Jane's Midlife Journey

We spent a day exploring the Palestinian occupied West Bank. We decided against independent travel to Palestine and booked a guided tour, which was scheduled to visit Jericho and Bethlehem.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. East Jerusalem (where we were staying) has been part of Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, although this was declared illegal by the UN. A fact: Israel and Palestine both put their clocks back one hour in October – Palestine on a Saturday and Israel on a Sunday. So for one day a year only, there is a time difference of an hour. Today was that day. My iPhone either had rubbish GPS or was recognising the UN General Assembly Resolution of 1980. Either way, we were an hour late and missed our tour.

We managed to get a later tour to Bethlehem, sadly this wasn’t going to Jericho, which we had really wanted to see. Instead, we got to visit Qasr al-Yahud, where Jesus was baptised, and The Dead Sea instead.

We booked our tour through Fun-Time Tour & Travel, who offer a range of guided tours throughout the Middle East including Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt.

Palestine 1 Day Itinerary

Day 1

Qasr al-Yahud The Dead Sea Beit HaArava Kalia Beach Bethlehem Wall Art The Walled Off Hotel Manger Square Mosque of Omar Bethlehem Peace Centre Church of the Nativity Chapel of Saint Catherine

Qasr al-Yahud

First stop was Qasr al-Yahud; the site on the River Jordan where Jesus is believed to have been baptised by John the Baptist.

The river was very brown. I braved putting a finger into the water, whilst wondering where the nearest bathroom was. Minutes later, a bus load of Russians arrived and fully immersed themselves in the river. Hard core those Russians!

The Dead Sea

Next, we head for the weird and wonderful Dead Sea, a salt lake almost ten times more salty than the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment where which plants and animals cannot flourish, hence the name. The salt’s density does mean that you can float in the water.

Beit HaArava

First, a stop at a service station at Beit HaArava; a Kibbutz inside the West Bank which can boast two claims to fame; (1) the lowest place on earth and (2) the most expensive Coca Cola on earth.

Kalia Beach

On to the Dead Sea and another West Bank Kibbutz at Kalia Beach. Initially it sounded like fun – water so salty you can float in it. But once the guide had explained that if you got water in your mouth, you could be poisoned and if you got it in your eyes, you could go blind, it was sounding less appealing. A fact I hadn’t considered before: Floating in the Dead Sea is easy, but getting yourself upright again, less so. Especially when any sort of splashing can cause blindness/death.

Time for a ludicrously expensive beer while one of our fellow travellers, who had stood on broken glass on the beach, was patched up. While we were sitting there, ‘Wonderwall‘ started playing in the bar. We were listening to Oasis in an oasis!

Bethlehem

After an age in some random souvenir stor, we finally headed for Bethlehem.

Wall Art

The wall which separates the West Bank from Israel is peppered with some interesting art. Being Bristolian, I was particularly keen to see some of the Banksy works. But we were on an Israeli operated tour and they refused to stop (other than for the extremely long stop at the souvenir shop). So, we had to make do with a few photos through the mini bus window.

If you want to peruse the art in more detail, cross the border in Jerusalem, then you can pick up a taxi to Bethlehem and stop at your leisure.

The Walled Off Hotel

Another Banksy project is the Walled Off Hotel – an art hotel with rooms decorated by Banksy and other artists. It also has bars, a gallery, a museum and a gift shop. Our driver refused to stop here also. Note: The Walled Off Hotel is currently closed due to the political situation in the region.

Manger Square

The focal point of the old town is Manger Square, a square which is believed to be on the location where Jesus laid in the manger upon his birth.

Mosque of Omar

Dominating the square is the Mosque of Omar, the only mosque in the old town.

Bethlehem Peace Centre

The Bethlehem Peace Centre houses the Tourist Information Centre and also has galleries, a museum and a souvenir shop. The centre organises exhibitions, concerts, festivals and workshops.

Church of the Nativity

The Church of the Nativity is an Orthodox Church on the site where Jesus is believed to have been born. Commissioned in 326, it is the world’s oldest church. A fact our guide had neglected to tell us; the church was undergoing extensive renovations. There wasn’t much to see unless you were an avid fan of scaffolding.

The church was heaving and the queue to see the Grotto of the Nativity was long. Our tour guide said it was too long to wait in line and we were ushered back outside.

Chapel of Saint Catherine

Instead, we visited the Catholic church next door; The Chapel of Saint Catherine.

Shortly after we arrived, everyone was ushered out due to a wedding about to take place.

And so, after a rather brief time in Bethlehem, we departed again. Apparently, we were running short of time, although minutes later we stopped for an hour at a souvenir shop! The tour company was called Fun Times – the old man remained unconvinced. Despite the lengthy stop, we managed to depart minus two group members. After fighting through the evening traffic for half an hour, the driver got a phone call asking him to return to the shop and collect his remaining passengers.

In conclusion, we had an interesting visit to the West Bank, although we visited primarily Jewish settlements and had very little time in Bethlehem and none in Jericho.

• Trip taken: October 2017

Note: Not recently updated due to the volatile nature of the situation in the region. If you plan to travel to Palestine, check with your embassy for the most up-to-date travel information. The British government currently advises against all but essential travel to parts of the West Bank. Further information can be found here.

I hope you found the above information useful. For guides to more destinations in the 50+ countries we have visited, check out my full list of Independent Travel Itineraries here.