Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/e66D8Tu4UDZxSxyh9
My flight from Madagascar to Tel Aviv was fun. Used 32k United miles and paid like 50 USD in taxes for the one way ticket, whose face value was closer to 1500 USD. Needed a place that was cheap to get to from Madagascar, that would also provide cheap flights back to Chennai so I could base at my grandma’s prior to my Nepal trek, and after about a day’s worth of “research” a few months ago I was set on Israel. Had a 5 hour flight from Tana to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, followed by a 3 hour layover, followed by a 4 hour flight to Cairo, followed by a 15 hour layover (got to sleep and eat at a lounge, TY Priority Pass/Chase Sapphire), and then finally a 1 hour hop to Tel Aviv. Of course, I then spent 3 hours at immigration…the regular immigration line took like one hour, and then my passport was flagged because of my Iraq and Afghanistan trips, so I was sent to a room where I basically spent 90 minutes waiting with a ~30 minute interview in the middle where I had to explain my whole schpeel. Sort of similar to the two times this happened when flying back to the US, except the US is WAY more efficient with these pullovers, the 90 minutes of waiting was frankly ridiculous. But at least there was free WiFi and power outlets. Anyways, after all that, got into my hostel and promptly crashed.
My first day, I did a half day trip up north to the Roman ruins of Caeseria. Throughout this entire trip, I couldn’t help but always compare Israel to to Jordan in the back of my mind – they are neighbors, there are holy land sights in both countries, similar landscapes and history, etc etc. And I have to say that while Israel was very enjoyable, it very much was a poor man’s Jordan for me.The Roman ruins were far more impressive in Jordan (Amman, Jerash) than Caeseria (which is supposed to be Israel’s best), the landscapes were better in Jordan (though again, pretty cool in Israel), the Christian sights were more impressive in Jordan (Jerusalem was obviously very cool, but I think strictly from a historic sightseeing perspective I found Jordan more impressive, like with the mosaics, while Israel is more for pilgrimage and cultural history. Sort of like mosques that are pilgrimmage sights like Najaf in Iraq or Mazar in Afghanistan, versus ones that are historically and architecturally more interesting for me, like in Uzbekistan), the food was probably slightly better in Jordan (I was unable to find any mansaf or maqlooba here, the two best rice dishes I have *ever* eaten) and the Islamic sights were obviously more impressive in Jordan too. Still enjoyed Israel but I think Jordan is definitely the better trip to take. But yea, Caeseria was a cool little Roman port city ruin, but honestly nothing special given the wealth of Roman ruins that I have already seen – the best of Italy and Turkey are a level above, and obviously you have stuff like Jordan that’s also better…would put it slightly below something like Split in Croatia or Antalya in Turkey for me.
After Caeseria, I got back to Tel Aviv and spent the rest of the day checking out the historic part of the city, which was the old port area of Jaffa. This was very cool, with winding alleys and stark sandstone colored architecture. Very cool vibe and it was fun to walk around for a bit. Honestly it was like a sanitized version of Amman – so a poor man’s version of that. The food in Jaffa was absolutely the best that I had in Tel Aviv – Jaffa is also where the Arab Christian and Muslim population of Tel Aviv lives. One thing that I discovered in Israel is that, at least for me, the Arab owned food spots were vastly superior to the Israeli owned spots, so I’ll sort of do a split and say that Palestinian food is absolutely outstanding and basically on par with Jordan, while Israeli food is good but forgettable (and super healthy!). This actually reminds me of one of the greatest mysteries of my travels…how Egyptian food is so incredibly mediocre despite being an Arab country, while Palestinian/Jordanian/Iraqi food has all been fire.
