Jerusalem - Part I

From Tel Aviv I went to the central station to get my Sherut (shared taxi that are yello minibuses) to Jerusalem. It only cost 5 shekel mire than the bus, and it left as soon as it was full.

So in 1 hour I was there. It was Good Friday, so a special day to be in Jerusalem. The day Jesus Christ had been killed at that very site. Holy Jesus! (this last bit is a bit of a bad joke).

Accommodation had been an important side of the stress that this trip caused me. It's expensive and shitty. And I wanted a hostel because I wanted to meet people so as not to be alone. "Men there are scary. Especially on the muslim side" had said a friend. "Stay close to Jaffa Gate". "Where??? Jaffa what?" - this is my typical reaction prior going to places...Clueless. Can't figure out what the place will be like, what I will feel, so I am searching and searching with out any idea. Once I arrive, it all makes sense.

Single rooms are scarse in hostels in the Old City, and expensive, and reviews were awful. Some below 50% ratings with no windows and shared bathroom. And me being me, i refused to pay £50 for a room with no window.

The most recommended hostel in hostelworld.com was the Abraham Hostel. It looked massive and impersonal, and young. And it was 20 minutes walk away from Jaffa Gate. So I was reluctant considering I had been warned to be close to it. The options at the old town looked bad, terrible reviews. but I had to settle for one. So I chose the New Swedish Hostel. And no, if you wonder, there is nothing swedish about it. One bedroom. A 15 bedroom dorm. One of the strangest places I've slept overall, but location was amazing. Right on David St, next to Jaffa Gate, on the christian quarter. It was an odd experience being there. But I kind of enjoyed it, and because I stayed 3 nights I could see people arriving and leaving and felt a bit part of the place. Interesting.

The good thing about travelling in Jerusalem is that the amount of strange and different people you will meet - weird religions, most of them studying international relations, and everyone from different backgrounds, makes it a challenging, but of course, exotic destination.

I eventually did stay in the Abraham Hostel in it's impersonal dorms, and the reason I did this was because I eventually saw there was no danger whatsoever to walk from there to Jaffa Gate, and because I wanted to explore that side of Jerusalem. I also booked some of their tours, which were good price, and gave me some piece of mind by being prearranged. I did the Jordan 3 day tour, and the Dead Sea and Masada tour. Really great tours overall.