updated 12:44 AM EDT, Thu September 12, 2013
Daily life in Jerusalem -- a boy
plays with a soccer ball in front of the Dome of the Rock. It's one of
several key religious sites, all contained within a tiny area, making
anyone's first visit to the Old City rather unforgettable.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews
look out over the Dome of the Rock. Israel took control of the eastern
part of the ancient city in 1967 and considers Jerusalem its capital,
but the international community does not recognize its claim of
sovereignty over East Jerusalem. Palestinians maintain the eastern part
of Jerusalem should serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
A man sticks a note
into the Western Wall. This is the last structure remaining from the
Jewish Temple, destroyed by the Romans, in the Old City.
People look at the
Isaiah Scroll, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, inside the vault of the
Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum. With more than 200 museums,
Israel has the highest number of museums per capita in the world. Here
is a list of 10 of the best.
updated 12:44 AM EDT, Thu September 12, 2013
Christian pilgrims
hold a wooden cross as they take part in the Good Friday procession
along the Via Dolorosa last year. The Via Dolorosa leads to the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christian tradition says Jesus was
crucified and buried.
Jewish men attend
the Kohanim prayer, or priest's blessing, for Passover in April 2011.
The city has its own medical condition, Jerusalem Syndrome, and around
100 tourists each year succumb to the psychiatric disorder linked to the
city's atmosphere of intensity.
In among the holy
sites, daily life roars on: souks crowd the narrow, stone-flagged
alleyways, children go to school, libraries jostle with restaurants. In
this file photo, a soldier buys candies at the Mahane Yehuda Market.
Children play in a fountain at a park in Jerusalem.
Israeli police
stand guard as Palestinian Muslims perform Friday prayers outside
Jerusalem's Old City. Palestinians are mostly Arab and chiefly Muslim,
but there are substantial minorities of Palestinian Christians and
others.
A child walks
through a gap in the concrete blocks of a security wall in the West Bank
village of Eizariya, east of Jerusalem, in a 2003 file photo. Take a
walking tour of East Jerusalem, or a pilgrimage to the Palestinian city
of Bethlehem and you'll run into Israel's infamous security barrier.
A Palestinian woman and a teenager collect laundry in their home as ultra-Orthodox Jews attend a funeral in a 2010 file photo.
Tombs sit covered in snow at the Jewish cemetery at the Mount of Olives. There are spectacular views at the summit.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Jerusalem offers the chance to see many of the world's major religions in one city
- Some tourists suffer "Jerusalem Syndrome," spending days agitated with religious fervor
- An often neglected aspect is the countryside, which is great for hiking
World-renowned chef, best-selling author
and Emmy-winning television personality Anthony Bourdain returns for
the second season of CNN's showcase for coverage of food and travel.
"Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" is shot entirely on location and
premieres Sept 15 @ 9pm ET/PT. Follow the show on Twitter and Facebook. Bourdain's first stop: Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.
(CNN) -- The Holy Land makes for inspiring, fascinating, confusing travel.
To some, the chunk of territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is all Israel.
To others, it's all Palestine.
Exploring Jerusalem's old city
For most -- as is true so often in this region of shifting truths and manipulated historical narratives -- it's a bit of both.
1. For beaches, it's Red, Med or Dead
The Red Sea is popular for beaches, snorkeling and diving.
Israel is hemmed in by sea.
Eilat has snorkeling and beach activities on the Red Sea side.
Rosh HaNikra has stunning cliffs on the Mediterranean Sea side.
At the Dead Sea you can float away at Ein Bokek, where the salty waters of this inland lake effortlessly support your body.
2. Identity is complicated
Onlookers frequently cast the conflict here as simply between Jews and Arabs.
Axe-grinders on both sides like to evoke an enduring death-struggle between Muslims and Jews.
But for long stretches of history, no such struggle existed.
In truth, the problems of the last century or so are both religious and political -- and it's worthwhile knowing who's who.
Most Israelis (a
political identity) are Jewish (a religious identity) -- and most take
pride in their country's ethnic diversity. European Jews, Russian Jews,
African Jews, American Jews, Arab Jews and many others mix more or less
freely.
There's a reason for
that. If you can satisfy Israel's religious establishment that you're
Jewish -- according to complicated rules of birth, ancestry or
conversion -- you instantly become entitled to Israeli citizenship and
state benefits.
Palestinians (a
political identity) -- most of whom are Arab (a cultural identity) --
are chiefly Muslim, but there are substantial minorities of Palestinian
Christians and others.
3. The security barrier is worth seeing
Take a walking tour of East Jerusalem, such as those run by Green Olive Tours,
or a pilgrimage to the Palestinian city of Bethlehem -- where Jesus was
born -- and you'll run into Israel's infamous security barrier.
This 8-meter-high (26
feet) wall of concrete was built to keep Palestinians from moving freely
between the West Bank and Israel proper. Israelis believe its
construction has stopped suicide bombers from getting to Israel.
Most of the barrier runs inside West Bank territory, rather than on the boundary line.
This fact prompted the International Court of Justice to rule that the construction of the barrier violated international law.
With its armed guards,
watchtowers and fortified gateways, for travelers it can be a stark
symbol of Israel's military control over the territory.
4. Eco travelers will love the desert
Ibex are just one attraction of the Negev Desert.
Vast, scorching desert fills Israel's southern third -- known as the Negev in Hebrew or Naqab in Arabic.
Despite the camels and
the tents, few of the Negev's hippyish ecotours have much to do with the
original inhabitants of this desert.
Bedouin Hospitality
-- a social enterprise founded by civil rights activists -- offers a
chance to hear Bedouin stories in person, hosted among Bedouin tribes.
