| September, 10th - Jerusalem |
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At Allenby bridge we had to wait for a while - they said the computer was down (let's guess
what OS they use *eg*). The check procedure itself was fast and uncomplicated, especially
if you compare it to the kind of questions you have to face when leaving Israel from
Tel Aviv by plane (I have done this twice - in 1992 they would even ask the three
of us where we had been in Egypt, and they asked each one of us three times).
Next thing you have to do is get to Jerusalem. There seems to be only the shared
taxi, which is pretty expensive (NIS 26 each). We changed US$ 20 at the border to be
able to pay it, but if you can avoid this, don't do it. Instead of NIS 75 we got only
NIS 65, the rest was commission. If you can change at the Palestinian moneychangers
in the Old City then do this and avoid Israel banks! We got an exchange rate of 3.7 for Traveller cheques
and would have got 3.8 for cash in the Old City with no commission.
The taxi driver dropped us off at Damascus
gate, which is the entrance to the Muslim quarter of the Old city. We went in and
somebody gave us the card of the Al-Arab hotel. We booked on the roof there without checking if
one of the others would have been cheaper. A little bit further you will find
several other Palestinian hostels, and it is said that the Christian hostels
are pretty cheap as well. Anyway we were quite satisfied with the Al-Arab, they
even exchanged our traveller cheques for the usual rate.
This evening we simply went to the Wailing Wall, and I was happy and sad at the
same time - seeing the Jewish population increasing in the Muslim quarter of the Old City
was a bitter drop in all the joy of being there again. You simply cannot avoid being touched
by the political problems when you're going to Al-Quds/Yerushalayim/Jerusalem.
To Ralph it all was new and he was especially fascinated by the Old City
labyrinth where we got lost of course (I can't help it - I'll get lost there
every time :-).
| September, 11th - Jerusalem |
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I had taken care that we would be in Jerusalem on a Friday - you don't get to the Dome Of the Rocks and Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday but there is the Christian Friday's procession and the beginning of the Shabbath in the evening, so it's the best day for the religious atmosphere. In the morning we went to the Mount of Olives, paying a visit to the churches on the way. Actually I had never experienced Jerusalem on such a hot day (the Sahara wind was still blowing). When we had reached the top of the hill somebody told us that bus line 27 is going up. It's probably better to visit the holy Christian places on the way down (although most of them will be closed at noon). The Mount of Olives gives a nice view over the Jewish cemetery and the Old City, and I wouldn't like to miss it.
We wanted to do the Old City Wall walk, so we got up the stairs at Dung gate (to the right of the Wailing Wall). This is the wrong direction to do it - there is a gate in between which will only let you through the other way round. We simply climbed over it, but it was so hot that we left the wall walk at Zion's gate. Then we went to have a look at the Citadel. When it was time for the Friday's procession we hurried down the Via Dolorosa meeting the Franciscan monks at the 3rd Station. Later we wandered a bit around until the sun was setting - so it was time for the Wailing Wall. The beginning of the Shabbath is quite an experience, with the people singing and dancing.
| September, 12th - Jerusalem, Amman | 
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This day we had to go back, so we visited the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque. Then we went back to Amman which turned out to be a bit difficult since the shared taxi we entered at Damascus gate wouldn't fill up. Finally we had to go with a 4-seat-car each one of us paying for the missing 4th passenger thus having to pay NIS 35. At Allenby bridge another surprise awaited us. I knew from the e-mail I got that the exit fee from Israel would be NIS 57 and had carefully kept the money. Bad thing: it was NIS 110 each! (Maybe this applies to Germans only.) We were lucky that they thought that Ralph's passport was a diplomat's passport (he had the green temporary German passport while I had the red normal European one), so only I had to pay the fee. After the border formalities it took a while until the bus over the river Jordan left.
As a summary: probably it's not worth the expense to go to Jerusalem from Jordan for 2 days only. The time was just sufficient to see some of my very best favorites and this is surely not enough for more than a little glimpse on Jerusalem. We completely missed the "Israeli" Jerusalem with such important places like Yad Vashem. We missed Mea Shearim and a lot of worthy places in the Old City, too. And of course, you don't see nothing of Israel this way. It's probably better to spend two or three weeks in Israel alone instead of wasting almost 2 days with trying to get there for a too short visit from Amman. Anyway I simply had to go there again (having not been there for more than 6 years - silly, I know) and I had to explain to Ralph why I'm so fascinated with Jerusalem. I don't regret doing so but I wouldn't recommend it.
Entrance at King Hussein bridge was swift. We got new visa for staying two
weeks in Jordan. Then we asked around how to get to Amman and the tourist police brought
us to the exit where a lot of taxi drivers awaited us. We didn't want to go with
them and after a lot of back and forth finally somebody brought us to another
exit where the shared taxis and a minibus were waiting. We entered the minibus and since
we had a lot of time we didn't mind that it took a while to fill up.
Back in Amman we called Muna's family (we wanted to say good bye to them), made an
appointment and then went to Lord's hotel where we checked in. I think they were
pretty astonished (and maybe pleased) to see us again. Astonished, too, (and surely not pleased)
was the rather big cockroach (now deceased) inhabiting the bathroom of our room.
We spent the evening doing some shopping - souvenirs for the relatives and stuff for ourselves.
| September, 13th - Amman |
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We had finished our medicine in Jerusalem and although Ralph had fought the whatever-they-were-in-our-stomachs successfully I suffered again. So I stayed in the hotel pitying myself while Ralph did the rest of the shopping and got that medicine again. So I was saved for the rest of the holiday and about anything left German doctors could care.
In the evening we went to Muna's family again. Since our plane left very early in the morning we had planned to leave them at midnight. But they cancelled our plans and said we should sleep and Nidal would bring us to the main road where we could catch a bus.
| September, 14th - Amman |
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At 4 a.m. both of us were ready to go - only Nidal was missing. We waited a while but finally we knocked at a window waking somebody up who had to go and wake up Nidal who had not heard the alarm clock. He got us to the bus station where immediately a car stopped. The driver wanted to take us to the airport for JD 10. We were pretty embarrassed since we had only JD 4.5 left! He laughed and said that we were the only Germans he ever met who had no money and took us to the airport anyway. At the airport we found out that we had to pay an exit fee of JD 10 each. We could pay it with US$ (it's good to have some US$-cash with you...) and finally left Jordan.
 The South |
Istanbul |