I Love Jaffa

Last week I had a moderately large birthday and Daughter had her 'Major Operation First Year Anniversary' so we decided to leave the country. We went to Jaffa in Israel. This is the view of the Old Port of Jaffa from the beach:

And this is a view of Jaffa from our hotel balcony:

The Sea:

On the day that the photo on the left was taken, it was exactly a year since Daughter had been lying on the operating table but here she is lying on a lounger on a perfect sandy beach looking out to the Mediterranean. 

We had walked along the front from Jaffa to Tel Aviv. 

We had been into the sea. 

I had been knocked under the waves. 

We were soaking up the warmth. 

Bliss!

The Food: 

The food was amazing. My favourite places to eat were: 

Top Choice: Restaurant Ifrah where they filled our table with 'free' food - well, food we hadn't ordered but it was so delicious we ate it anyway. There were pots of humus and salads and freshly baked pitta breads, and after the meal plates of baclava and bowls of melon so sweet they tasted as if they had been infused with honey. On our last evening we strolled past the restaurant and the owner shook us by the hand and wished us a safe journey home. I know of no place in Leicester where they would even recognise me and I've lived here for... well... for all my life.

Second Top Choice: Dr Shakshuka. I am now in love with shakshuka. It's served in a skillet and has a tomato, onion and garlic base with two fried eggs broken into it. It makes my mouth water just looking at this photo:

The Shopping:

I had my first go at bartering. It's a good job that Daughter was with me or I'd have paid way over the odds for things.

The Hotel:

I would recommend The Market House Hotel, Jaffa, to anyone wanting to visit the area. The staff were friendly and helpful, everywhere was clean and the food was... sorry to be repetitive... the food was amazing! Here is just one of the two heavily laden breakfast tables. I love Israeli breakfasts:

But even more important than food is this, my final point:

Religions Coexisting: 

My abiding memory of Jaffa will be of the many religions living and working side by side and the feeling of being safe and welcomed. At one point we were walking along the sea front to the sound from the minarets calling Muslims to prayer, the sight of a Jewish wedding taking place under a chupah on the hill overlooking the port and a procession of Armenian Christians (I think they were Armenian Christians) walking with lanterns in their hands. Why can't the whole world get on together like that?

It was lovely to return to Israel. It was especially lovely to meet up with my friend Ann who you can visit on her blog, Anne Goldberg Writing. And yes, in spite of my wailings about the fear of flying, I rather suspect that I will be back.

(Most of the above photos were taken by Daughter. She is so much better at holidays than I am. She knew about the best places to eat and to shop and even which beach to go for a swim. She is also better at photography. And so to my lovely daughter I say, "Thanks for looking after us. Just like the food, you are amazing.") 

Jerusalem

We’ve just spent a week in Jerusalem. I was dubious about going. I’m not a great traveller but there were several reasons why I forced encouraged myself to go.

1.  I’d never been to Israel before.

2.  Everyone kept telling me that I had to go at least once in my life.

3.  When my Dad was very ill [he died in 1977] he said how he wished he'd gone to Israel.

So I went. This was my first view of the Old City. It didn’t fill me with awe but with trepidation...

A view of the outer wall from Jaffa Gate.

...because this was how we got lost in the Old City.

Don't know where we were, but it was somewhere in the Old City!

 This was the start of our second day and the moment I fell in love with Jerusalem. 

View from our hotel window as the sun rose over Jerusalem.

I don’t know how it happened but the rest of the week flew by in an emotional whirlwind. We went to Masada and floated in the Dead Sea.

Cable car about to take us up Masada.

A view of the Dead Sea from the top of Masada.

We walked right down to the Western Wall.

Men's section of the Western Wall.

And I was sad when it was time to come home.

El Al Departure Lounge and, yes, that clock does say 4.40 am!

I have a feeling that we’ll be going back sometime soon to see a bit more of that amazing country but first I have to get my head out of the El Al clouds and back into doing some writing. This isn’t going to be easy.