5. Jerusalem resonates with religious meaning
Few people forget their
first visit to the Old City at Jerusalem's core, still encircled by the
crenelated walls built by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in
1538.
Within this tiny area,
roughly one square kilometer, the Via Dolorosa -- walked by Jesus --
leads to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christian tradition
says Jesus was crucified and buried.
Steps away, Jews pray at the Western Wall, the last structure remaining from the Jewish Temple, destroyed by the Romans.
Nearby, the Al-aqsa
mosque, mentioned in the Quran, stands alongside the golden Dome of the
Rock shrine commemorating the Prophet Muhammad's mystical Night Journey.
Al-aqsa and the Dome of
the Rock stand on a hill known as the Noble Sanctuary, or the Temple
Mount, considered holy by Muslims, Jews and Christians as the place
where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son.
In terms of religious significance, that's quite a plateful.
And among the holy
sites, daily life roars on: souks crowd the narrow, stone-flagged
alleyways, children go to school, libraries jostle with restaurants.
6. Jerusalem has its own syndrome
For some, the city can be too much.
Around 100 tourists each
year succumb to Jerusalem Syndrome, a psychiatric condition linked to
the city's atmosphere of intensity.
Sufferers typically show
signs of prolonged agitation and religious fervor, spending days --
often dressed in white robes (typically a hotel bed sheet) -- declaiming
religious verses or preaching public sermons on moral purity.
Most recover.
7. Tel Aviv feels like its own country
Tel Aviv -- modern Israel.
An hour away from
Jerusalem, over on the coast, secular-minded Tel Aviv swings along amid
beach parties, designer brands and hipster attitudes.
During the Jewish
Shabbat -- the day of rest, which runs from Friday sunset to Saturday
sunset -- western Jerusalem remains quiet in prayerful contemplation,
but Tel Aviv lives the high life, with seaside promenades, crowded
stores and lounge bars packed.
This hedonistic city,
gazing west into the Mediterranean sunset, has also carved out a new
identity as a gay capital, offering a uniquely accommodating welcome to
LGBT visitors and residents.
In a country where the
Jewish religious establishment generally calls the shots, Tel Aviv
embodies a bubble of liberality and easygoing apathy.
8. Countryside walks are fantastic
The West Bank is crisscrossed by walking trails. Many are devoted to nature, some -- such as Birzeit's Sufi Trails -- to culture.
One of the best is the Abraham Path,
linking the Palestinian cities of Nablus, Bethlehem and Hebron in a
two-week trek. It's also manageable in shorter day-stages, with
overnight stops at homestays and rural guesthouses.
Israelis have a long tradition of nature tourism, centered on national parks, wildlife reserves and forest walks, including the stunning Jesus Trail, which coils through the hills above the sparkling Sea of Galilee.
Visitors can plug into Israel's network of "zimmers" -- rural B&Bs ranging from farm stays to exclusive country retreats.
9. When you visit Israel, you're also visiting biblical Palestine
When you visit as a tourist, you're visiting two distinct places.
See only one, and you see only part of the whole picture.
The sovereign state of
Israel came into being -- apologies for the euphemism, and for glossing
over the previous few millennia of history -- in 1948, on a sliver of
land along the Mediterranean coast, in the northern hills and the
southern deserts, adding the western districts of Jerusalem after an
initial outbreak of fighting with its Arab neighbors.
This is where Israeli culture and the Hebrew language thrive.
The eastern parts of
Jerusalem (including the ancient walled Old City), plus the
kidney-shaped piece of West Bank that surrounds Jerusalem on three
sides, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights did not form part of the
modern state of Israel at its creation in 1948, but they came under
Israel's control during the 1967 war.
Since then, Israel has
effectively annexed East Jerusalem, putting it and other adjacent areas
in the West Bank under full Israeli government control, while greatly
expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. At the same time, it
unilaterally pulled its military and settlers out of Gaza, but has
maintained control over the area's borders (with the exception of the
Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt).
The international
community deems Israel's presence in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and
the Gaza Strip as an illegal occupation.
These areas are where Palestinian culture and the Arabic language are strongest.
A Palestinian state,
should one ever materialize alongside Israel, is likely to be centered
on that kidney-shaped territory, known to most of the world as the West
Bank, along with the Gaza Strip along the Mediterranean.
Pockets of Israeli
culture thrive across the West Bank in "settlements" -- Jewish-only
townships whose presence is widely seen as contravening international
law.
And pockets of
Palestinian culture remain strong across Israel, from the urban clamor
of Jaffa and Haifa to rural hamlets in the countryside and desert.
10. It's prickly outside, but sweet inside
Sabra is the Hebrew word
for cactus fruit -- prickly on the outside, sweet in the middle. It's
also how native-born Israelis proudly describe themselves.
The metaphor is apt.
Social graces aren't high on Israel's list of priorities, and service in
shops and restaurants can be brusque.
But if you peel away the prickly exterior, there's generally warmth and affability beneath. Maybe even a smile.
Intriguingly, the same
word in Arabic, saber, connotes patience and tenacity. Tough hedges of
cactus are still used to mark land boundaries across the West Bank, and
the idea is linked to a key concept in Palestinian self-identity --
sumud, meaning steadfastness or quiet resolve.
One plant, two people, three interpretations. So typical.
About the author: Freelancer Matthew Teller
writes and broadcasts on the Middle East for media outlets around the
world. He's an award-winning travel writer and a long-standing author
for the global travel publisher Rough Guides. He blogs about Middle East
travel at QuiteAlone.com and tweets from @matthewteller.
Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown
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