Israel 2019

2019 was my first time in Israel. Going there was quite a while on by travel bucket list and in autumn 2019 the time was there. As usual I wanted to escape the Hamburg autumn weather (rain, rain and rain). And after the great experiences in Rome and Athens the years before, I’ve decided to follow the mediterran sea a little bit further in this direction.
Lots of friends and family members had their concerns regarding the safety situation in Israel. And when coming back, the first question was “and did you feel save?”.

And yes I did. I felt absolutely welcomed and safe all the time. A good example for this was the Yom Kippur (→) day. I went for breakfast in the hotel, without having checked the news. I was in the middle of my media detox week. And all by the sudden many of the guests asked me if my family and I are well? They have noticed that I am German and wanted to give me their sympathy for the horrible event in Halle. Immediately I’ve checked the news and I had to discover that in Halle a Nazi had attacked the synagogue (→), aiming at killing as many people as possible during praying.
I’m absolutely against any violence, and even more against any discriminating and excluding thinking, and then even more against Nazi’s. So I felt absolutely ashamed of what had happened in my home country. And I would have absolutely expected ignorance or critical questions why this is happening again… but instead the Israeli’s worried about me and if I’m ok.

You can also find some of them in the following galleries: Streetscapes | Nightlife | Working Streets.

I’ve spend most of my time in Tel Aviv. I only had 2 weeks and wanted to take also some relaxing days. But in order to extend my sightseeing experience, I’ve also added some days Jerusalem and Petra to my journey. That’s me, usually my “holiday action list” is even longer then the one at home and in the office.

Jerusalem

It was quite a puzzle to squeeze in my Jerusalem visit, within this itinerary. But I didn’t want to miss any second that I have spend in this city. I had a room next to the Jaffa (→) gate, finally a great area of young people and street party every night.
And this is the feeling I remember the most about Jerusalem. Extremely clean and bright streets, super vital, diverse and young people and all of this in the middle of so many old stones. Whereas each of the old stones has a meaning, minimum one owner and minimum one (cultural) conflict.
I saw so many great places and highlights within this city! I can’t name all them all. For example the two unnamed tombs at the Jaffa gate. On the first side not so super spectacular, but when you hear the legends connected to them quite interesting:

Local tradition maintains that an enraged Suleiman had the two executed when he learned that, despite his orders, they had left David’s Tomb and Mount Zion outside of the enclosed city. According to another legend, Suleiman ordered them beheaded so that the glorious walls of Jerusalem would never be reproduced. And some say that the two were assassinated because they knew the city’s secrets. Once dead, of course, they wouldn’t be able to report its weaknesses to any dastardly enemies.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ (→)

Who knows what the truth is? In accordance to our tour guide there is at least one more. Based on her story, the two were killed by the Sultan after finishing the wall, because it was much more expensive and delayed than planned. Whatever the truth is, luckily we are living in different times now. Just imagine what would had happen to the responsible ones for the BER (→) and Elbphilharmonie (→) during that former times…
And by the way, I highly recommend the above mentioned tour guide (→). The “Jerusalem Holy City Tour” is a very good way to become a good first insight of this otherwise to overwhelming place.

Museums

I don’t remember anymore the event. But I still remember a picture on the German TV news “Tagesschau” during my youth. It was showing the Hall of Names of the Yad Vashem (→) museum. And since then I wanted to visit it.
You cannot believe how great it is. It is a true place of remembering! The museum shows facts without dramatising, but also without neglecting. And then it remembers the victims and the heroes of this time. Whereas the Hall of Names gives a very touchy and impressive feeling of how many victims we are talking about. And by all this, it makes it very clear that forgiving this horrible doing is only possible, by fighting each and every so little sight of such a beginning!! Something I absolutely believe in. And I am and will be absolutely disgusted by people trying to neglect the existence and guilt of this part of history.

Beside the Yad Vashem Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are full of great museums and galleries. Unfortunately I couldn’t visit all the exhibitions I had planned for. Some of them are the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (→), the excellent Modern Art Israel Museum Jerusalem (→) and the Bauhaus Centre Tel Aviv (→). I have added some museum’s Pinterest boards below, for your inspiration and discovering – I hope you will enjoy it!

.

Finally I can only say, that I have absolutely enjoyed my time in Israel. And I will definitely travel again there, most probably more frequently. It is a wonderful place, in so many senses.

Yours
Sven Michael

.

Yad Vashem:

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem: