Just checking in now? Here is PART 1 and PART 2 of our trip. Our first full day in Jerusalem was all about exploring! Since we only had two days in Jerusalem, we wanted to hit the ground running and that’s exactly what we did. After breakfast in the Airbnb, we headed out and spent the entire day wandering around.
Luis and I were both amazed out how well-kept and large Jerusalem is (in comparison to Tel Aviv, which feels like a big construction zone). I loved the sandstone buildings, wide-open streets and the authenticity of the people.
I was there a long time ago and had forgotten just about everything about the city so we walked EVERYWHERE. We started by walking through the Mahane Yehuda Market, which was near our Airbnb. If you ever go to Jerusalem, you MUST visit this market. It’s full of vendors selling everything from home-blended spices, to raw nuts and fruits and vegetables. We bought a sample of dried fruits, some grain-free granola, and some sheep’s cheese. 
Eventually, we headed towards the Old City. We began at the Jaffa Gate…
And then took on the insane crowds heading towards to Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Western Wall. All I kept thinking is, what would we do if there was an emergency with all of those people? Luckily, the crowds dispersed at the bottom of the hill and it was smooth sailing.
Our first stop brought us to the Western Wall, which is always a great experience. Whether you are Jewish or not, the Western Wall is a place that so many people go to feel connected to something bigger. Luis and I headed to our respective sides and I put a note into the wall, as is the custom.
After the Western Wall, we headed to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
This was interesting for me because I had never been there. Although I’m not Christian, it was interesting to see the place where Jesus was crucified because often times, certain parts of religion can feel like a myth, so I found it interesting to see the physical place where something BIG happened. We walked around a bit and tried to eavesdrop on some of the other tour guides since there wasn’t any information provided about the sites or the church. Luckily, we learned a bit about the church the next day, when we did the Sandeman’s Holy City tour (see below).
Lastly, we walked along the Via Dolorosa and Jaffa Gate. We walked through the winding streets of the Jewish, Arab and Christian quarters, and tried to make our way through the mobs of people that were there.
For lunch, we bought some salty goats cheese, some olives, and bulgar wheat salad (all from the Market) to pair with some hummus and other goodies from a tapas bar that I now can’t find on Google. Well, the food was good!
Stuffed and happy, we headed baccckkkkk to the Jaffa Gate and walked back through the old city before finally calling it a night and grabbing some food from the market on the way home.
Our last full day in Jerusalem was dedicated to doing a tour. Luis and I both agreed that Jerusalem is too big and too complex to tackle on our own and a tour would be a great way to learn about the city and all of its history, and with only two days in Jerusalem, it’s almost impossible to tackle it alone. We did the Holy City tour with Sandemans and despite having some complaints about the size of the group, we had an awesome tour. We learned so much about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.
It was interesting to see where the various famous religious sites regardless of my own beliefs, and I got to learn about the Church and the Dome of the Rock. As for the Dome of the Rock, it’s another place I had never been and probably would have been too intimidated to enter on my own, so that was interesting.
After the tour, we walked towards the apartment in search of some much needed food and rest. We had a couple sandwiches and then went back to the Airbnb for a quick rest. Here is one of the sandwiches- a Kosher for Passover bagel. (Not recommended, but I’m sure the regular bagel would have been great…)
Eventually, we rallied enough to head out for dinner. We found a bunch of really nice places, but ended up back at Focaccia Bar because everything was so crazy expensive. All of the restaurants had special kosher for Passover menus that were just insanely priced, so some yummy pizza and a salad did the trick. We walked around more before heading to home early.
In the end, we both agreed that two days in Jerusalem was the perfect amount of time to see what we wanted to see and feel like we soaked it all up. We felt we could have even left that same night to head back to Tel Aviv, but an already paid-for Airbnb kept us in Jerusalem until the next morning.
Our last full day ended up being one of my favorites! On our last full day, we packed up our suitcases and said adios to the gross Airbnb. We planned to head straight to Tel Aviv, but detoured to visit Mea Shearim, which is the ultra orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem. Unfortunately, almost everything was closed (but we aren’t sure why) so we didn’t see much. We headed to the central bus station to catch the hour bus to Tel Aviv and it was una locura. So many people pushing and shoving to get on the bus!!! Note to self- don’t attempt that again. We were able to get on the second bus that came through and headed to Tel Aviv. We arrived within an hour, walked 20 minutes to our hostel (and saw some of the most insane things I’ve ever seen…..), dropped our bags and headed right back out to have lunch.
We had a super yummy Israeli lunch at Mabsuta and shared the hummus with pita, Israeli salad, tzatziki, rice with lentils and pickles.
Super delicious and very affordable! Highly recommended and we both left very very full. From there, we headed to the Carmel market to buy some treats. By the end of the crowded walk through, Luis and I were more than sick of getting ripped off and decided the markets are a huge racket where they rip you off and do gross things with your food. They’re nice to see, but we were just done.
We walked home and each showered and rested for a bit before getting dressed to head over to Rothschild street to have a coffee at one of the super cute coffee shops they have along the street.
We each had an americano and read/ wrote (I worked on this blog). We split a super yummy salad and then went for a walk along Rothschild.
Around 8:15, we walked back to the hostel for their “Paint and Pint” event which involved a night of painting and unlimited alcohol and we had the best time!!!
I really really loved the activity and despite Luis’ doubts in the beginning, I think he enjoyed it too! And I am so proud of our masterpieces!! 
On our last day, we had some yummy hostel breakfast and then walked for the beach for one final dose of Israeli sun.
The water was bright blue, as was the sky. We headed to the airport around 1 for some heavy security screening and 7 hours later, we touched down in Madrid.
I feel so lucky to have been on such an incredible trip with luis! Israel always feels very special, so it was nice to share it with someone special.
I am here for another 2 days and then off again for more sun and sand!
