About a month and a half ago, on
December 12, I finished my internship in Germany. Since then, I’ve been
travelling basically the whole time, but I haven’t had my laptop with me until
recently so I have quite a bit to catch up on. When I finished my internship, I
had flights already booked to Istanbul for a few days, then Israel to meet up
with my family for 2 weeks, and then Budapest for new years with some friends.
Beyond that, I had no plan other than to end up in Madrid a few weeks later,
where my girlfriend at the time was living (then we broke up, so the adventure
has been extended a bit longer until I figure out where to go instead). This
post will cover the first 3 countries that I visited, and my next post(s) will
catch up the rest of the way.
December 12, I finished my internship in Germany. Since then, I’ve been
travelling basically the whole time, but I haven’t had my laptop with me until
recently so I have quite a bit to catch up on. When I finished my internship, I
had flights already booked to Istanbul for a few days, then Israel to meet up
with my family for 2 weeks, and then Budapest for new years with some friends.
Beyond that, I had no plan other than to end up in Madrid a few weeks later,
where my girlfriend at the time was living (then we broke up, so the adventure
has been extended a bit longer until I figure out where to go instead). This
post will cover the first 3 countries that I visited, and my next post(s) will
catch up the rest of the way.
Turkey
Two days after the end of my
internship, I flew to Istanbul. I was headed towards Israel to meet up with my
family, and Istanbul was right on the way so it seemed like a fun place to stop
for a few days. Unfortunately I ended up spending about half of my visit in the
airport trying to get my lost luggage back, but the rest of the time was a good
experience. I couchsurfed there with an old mining engineering professor, Orhan
Kural, who is apparently famous in Turkey. He was a nice guy and had travelled
to essentially every country in the world, but was also so busy that he barely
had any time to tell me about his adventures. He was very nice though and
provided me with a free bed, a bit of food, and everything I needed for the 2
nights I was staying there.
internship, I flew to Istanbul. I was headed towards Israel to meet up with my
family, and Istanbul was right on the way so it seemed like a fun place to stop
for a few days. Unfortunately I ended up spending about half of my visit in the
airport trying to get my lost luggage back, but the rest of the time was a good
experience. I couchsurfed there with an old mining engineering professor, Orhan
Kural, who is apparently famous in Turkey. He was a nice guy and had travelled
to essentially every country in the world, but was also so busy that he barely
had any time to tell me about his adventures. He was very nice though and
provided me with a free bed, a bit of food, and everything I needed for the 2
nights I was staying there.
When I wasn’t at the airport trying
to get my bag back (which took 13 days by the way, never ever ever ever fly
with Onur Air), I walked all over the city. I saw the famous blue mosque, the
palace which used to be the headquarters of the Ottoman empire, a couple of
markets, and took a ferry across the Bosphorus from Europe to Asia. The blue
mosque was nice, although I personally didn’t find it quite as thrilling as the
hordes of tourists with selfie sticks did. But maybe that’s just because I’m
not quite as excited by cities and buildings as I am by nature and mountains. I
didn’t go inside the palace because it was ridiculously expensive, but the
outside was pretty. There was one area where they dressed people up in sultan
king costumes and took photos. The guy taking the photos conned me into letting
him take a couple of me.
to get my bag back (which took 13 days by the way, never ever ever ever fly
with Onur Air), I walked all over the city. I saw the famous blue mosque, the
palace which used to be the headquarters of the Ottoman empire, a couple of
markets, and took a ferry across the Bosphorus from Europe to Asia. The blue
mosque was nice, although I personally didn’t find it quite as thrilling as the
hordes of tourists with selfie sticks did. But maybe that’s just because I’m
not quite as excited by cities and buildings as I am by nature and mountains. I
didn’t go inside the palace because it was ridiculously expensive, but the
outside was pretty. There was one area where they dressed people up in sultan
king costumes and took photos. The guy taking the photos conned me into letting
him take a couple of me.