My 2nd day in Tel Aviv, I did a day trip further north (closer to the Syrian border) to the historic port city of Acre, known as Akka in Hebrew. The city itself was decent enough, but has cool history – Phoencian/Hellenistic/Roman then a down period before becoming a Crusader stronghold, then a down period before the Ottoman Empire developed it. So while there were some cool Crusader ruins here (a tunnel the Knights Templar built, a fortress by the Knights Hospetelliar where you could see 1000 year old carved Fleur de Lis as the Crusaders were primarily French), the layout of the old town area is basically Turkish. At a certain point, I feel like across all cultures that old town areas are pretty similar – narrow alleys, historic exteriors of buildings that have been repurposed to have modern interiors, stone everywhere, etc. Even across hugely different cultures, from colonial Latin America to medieval and post-medieval French and English and Spanish to Ottoman to medieval Islamic to pre-Mughal and Mughal India to Edo Japan etc etc, there are broad similarities to the general vibe when walking around. This was very much Ottoman and a lot like narrow parts of Istanbul or really like all of Antalya and even Sarajevo in Bosnia. One thing that I didn’t really like about Acre or Caeseria, or really for many of Israel’s historic sights, is how overdeveloped they are. There’s way too much flash – like pictures, signs, lights, walkways, arrows, and even statues of people replicating historic tasks – that just get in the way for me of enjoying a historic location. I guess it’s personal preference, I don’t know. Another negative of Israel is the vast number of geriatric tour busses that are just everywhere. Just tons and tons and tons of massive tour groups of old western tourists who are on bucket list trips to see the Holy Land.
One interesting thing about Tel Aviv was that it is the second place I have ever been to, after Naples in Italy, that just gave me a very “home” feeling, aka the NYC area and Long Island. It’s because Long Island and NYC is full of southern Italians and Jews, so seeing faces in Naples and in Tel Aviv (moreso than anywhere else in Israel) is almost like a “where am I” moment if I am lost in my thoughts because all the faces look just like the faces of New Yorkers. Pretty weird but cool. I didn’t get the same feel in Dublin or anywhere in Ireland despite all the Irish Americans, and my friend Steve (who was the one to first articulate this feeling in Naples) said it’s probably because Irish Americans tend to marry outside their ethnicity while southern Italian Americans and Jewish Americans do not. Another surprise (or maybe this is me being dumb as this should not have been a surprise) is that Jewish delis are not a thing in Israel, and that is very much a Jewish American phenomenon. I was lowkey looking forward to a good pastrami sandwich, but it is what it is. One other dumb observation – I was shocked by the number of black people living in Tel Aviv. Apparently there is a decent number of Ethiopian Jews who are Israeli citizens, which I thought was pretty cool. And Tel Aviv is up there with Cape Town as having by far the most attractive girls I have seen. I think it’s because of the mandatory military service…all the girls here are fit because of that, much like how all the girls in Cape Town are fit due to all the hiking and outdoor activities that are nearby.
Tel Aviv overall was a fun city. Very modern and liveable, if not a little on the pricer side. Super fun nightlife – I went out with some backpacking friends I had met in Bolivia in the 3 day salt flats/altiplano tour (who were Israeli), and with the son of my dad’s friend who lives in Syracuse, who also lives in Israel (I might have had the best pizza I’ve ever had outside of the tristate area and Italy this night. Sadly, the bagels and cheesecake in Israel were way below subpar, so not everything translates from NYC to Israel just because of the Jewish connection). But even on weeknights bars and clubs were packed and it was just a super fun and social vibe in general. I also liked that in both of those nights out, we were at places where I was basically the only non-Israeli present.
After this first stint in Tel Aviv, I headed over to Jerusalem. The entire old city of Jerusalem is basically in occupied Palestinian territory, while the “new” city to the west, where Israelis live, is a part of recognized Israel. And outside of the Gaza strip (a sliver of coastal land a good bit south of Tel Aviv), Palestine basically comprises of a chunk of land in central Israel that stretches from Jerusalem to Jordan. All in all, a pretty small area to be honest, could drive the circumference in a few hours on the roads. Interestingly, well over a third of the soldiers who I saw on the somewhat constant military patrols were female, while everywhere else in the world it is always 100% male (insert the evergreen tweet about modern day liberalism being the desire to have more female POC LGBTQ drone operators and prison guards). Overall, I feel like the Israeli occupation felt more like an economic stranglehold where Palestinian development is neutered and their people effectively live in a different society. But it was a much more subtle and pervasive feeling, than the in-your-face nature of visiting the Indian side of Kashmir. Though obviously the primary issue is that these Palestinians have no citizenship and are effectively prisoners in their own land due to the Israeli occupation. And militarization-wise, I thought things seemed crazier in Indian Kashmir, Afghanistan, and Iraq (just in terms of soldiers being everywhere for security). That said, I do know that the situation in the Gaza strip is far more dire than in the West Bank, so the above observations are really strictly for the old city of Jerusalem and driving to/from and visiting Bethlehem and Hebron. For Jerusalem specifically, one thing that was a bit weird to see was that a lot of the Palestinian kids in the old city were constantly running around and having gunfights with toy guns. These were all boys from like 4 years old up to 13 or so. I couldn’t help but think that if this was in the US, our boys in blue would have massacred half of these kids because they wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between toy guns and real guns, so credit to the Israeli soldiers for that #BlueLivesMatter.
