitors come here, most of them are either interested in religion, or archaeology. I am not religious, and therefore I just went back and forth among the various different religious sites like a third-party observer. And yes, I was also in that mode when I visited the Old City.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: Church of the Visitation in Ein Karem

After visiting the Avshalom Cave outside Jerusalem, we went and visited some other sites outside the city. With our car, we went to Ein Karem, which is a village that used to be outside Jerusalem, but is now part of the municipality. According to Christian tradition, this village is important due to several events that are ascribed to have occurred here, all in relation to John the Baptist and Mary.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: Avshalom Cave

I love visiting caves. I don't know why. I've been to several caves before, including Koněpruské Jeskyně in the Czech Republic, Mammoth Caves in the USA, Lumiang and Sumaging Caves in the Philippines, Grutas de Lanquin in Guatemala, Batu Caves in Malaysia, and Kawgun Cave and Yathaypyan Cave in Myanmar. So when I found out that there are some caves that can be visited in Israel, we made plans to check it out. Hence we did an excursion to Avshalom Cave, at the Judean Hills, east of Beit Shemesh.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: The Israel Museum

Our first day in Jerusalem was rainy. We took the bus from Arlozorov Bus Station in Tel Aviv, and an hour later, we were in Jerusalem. We easily found our hotel, and after that, we opted to go to a museum because the weather wasn't cooperative. So we decided to go to the Israel Museum, which was definitely a museum to be visited.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: When I Realized How Much I Hate Jerusalem

When I was in Israel last March, I went to Jerusalem too. That was the next leg, after being in Tel Aviv. So after spending four nights in Tel Aviv, we headed to Jerusalem to spend four nights. I have to say that it is not my most favorite city. In fact, I hated it. And this post explains why.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: Beit Hatfutsot

After strolling by the beach, we opted to check out another museum. This time, we went to Beit Hatfutsot, or the Museum of the Jewish People, also known as the Diaspora House. This museum is located in the campus grounds of the Tel Aviv University, and is a very comprehensive museum detailing the history of the Jewish people.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: The Beaches of Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is a city with a very prominent feature: its beach, facing west, towards the Mediterranean Sea. There is a long stretch of beach from Old Jaffa all the way to the north. And while I was there, I strolled this part of town quite a few times, since it's quite an interesting part of town after all.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: The Ilana Goor Museum in Old Jaffa

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am devoting a whole entry to the Ilana Goor Museum. This is one behemoth of an eclectic art museum, and it just blew my mind away when we visited it. It was founded by Israeli artist Ilana Goor, back in 1995. She used to own just part of the building back then, which was originally built in 1742. But later on, she bought the entire building so that she can have some space to exhibit her own artwork, as well as artworks created by other artists which she collected. This place is massive, and definitely feels like an artistic jungle.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land: Old Jaffa

Old Jaffa is perhaps the first place in Israel where I took out my camera and took pictures. As we arrived on a Saturday, it was Shabbat, and we simply met up with friends during that day. The next day, however, we headed out to go sight-seeing, and Old Jaffa was the place where we began.

Hobnobbing in the Holy Land

Two months ago, I was in the Holy Land. More specifically, I was in Israel and Palestine, for a total of two weeks. I traveled with my partner for the first week, and I traveled alone on the second week. This trip increased my country count by two, bringing it to a total of 41. And I should say that it was the most intense trip I have had so far.