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| King of the castle |
Then, when I went to the cash
register to look at my photos and decide whether to buy one, the guy working
there turned out to be a super nice dude and loved the fact that I was
travelling and couchsurfing because he often hosts couchsurfers, so he gave me
a bunch of the photos for free. Really nice people like this seem to be quite
common in Turkey (apart from the airline workers)—I met several other similarly
friendly and incredibly hospitable people who went way out of their way to help
me find the place I was couchsurfing, help me get my bag back, and give me
advice on what to do. I’d love to hitchhike and backpack all over the country at
some point if that doesn’t become too sketchy to do as an American Jew.
register to look at my photos and decide whether to buy one, the guy working
there turned out to be a super nice dude and loved the fact that I was
travelling and couchsurfing because he often hosts couchsurfers, so he gave me
a bunch of the photos for free. Really nice people like this seem to be quite
common in Turkey (apart from the airline workers)—I met several other similarly
friendly and incredibly hospitable people who went way out of their way to help
me find the place I was couchsurfing, help me get my bag back, and give me
advice on what to do. I’d love to hitchhike and backpack all over the country at
some point if that doesn’t become too sketchy to do as an American Jew.
Other notable things I saw/did in
Istanbul include eating terrible döner kebabs, a bunch of markets—for food and
pets—and riding a boat to Asia. I was really surprised at how bad the döner
kebabs were compared to Germany. I had always been told that the German döner
is way better, but since it is almost always made by Turkish people in Germany,
I never believed it. Well, it’s true. I hate to say it but the döner in
Istanbul was dry, tasteless, expensive, and generally just worse in every way
than Germany. I even ate 3 döner kebabs because I thought I had just gotten a
bad one, but they were all the same. So my advice is, eat döner in Germany and
stick with baklava in Turkey. I also went to several markets, many of which
were essentially the same, all selling spices, Turkish delight candies, and
other food to go. But there was one
unique market, the pet market. It was a really terrible place from an animal cruelty
standpoint, but interesting because I had never seen anything like it before. They
had a bunch of stands with thousands of birds, rabbits, mice, lizards, fish,
and even a few puppies and kittens pent up in little cages. I felt horrible for
the puppies and it was really difficult to resist rescuing one. On my last day
in Istanbul, I took a boat to Asia since I was flying out of the airport on the
Asian side. Istanbul is divided by a big waterway, which is the official border
between Asia and Europe, and it is kind of fun to take a ferry just to say you
rode a boat to another continent. Unfortunately it was so smoggy outside that I
couldn’t see much, and I don’t have any photos because my camera was lost in my
luggage. After that I got a bus directly to the airport and headed to Israel.
Istanbul include eating terrible döner kebabs, a bunch of markets—for food and
pets—and riding a boat to Asia. I was really surprised at how bad the döner
kebabs were compared to Germany. I had always been told that the German döner
is way better, but since it is almost always made by Turkish people in Germany,
I never believed it. Well, it’s true. I hate to say it but the döner in
Istanbul was dry, tasteless, expensive, and generally just worse in every way
than Germany. I even ate 3 döner kebabs because I thought I had just gotten a
bad one, but they were all the same. So my advice is, eat döner in Germany and
stick with baklava in Turkey. I also went to several markets, many of which
were essentially the same, all selling spices, Turkish delight candies, and
other food to go. But there was one
unique market, the pet market. It was a really terrible place from an animal cruelty
standpoint, but interesting because I had never seen anything like it before. They
had a bunch of stands with thousands of birds, rabbits, mice, lizards, fish,
and even a few puppies and kittens pent up in little cages. I felt horrible for
the puppies and it was really difficult to resist rescuing one. On my last day
in Istanbul, I took a boat to Asia since I was flying out of the airport on the
Asian side. Istanbul is divided by a big waterway, which is the official border
between Asia and Europe, and it is kind of fun to take a ferry just to say you
rode a boat to another continent. Unfortunately it was so smoggy outside that I
couldn’t see much, and I don’t have any photos because my camera was lost in my
luggage. After that I got a bus directly to the airport and headed to Israel.