One thing I will say is, while the Israeli occupation of Palestine is obviously bad, the fact that a brand new country that sprung up 50+ years ago is so developed is honestly really impressive. And I do think some of the leftist criticism of Israel is a tad overblown in that the overt focus on Israel vs other problematic countries dealing with military occupation/destabalizing/human rights abuse stuff, like Saudi Arabia or Myanmar or Rwanda is probably tainted a bit by anti-semitism…there’s no reason Israeli abuses should rile up so many when they don’t care about other ones. Although in the west, it probably doesn’t help to have so many openly pro-Israel/anti-Palestine types. which I suppose will draw a natural counter reaction.
Jerusalem was surprisingly very cool. I was worried that I would hate it due to the crowds, but the old city area is massive so the crowds are sort of dispersed, and while you feel it, it isn’t in a negative way like it was for me in Hindu pilgrimage sites, or in Najaf in Iraq. I am glad that I saw Jerusalem after Jaffa and Acre, because it’s basically a larger, cooler version of those old towns. The same sandstone everywhere that gives it a distinct Middle Eastern look with narrow and “clean” alleyways (honestly a lot like Amman in Jordan, or even the grand bazaar in Istanbul, which again makes sense due to the Ottoman connection. Hell, even a lot like the markets of Kandahar, though Kandahar was much more legit and not touristy at all, I’ll never go to a cooler and more authentic marketplace than Kandahar). I particularly liked the church architecture here moreso than the mosque or synagogue stuff (which is rare because I usually find ornate mosques to be cooler)- very classical looking churches, just gave off a regal, almost Minas Tirith feel. It was cool to see all different types of churches in such a relatively compact area – Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Roman Catholic, etc. etc. The best example of this is the Holy Sepulchre church, which is where Jesus was allegedly crucified and then resurrected. The tomb is, to be fair, most likely either the tomb of Jesus himself or of another prominent figure from around that time whose location got conflated with Jesus within the first 100+ years after his death, while the crucifiction site is definitely a bit more dubious – as is true with many sites in Jerusalem, like most of the Via Dolorosa stops (dubious might be a lenient word here, fake is more like it). But anyways, the Holy Sepulchre is basically claimed by various denominations, so each group has a small slice of territory in the church. This leads to absurdities like a wooden ladder not being moved for 300 years because it is unclear who “owns” it…honestly it’s super dumb and defeats the whole point of religion, which is ultimately to be a good person. But whatever. It was also was very cool to see all the various different pilgrim groups wandering around, from Muslim pilgrims from all over visiting to see the Dome of the Rock, to orthodox Jews going to the Western Wall (sidenote…small sample size but every single interaction I saw between Arabs and orthodox Jewish men, the orthodox Jewish men went out of their way to act like assholes. It was honestly *very* jarring), to roving groups of Korean and south Indian and Ethiopian and Arab and Filipino etc. etc. Christians. Really unique melting pot of tourists. And the food was excellent – pro tip is to avoid the food that is closer to the “touristy” Christian/Jewish parts, and go to the Muslim part of the old city where the Palestinian population actually lives. Absolutely the best falafel and baklava I have ever had (and it was excellent everywhere else in Palestine), as well as delicious sweets whose names I have no idea of. The one exception to this protip (and general eh quality of Israeli food) was Iraqi Jewish food, which has now become Israeli food. There was this incredible, incredible sabich that I had in Jerusalem that a friend from college recommended. This was actually in west Jerusalem, in the new part of the city and on the Israeli side of the border. A sabich is basically like a shwarma but with fried eggplant slices instead…it was originally an Iraqi Jewish dish that has become big in Israel. This particular sabich (I had another in Tel Aviv that was forgetful) was just so, so good and I wound up eating it twice during my stay in Jerusalem. And another great Iraqi Jewish dish was kubbeh, which is semolina beef dumplings in a soup broth.
