Day Four

Our last morning in Jaffa saw us awake for sunrise and take a farewell walk to absorb some of the sights and sounds, such as the miraculous floating tree, which shall be depicted in photo-form for you soon!

Having enjoyed our stroll, but thoroughly regretting our 5AM start we went back to bed before being woken by an agitated hostel manager at 11 o'clock, given that this was their checkout time.

With our suitcases filled, David very helpfully hailed the most expensive and pushy taxi driver in the Middle East. After debating (or rather being talked at) about the jumbo-sized price, we settled for what we knew was about double the normal amount. This driver also demonstrated his people-skills, staring daggers at a fellow driver who happened to commit the crime of asking for directions. We can only speculate, whether this reaction was because the enquiry came from an Arab...

Skipping forward in time a few hours finds us wandering the streets and multi-storey carparks (yes, really) of Jerusalem. After an hour of walking we finally reached our guesthouse, and with it, a stunning and sobering view of Jerusalem, the 'Holy City'. To the West, the ancient walls of the old city, home to some of the world's most famous religious monuments. To the East, the grey monolith that divides the West Bank from Israel, aka the separation wall. A sobering sight, indeed, and a constant reminder of the conflict that brings us here.

Not that you can escape the nuances of the conflict that easily. On our first walk from the Old City to Sheikh Jarrah, in the East, we encountered:

• A group of haredi Jews being verbally assaulted in Arabic from a car window
• 2 Israeli soldiers asserting their authority by stealing pizza from a takeaway
• and a micro-settlement

The latter was on the site of a former Palestinian home, that had been demolished by the IDF. A single Israeli home, in this neighbourhood of occupied East Jerusalem, has now been erected in its place, complete with its own on-site security office next door. Sheikh Jarrah has been the focus of much news attention lately, due to these house demolitions - we hope to explore this for ourselves later on in the week.

And that's about the end of our first day in Jerusalem, having barely scratched the surface of this place. Tomorrow we head East to the West Bank, we'll let you know how that goes.

Best wishes from Jerusalem!

- Anthony, Gary, Hala and David