Israel & Jordan
My
family all met up in Israel for a few weeks during my dad’s winter break, and
we also went to Petra in Jordan. It was my second time in Israel and Jordan,
having first gone there on a birthright trip 3 years ago. I arrived in Tel Aviv
and my sister picked me up from the airport. She is currently teaching English
for the school year in Netanya, Israel, which is a city on the coast just north
of Tel Aviv. It was really late so we didn’t do anything that night, but the
next day we went down to the beach and rented kayaks. We had a nice adventure
kayaking around the Mediterranean, and I also bought some clothes since I still
had no bag. We went to an interesting Shabbat party that evening at an army
base, where everybody was completely sober but dancing crazier than most drunk
people I’ve ever seen. After the party we went to a chocolate restaurant with
Caitlin’s friend Dan and ate a healthy dinner of chocolate pizza (yes, it
exists), which consists of dough covered with chocolate and marshmallows. The
next day we explored Tel Aviv a little bit and then my parents arrived. They
rented a car and we drove up to Tiberias, a city on the Sea of Galilee, which
is where Jesus apparently decided physics is bullshit and walked on water.
family all met up in Israel for a few weeks during my dad’s winter break, and
we also went to Petra in Jordan. It was my second time in Israel and Jordan,
having first gone there on a birthright trip 3 years ago. I arrived in Tel Aviv
and my sister picked me up from the airport. She is currently teaching English
for the school year in Netanya, Israel, which is a city on the coast just north
of Tel Aviv. It was really late so we didn’t do anything that night, but the
next day we went down to the beach and rented kayaks. We had a nice adventure
kayaking around the Mediterranean, and I also bought some clothes since I still
had no bag. We went to an interesting Shabbat party that evening at an army
base, where everybody was completely sober but dancing crazier than most drunk
people I’ve ever seen. After the party we went to a chocolate restaurant with
Caitlin’s friend Dan and ate a healthy dinner of chocolate pizza (yes, it
exists), which consists of dough covered with chocolate and marshmallows. The
next day we explored Tel Aviv a little bit and then my parents arrived. They
rented a car and we drove up to Tiberias, a city on the Sea of Galilee, which
is where Jesus apparently decided physics is bullshit and walked on water.
We went
on a walk around a nature reserve in the north right by the border of Lebanon,
where we saw a nice waterfall, and the next day we drove to Tsfat and Haifa.
Tsfat has a big market area and a few ancient synagogues and Haifa has huge
beautiful gardens overlooking the sea, and we ate a non-kosher dinner in the
German quarter (it’s really hard to find non-kosher food in Israel). The next
day we drove to Ein Gedi Kibbutz on the Dead Sea, which was a really amazing
place. Kibbutzes used to be sort of socialist settlements where everyone in the
community would work together to grow food and maintain the community, but now
they are more often just businesses with nice hotels for tourists to stay in. We
went on a hike through the oasis at Ein Gedi, passing by some cool animals like
the Rock Hyrax and Ibex.
on a walk around a nature reserve in the north right by the border of Lebanon,
where we saw a nice waterfall, and the next day we drove to Tsfat and Haifa.
Tsfat has a big market area and a few ancient synagogues and Haifa has huge
beautiful gardens overlooking the sea, and we ate a non-kosher dinner in the
German quarter (it’s really hard to find non-kosher food in Israel). The next
day we drove to Ein Gedi Kibbutz on the Dead Sea, which was a really amazing
place. Kibbutzes used to be sort of socialist settlements where everyone in the
community would work together to grow food and maintain the community, but now
they are more often just businesses with nice hotels for tourists to stay in. We
went on a hike through the oasis at Ein Gedi, passing by some cool animals like
the Rock Hyrax and Ibex.
 |
| Rock Hyrax |
 |
| Selfie with an Ibex |
In the afternoon we went swimming.
The water is about 10 times as salty as the ocean, and the dissolved salt makes
it really dense so it is much more buoyant than normal water. When standing
upright without touching the bottom, I would float with my shoulders completely
out of the water. Dead Sea mud contains lots of minerals which are supposed to
be really good for your skin, so we covered ourselves in mud, let it dry, and
washed it off in the water. The results were amazing—my skin has never felt so
soft.
