Back in Israel after 7 years

The 25th of December we left for Tel Aviv to spend a short vacation in Israel between Christmas and New Years. It has been seven years since my last visit here (time really flies), but it was still great to see Chen, my exchange buddy, and catch up!!

The weather was not as great as we had hoped, one day it was raining all day long, but the rest of the time we were lucky enough that it stayed dry and we could go explore the city of Tel Aviv. First stop, Carmel marked:

Next up was Old Jaffa:

A break from walking

Quiet a strange christmas tree if you as me

On the rainy day we met with mom's friend, Sanne, and her husband Eli. Since it was pouring down we ended up mostly being in cafes, talking, laughing and having a good time..

From Tel Aviv we went to Jerusalem:

Shakshoka for breakfast before leaving

The Western Wall

You see all kinds of people in Jerusalem

We walked the routed that Jesus walked with the cross (vía dolorosa) which ends in the chirch that in the photo below. Today the church is home to 4 different churches. The ladder under the window has been standing there for more than 100 years, since nobody claims that its theirs, and therefore they have been fighting about who is supposed to take it down (funny and ridiculous at the same time):

The stone on which Jesus has been laying

Berdie is enjoying the Orthodox jew's music, and maybe admiring his very long curls

Sisters at Jaffa Gate

Next morning we got up very early to go to the Temple Moutain:

The Western Wall in the morning

Beautiful view

The al-Aqsa mosque

 The al-Aqsa mosque

The Temple Mountain from the distance

We decided that we had seen what we wanted to see in Jerusalem and left for the Dead Sea, a great expirience:

Berdie and I relaxing in the water (the two dots in the middle)

Full Dead Sea expirience - Dead Sea mud all over the body

Beautiful

The last day we spent back in Tel Aviv, and we were lucky with the weather, sunny and warm. We had to be in the airport at 2 in the morning, so we decided to get a nice dinner and then try and sleep some hours before heading back for New Years in Denmark:

Good Bye Israel and 2016. Happy New Years to all of you!!