Beyond Jerusalem, the Palestinian food in Israel/Palestine included the best hummus and possibly the best shwarma I have ever had as well. And the knafeh was absolute fire everywhere – I still think the best I have ever had was in Amman, but this was still so so good. It’s interesting that what we in the west refer to as “Middle Eastern” food seems to largely be derived from Palestinian food (to be honest, not sure about Lebanon and Syria, but it certainly is heavier on Palestinian than Israeli/Jordanian and not at all like Iraqi or Egyptian), and I wonder if calling it Middle Eastern is a way to erase Palestine and boost the AIPAC narrative, I don’t know. But yea. And obviously the history – although the city is a good few meters above what it was at the time of Jesus, still pretty cool to walk on the Roman roads and see a thriving, living modern city all on a giant historic goldmine, from King David era to Roman era to Crusader era to Ottoman era. It reminds me of some of the best parts of Indian temples, the living history aspect where you have the best combo of old and new constantly interacting with each other. It’s such a cool city to walk around, and the old preserved feel of it really did remind me of Bukhara and Khiva in Uzbekistan and Kandahar in Afghanistan in a way, or even Jaisalmer in Rajasthan or Cairo, as all of these places especially are known for the sandstone color everywhere. And all of these places had these trinket shops selling tons of shiny lamps and metallic goods, the difference being Jaisalmer had Hindu stuff and Jerusalem has Jewish stuff, but still the usual jewel-encrusted daggers and vintage binoculars and all the usual. And the museum (in west Jerusalem) was also very cool, tons of really neat artifacts from Canaanite era to House of David era to Hellenic to Roman to Byzantine to Islam to Crusader to Ottomen. Absolutely one of the better regional museums I have ever been to.
I spent four extra days in Jerusalem, using it as a base (and a good dinner spot) while taking day trips. My first daytrip was out to Bethlehem, <20km out, so really more of a half-day trip. Entering was interesting – the bus from Jerusalem, about 1.50 USD, took just under an hour (traffic was awful, and the stretch between Jerusalem and Bethlehem is basically one giant urban area) and got us to the border point, where we disembarked and crossed through a few of those oneway turnstiles with the metal bars preventing you from going backwards. From there, it was under a 1 hour walk to the Church of the Nativity, where Jesus was allegedly born. On the way, I walked by the massive wall that Israel has built to fence in the Palestinians. Was a bit sobering to see, especially the juxtaposition of the reality of the wall with the funky artwork all drawn on the Palestinian side. Anyways, the church. Honestly, the odds of this being Jesus’ birthplace are pretty much zero – he was almost definitely born in Nazareth. That said, this shrine has basically been continuously visited by pilgrims (with a church and all) for over 1500 years, so independent of the historicity of the location, it has become a legit historic sight and it was pretty cool to visit. There was like a 2+ hour wait to touch the rock where he might or might not have landed on after popping out of Mary, but I somehow was able to visit and touch it in ~5 minutes by walking against the oneway traffic and literally got zero looks (some individuals even followed me so they could get a second visit). Before this visit to Israel, I had always thought that Christianity was a less “spiritual” religion than Hinduism or Islam or Buddhism, but after seeing the absolute joy and ecstasy in all of these pilgrims’ faces in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, I absolutely have reversed that opinion…Christians are just as spiritual.
After that, I negotiated with a cab driver (I missed how Arab touts always assail you with a “my friend my friend” while trying to rip you off, all while they all wear the same cologne that you can smell from a mile away) to drive me a few miles east to see what is probably one of Banksy’s two most famous OG artworks, the protestor throwing a flower (the other being the girl losing the heart balloon) – this was on the side of an abandoned gas station building. From there, we drove about 20+ minutes further east to the Greek Orthodox monastery of Mar Saba, which is one of the oldest continiously inhabited Christian monasteries in the world. The monastery itself was closed to non Orthodox as it was a Sunday (at least, that’s what the guy at the gate told me), but I was able to “hike” around the area. Honestly it was beautiful – obviously very reminiscent of Jordan, with the dry cliffs and total desolation, punctuated by small patches of green, with a cool cliff-hewn appearance of a sandstone colored, historic monastery. The cab driver drove me back to the church, and then I walked back up to the border point. Here, there were a couple of security checks (honestly the vibe was a lot like the airports in Afghanistan/Iraq/Kashmir) and then an ID check where I showed my passport to go through.