The water is about 10 times as salty as the ocean, and the dissolved salt makes
it really dense so it is much more buoyant than normal water. When standing
upright without touching the bottom, I would float with my shoulders completely
out of the water. Dead Sea mud contains lots of minerals which are supposed to
be really good for your skin, so we covered ourselves in mud, let it dry, and
washed it off in the water. The results were amazing—my skin has never felt so
soft.
 |
| Dead sea mud |
After the Dead Sea we drove down to
Eilat, on the southern tip of Israel, with a stop at Masada on the way. Masada
is a mountain next to the Dead Sea with a long history of Jewish-Roman
conflict. I hiked up the mountain while everyone else took the cable car. The
hike began at the lowest point on Earth, around 1300 feet below sea level, and
barely made it above sea level at the top of the mountain. At the top of Masada
there are ancient ruins where Jews used to live until they were invaded by the
Romans. When the Romans broke down their walls, the Jews, not wanting to live
as slaves, committed one of the largest mass suicides in history.
Eilat, on the southern tip of Israel, with a stop at Masada on the way. Masada
is a mountain next to the Dead Sea with a long history of Jewish-Roman
conflict. I hiked up the mountain while everyone else took the cable car. The
hike began at the lowest point on Earth, around 1300 feet below sea level, and
barely made it above sea level at the top of the mountain. At the top of Masada
there are ancient ruins where Jews used to live until they were invaded by the
Romans. When the Romans broke down their walls, the Jews, not wanting to live
as slaves, committed one of the largest mass suicides in history.
The next day in Eilat was an
amazing day for me, as it was my first time scuba diving around a coral reef. Israel
has a small strip of coastline (about 6 miles) on the Red Sea, an extension of the
Indian Ocean that is well known for its scuba diving opportunities. I did two
dives, one 60 feet deep and one 10-25 feet deep at an area called the Japanese
Gardens in Eilat. I thought the shallower dive was more interesting because
there was more coral and fish. It was inside a nature reserve which was not
accessible by land, we had to take a boat to the outside of the reserve and
then swim in. A lot of the coral was dead, which has apparently happened in the
last 10 years due to pollution and disturbance of the water by nearby
developments. But there were a couple areas which were teeming with life, and
they were amazing. Entire boulders seemed to breathe as the coral covering them
expanded and contracted with colorful fish swimming everywhere. The crystal
clear water made the experience even more amazing, being able to see well over
50 feet in any direction.
amazing day for me, as it was my first time scuba diving around a coral reef. Israel
has a small strip of coastline (about 6 miles) on the Red Sea, an extension of the
Indian Ocean that is well known for its scuba diving opportunities. I did two
dives, one 60 feet deep and one 10-25 feet deep at an area called the Japanese
Gardens in Eilat. I thought the shallower dive was more interesting because
there was more coral and fish. It was inside a nature reserve which was not
accessible by land, we had to take a boat to the outside of the reserve and
then swim in. A lot of the coral was dead, which has apparently happened in the
last 10 years due to pollution and disturbance of the water by nearby
developments. But there were a couple areas which were teeming with life, and
they were amazing. Entire boulders seemed to breathe as the coral covering them
expanded and contracted with colorful fish swimming everywhere. The crystal
clear water made the experience even more amazing, being able to see well over
50 feet in any direction.
After
Eilat, we went to Petra for a day. Petra is a site of ancient ruins in the
desert of Jordan. The Nabateans, who lived about 2000 years ago, carved their
civilization into the sides of mountains, with incredibly intricate and
impressively huge designs. The entrance to the park is shown in the third (?)
Indiana Jones movie—a giant slot canyon with 150+ foot walls which then opens
up to the treasury, an enormous building carved into a cliff, hundreds of feet
tall.
Eilat, we went to Petra for a day. Petra is a site of ancient ruins in the
desert of Jordan. The Nabateans, who lived about 2000 years ago, carved their
civilization into the sides of mountains, with incredibly intricate and
impressively huge designs. The entrance to the park is shown in the third (?)
