The first week that I was in Israel Josh and I decided to go on a little road trip to the north of Israel. Car rental was cheap for 3 days and we had unlimited mileage to go and explore the country. Oh and an automatic shift! Which is actually unimportant since Josh is an excellent stick driver.
One problem was that neither of us had a guidebook for Israel. We thought it wouldn't be too big of a deal to go and find one in an english bookstore, turns out we were wrong and we ended up buying one that was 7 years old- I mean how much can change in 7 years right?
Armed with our Budget road map, guidebook and sense of adventure we set out on the road.
Everything on the map comes up so quickly since Israel is a small country. In no time at all we were at the Caesaria ruins located between Tel Aviv and Haifa. After Caesaria, we continued north to the next highway that we wanted- and we missed the turn-off. Then there were no exits for the next 10 minutes. The next road was a smaller road that winds around in the Carmel mountains and ends up back at the road we wanted, so we decided to be adventurous and take it.
All was well until we came to the first T in the road. And all the signs were in Hebrew.... hmm. This is not what I had expected as I had asked Josh's roommate if this was going to be a problem and the answer was "No, all the signs are in hebrew, arabic and english."
Have a look for yourself:
English what?
Luckily the wrong way was immediately evident as it went into a nature preserve so we went on our way. Then we immediately got lost in the next bigger town. The signs for the road just disappear sometimes and it's anyone's guess which way to go. This was the first of several times that this happened.
The first day we finally settled into our hostel overlooking the Sea of Galilee- you know where Jesus walked on water.
The next day we were recommended some good places to see by daughter of the woman who owned the hostel. We made our way as far north as we could go so that we could wave hello to Lebanon. Afterwards we wanted to go to Banyas because we had heard that it was a "must-see" by several different people. We drove through the Golan Heights on our way to Banyas.
Of course we got lost and because of the lack of detail, road numbers, mileage or anything useful on the map. We asked for directions and the woman asked us if we wanted to go "north or south" on the main road- interestingly enough it ran east and west. We told her we wanted to go to Banyas and she said go right and then under the bridge and right and then 10-15 minutes later we would see it. The problem was that you couldn't go right at either place... After one wrong turn and a 15 minute detour we found our way again.
It was on the way to Banyas that I noticed that the english spelling on the map is different from the road signs, such as Banias and Banyas are the same and Kalya and Qalya are the same. But then some places with double rr were not the same as the single r. Thanks Israel!
After Banyas we travelled to Mt. Hermon (getting lost once) and then south towards the Dead Sea. We waved hello to Syria on our left on the way down and then to Jordan.
Dead Sea on the drive in
We stayed the night near the Dead Sea and with the plan of heading to Ramallah in the West Bank because it is safe and has amazing hummus (according to Josh's roommate who is a self-proclaimed expert and who I am pretty sure could point you to a hummus place anywhere in Israel).
We passed through the check-point and into Palestine.
We drove through Jericho and of course couldn't exactly find our way. We ended up missing the important things and then driving north out of the city towards Ramalla. Roads in Palestine were even worse than the roads in Israel. Road signs came and went, roads got small and disappeared and the kicker is we could see an Israeli highway we wanted to go on, but it was literally blocked and fenced from the use of Palestinians. It was insanely frustrating.
Entrance to the Israeli highway from the West Bank
Finally about an hour of being lost and attempting to ask for directions and understand directions from people who spoke only Arabic, we made it to Ramallah. Which by the way, had the best hummus ever!
After Ramallah we passed back into Israel via the Jerusalem entrance and then back to Tel Aviv. Where we got lost trying to get home and drove around the city for an hour! Overall it was a good introduction into Israel and a good first week!
Things I learned about Israeli roads:
- Not all the signs are in English
- Not all roads have signs
- Q=K, I=Y in spelling
- You will get about 30 seconds of warning when you need to turn
- Israelis are bad with directions
- Israel apparently doesn't pay attention to street numbers either as we were looking for number 7 on a road and when we asked what number a store was located at they couldn't answer
- 7 year old guide books are not helpful
- Most streets you will be hard-pressed to find a name, let alone a name in English
- Just go with your gut that you are going the right way, because that might be all you have
I am currently in London again near Gatwick airport. My flight was cancelled today, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow I will get out on my flight to Dubai and then to Calcutta! I have decided to not only go to Calcutta, but also Rajasthan on a tour that will include the Taj Mahal and stuff.... should be some good photos!
I was very sad to leave the beach and 80-90 degree weather for the rain and clouds of London. I was so cold waiting for buses and trains on Sunday! Luckily I have 100 degree, humid weather ahead of me for the next two weeks.
I am planning on coming back to the USA and staying in NYC for a little while before going to Colombia. I just have to figure out where to live and what to do... I am thinking about taking some classes and trying to shadow some genetic counselors or something.
Me in Banyas
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