The following day, I took a daytrip further south to the Palestinian city of Hebron. Hebron is the site of the cave of the patriarchs, which is allegedly where Abraham and company are buried. It’s more like a giant citadel, and the synagogue/mosque lies exactly on the border, so half the building is a synagogue and half the building is a mosque. Hebron was honestly a bit depressing as the entire area around the border – like a 15+ minute walk on either side – is a totally desolate dead area, despite it being the heart of the old town of Hebron. The Israeli side was certainly far more dead, but on the Palestinian side, the crowds slowly picked up the further away from the border you went. The food here was excellent, and so incredibly cheap…Bethlehem was still charging Israeli prices due to the tourist influx, but since pretty much no tourists go to Hebron beyond the cave of the patriarchs, I wound up paying less than 2 USD for a filling falafel pita and a giant plate of desserts – bomb baklava, decent knafeh (Jerusalem was far better to be honest), and a good honeyed cake-like sweet. Crossed the border back into Israel again to catch the bus back to Jerusalem – the border crossing was basically the same as in Bethlehem, minus the massive wall…here it seemed like they used existing buildings in the old city as barriers with barbed wire fences between them.
The following day, I took a day trip down south to Masada (in Israel proper). It is just off the Dead Sea and about a 90+ minute bus ride from Jerusalem. T be honest the pictures don’t do it justice since I didn’t have my camera on me and was using my phone (my phone still takes good pics but for outdoor/landscape stuff the camera is far superior). The landscapes were great – just a totally desolate region with dry cliffs and rolling hills. The whole area around Masada is actually the Judean Desert, so a lot of Bible shit happened in the area. I would say it was just like Jordan (makes sense), but Jordan still takes the cake here because Wadi Rum was super unique. In terms of desolate, non-high altitude stuff this was still steps below Namibia, Jordan, and the southwest US, but still really cool. I hiked up a switchback path called the “snake path” due to the zigzags…Google says it was about 350m in elevation gain over 2km in distance. Google also said this hike would take about an hour going uphill, so naturally I completed it in 25 minutes…it was just tough enough to be a fun hike but still nice and easy, nothing too crazy. The views from the top were great, with the barren landscape punctuated by the deep blue Dead Sea. I skipped the Dead Sea float both here and in Jordan, since I really wasn’t interested in that novelty, which makes me probably a part of the 1% of Israeli and Jordanian tourists who don’t do that. So Masada was a Roman/Jewish fortress built atop a clifftop overlooking the entire region on all sides. It was basically the Jewish Alamo during their revolt in around 70 AD (Titus had an arch built in Rome that is still standing in the entrance to the Forum by the Colosseum to commemorate this rebellion putdown). There were still tons of ruins up top – mostly just remnants of walls, though a couple of rooms had a little colored plastered walls, like a much lesser version of Pompeii and Herculaneum, so that was cool. Honestly, the whole vibe of ruined walls and desolate landscape from a high vantage point was very reminiscent of some of the ruins I saw in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. To be blunt, the obnoxiously large crowds here (there was an option to take a cable car for about ~18USD roundtrip) made it very hard for it to live up to those lofty standards, but it was still like a homeless man’s version of Afghanistan/Tajikistan so I loved it.
I was planning on taking a daytrip to Jericho on my last day in Jerusalem, but it was Israeli independence day, so for “security” reasons all border crossings with the West Bank were closed. Jericho is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world (over 10,000 years!!!), so that was a shame. The night before independence day, I hung out with a close high school friend of Arjun and Nirali’s who I had actually hung out with at their wedding almost two years ago. Was at a house party of one of his friends, and most of the people there were actually German. But it was a fun night, and I cured my hangover the next day for lunch by having Armenian food for lunch – had their version of dolma, which was excellent, but the best dolma I’ve ever had is still my final dinner in Baghdad. So the old city of Jerusalem is split into four quarters – Christian, Jewish, Armenian (even though Armenians are Christian), and Muslim. The whole setup and naming is dumb, because for example the Armenian quarter takes about 5 minutes to walk through all the streets, while the Muslim quarter takes up well over 75% of the land and is home to the vast majority of the people (all Palestinian Arabs) who actually live in the old city. I actually went back to Arjun and Nirali’s friend’s apartment for dinner on my final night with some of his friends, so that was a cool way to cap my week in Jerusalem. He’s an American Jew who lives in Israel, and is funnily enough suuuper left wing and pro Palestinian rights, which I thought was cool to see. His girlfriend was a Belgian diplomat who worked in development in Palestine (so their apartment was paid for by the Belgian government), and I will say that talking with them about Israel/Palestine certainly opened my eyes up a bit more than just my Hebron and Bethlehem visits did. Like learning the nitty gritty of the apartheid state and all the shit that it entails. Was also cool that she had people she worked with (from the UN and other orgs) that were Hertie alums.