Indiana Jones movie—a giant slot canyon with 150+ foot walls which then opens
up to the treasury, an enormous building carved into a cliff, hundreds of feet
tall.
 |
| The Treasury |
Much of the rest of the park
contains smaller tombs and cave dwellings where people lived, all carved into
mountains in an incredible maze-like formation with tiny staircases that wind
up and down the rocks and canyons of the rugged landscape. My photos only show
a tiny fraction of the park, one could spend many days exploring the area and
still never see everything hidden in the rocks.
contains smaller tombs and cave dwellings where people lived, all carved into
mountains in an incredible maze-like formation with tiny staircases that wind
up and down the rocks and canyons of the rugged landscape. My photos only show
a tiny fraction of the park, one could spend many days exploring the area and
still never see everything hidden in the rocks.
 |
| Petra |
The final
stop on our journey was Jerusalem. We drove 5 hours through the Israeli desert
to get to the city, stopping at the Tel Aviv airport on the way where I finally
got my backpack back that had been lost in Turkey!!!
stop on our journey was Jerusalem. We drove 5 hours through the Israeli desert
to get to the city, stopping at the Tel Aviv airport on the way where I finally
got my backpack back that had been lost in Turkey!!!
 |
| A road sign on the drive from Eilat to Jerusalem |
In
Jerusalem, we hired a tour guide give us a private tour of the old city. He
knew everything about everything, and was a great guy to lead a tour. He told
us all about the history of the city, from the Jews that settled there many
thousands of years ago until now. Unfortunately whatever had made its way into
my digestive system put a bit of a damper on things since I had to sprint to a
toilet every 20 minutes and shit my brains out, but otherwise it was a really
interesting day.
Jerusalem, we hired a tour guide give us a private tour of the old city. He
knew everything about everything, and was a great guy to lead a tour. He told
us all about the history of the city, from the Jews that settled there many
thousands of years ago until now. Unfortunately whatever had made its way into
my digestive system put a bit of a damper on things since I had to sprint to a
toilet every 20 minutes and shit my brains out, but otherwise it was a really
interesting day.
 |
| Jerusalem |
Israel
was an interesting place to visit because people are so friendly and live such
normal lives, while much of the rest of the world thinks that Israelis are all war-loving
racists. In Germany whenever I would tell people that I was going to Israel, I
got the same exact reaction every time “vhat zee fahck! Vhy vhould you go zhere?
Don’t you know it is dangerous?” It’s really sad because all that the Europeans
know about Israel is what they hear in the news, which basically shows only the
kill count for the war and nothing else. They don’t understand why the war was
happening, they don’t understand the long history of conflict and a need for at
least one Jewish state somewhere in the world if there are going to be so many Islamic
and Christian countries, they don’t understand that Israelis didn’t take the
land from Palestine, the country was created by the UN after World War II, they
don’t understand that it is a perfectly safe and really beautiful place to
visit and that the people who live there are just normal people.
was an interesting place to visit because people are so friendly and live such
normal lives, while much of the rest of the world thinks that Israelis are all war-loving
racists. In Germany whenever I would tell people that I was going to Israel, I
got the same exact reaction every time “vhat zee fahck! Vhy vhould you go zhere?
Don’t you know it is dangerous?” It’s really sad because all that the Europeans
know about Israel is what they hear in the news, which basically shows only the
kill count for the war and nothing else. They don’t understand why the war was
happening, they don’t understand the long history of conflict and a need for at
least one Jewish state somewhere in the world if there are going to be so many Islamic
and Christian countries, they don’t understand that Israelis didn’t take the
land from Palestine, the country was created by the UN after World War II, they
don’t understand that it is a perfectly safe and really beautiful place to
visit and that the people who live there are just normal people.
That’s all for now, in a day or two I’ll probably get
another post written about Budapest, Croatia, Bosnia, and the rest.
another post written about Budapest, Croatia, Bosnia, and the rest.