After Jerusalem, I took a ~6 hour bus ride down south to the Red Sea port of Eilat. It is literally right next to Aqaba, which is where I did scuba diving in Jordan and met that American diplomat couple who I’m actually still in touch with. Eilat as a town high key sucked. Very American strip mall feel to it, tons of western franchise food spots (though I did have an amaaaaaazing falafel pita here) and it just felt soulless. Sort of what I imagine Miami to be like, just depressing architecture and clubs and urban sprawl. It was, however, a base to take a half day trip up to the Negev Desert, which is the desert directly south of the Judean Desert. There was a 30ish minute bus from next to my hostel that dropped me off at the highway/Timna Park junction (Timna is just a small portion of the Negev). From there it was a 30 minute walk to the park entrance, where I had to rent a bicycle because it’s a giant spread out park with small easy hikes all kilometers apart. I wound up biking like 15+km in the desert heat, great workout. I actually thought at first that I was out of shape because I was huffing and puffing the entire way, but then when I turned around and went straight back to the visitor center to return the bike and leave, I didn’t pedal once as it was all downhill. So the entire park was like a slight steady incline from the visitor center that just looked flat to me. Was at least reassuring that I am not *that* shitty of a biker. But yea, Timna Park was probably the highlight of Israel and Palestine for me. Landscapes were just as cool as the Judean Desert around Masada, but a bit different – much more red rock cliff here, like a slightly lesser version of Isalo National Park in Madagascar (or a much lesser version of Canyonlands in Moab, Utah). But the cool thing here was riding a bike – it just made the entire experience so much cooler than it would have been had I had a car and was just driving from easy hike to easy hike. Dare I say very Burning Man esque with the bike riding in a desolate environment. That night was pretty fun though. I was a sweaty mess when I got back to Eilat and was starving so I went back to that great falafel pita joint, where some Israelis in their 20s started talking to me, and we wound up connecting over travel in Ladakh and Spiti in India (the vast, vast majority of Israelis, after military service, either backpack in South America or in India). Wound up going out with them that evening to some beach club party until like 2am which was fun – once again, I was pretty much the only non Hebrew speaker there (there were a few other Americans and Europeans I met but they were all Jews who had moved to Israel).
My last day in Eilat was basically a rest day/travel planning day. Had planned to scuba dive in the Red Sea, but annoyingly enough, every single dive shop I contacted required a signed logbook of prior dives. I have never once gotten my dives signed (this is allegedly best practice, but even my dive friends said they haven’t heard of anyone in the world checking this), so they would have required me to spend an extra 100 USD on a refresher dive which I refused out of principle, so I didn’t dive. Guess my next dive will be over my winter break at Hertie – Hertie gives you half of December, all of Jan, and the first week of Feb off, which is amazing. Assuming I have money (from whatever internship/job I get in Berlin), I’ll need to save up for some sort of trip…was thinking I could combine visiting my grandma in Chennai with scuba diving on the Andaman Islands, which are a part of India but off the coast of Thailand.
Anyways, went back to Tel Aviv and chilled for a day before flying back to India for a few days, before my Upper Mustang trek in Nepal. One specifically interesting about Israel is that it is probably the most divided country I have ever been to, but this is probably related to the current protests going on against the judicial reform the Knesset wants to pass. Quite literally every single Israeli that I have socially interacted with (and it’s been a lot…Israelis are incredibly friendly, definitely easily the most friendly wealthy country I have been to. But they will walk up to me and ask where I’m from and how I’m finding Israel) has unprompted brought up how they dislike Jerusalem/conservative Israelis (the Israeli population in Jerusalem is *not* liberal, to put it mildly). Way more than I have ever noticed people in liberal circles talk about their fellow citizens in similarly polarized places like the US or UK. Overall, I think Israel was decently good but not great – Tel Aviv had a wonderful social scene, biking in Timna National Park was very fun, and Masada was a cool hike and landscape. But nothing was like standout good. And on the Palestinian side, Jerusalem was obviously very cool and Bethlehem and Hebron certainly left an impression.