Hi and Good bye Israel!

So I have finally Internet and some time over! Traveling with two children certainly does not give you much time over for other things and especially when we have not had WiFi in our rooms where we have stayed. However, we are back, close to Tel Aviv now and have Internet so I will try to give you a "quick" looking back of what we have done this last week. "Quick", in the way that I am not planning on giving you too many details, but I do plan to give you loooots of picture because this has been an amazing trip!!!!

Sunday

Arrived to Tel Aviv. It was pretty chilli but definitely  warmer than Sweden! 

Marlee kind of falling out of his bed, but still sleeping

Monday

Visited Jaffa, the old city, in Tel Aviv. Had some heavy rain but nice temperature. Went to the beach after and I went swimming. Marlee went "half-in".

Parking by Jaffa. The houses in the picture are in a really bad state, but have a beautiful view!!

After the rain, in Jaffa

View of Tel Aviv and the beach

Fountain in Jaffa

Nice flowers

Mc Donald's with a view in Tel Aviv! A meal costs about 100SEK/$15!!

Tuesday

We left Tel Aviv and drove to Jerusalem where Alex had a meeting at Knesset. Me and the boys went to a very nice playground in a big park. Had a great Falafel on the way home and enjoyed an ice cream before going to bed :-)

The playground in Sacher Park. Do I have to say what Marlee went on all slides...

An expensive country. This water cost 60SEK/$10!!!

Wednesday

Alex had a another meeting so we took another trip to the playground before lunch. We all had lunch together before heading to the "Holy city" where we took a guided tour. It was interesting to hear that both the city and the church was divided into four parts - the Jewish, the Christan, the Armenian Christian and the Muslims.

The Holy City

Our guided tour ended up in the middle of a demonstration with Armenians

The Western wall (Klagomuren) in the background

Western wall in the back

Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Heliga gravens kyrka)

Even Sweden is represented in the Holy City :-)

Thursday

We left Jerusalem behind and entered Palestina to visit one of the settlements. Alex had gotten in contact with a family their that wE visited. Very interesting! Adter meeting with the family we drove down through the dessert to the Dead Sea. It was a beautiful drive. Ended up at a hostel by the south end where we got to sleep in a bus. It was a lot better than it sounds!!

On the way to Palestina. (We did not take this road)

Olive trees

In the settlement where we met the family

Close to the Dead Sea

Dead Sea, 417  meters below sea level

Find the spelling mistake

The living room in our bus :-)

The bus iteself

And the bedroom, after we slept there...

Friday

What a day!! We visited a beach by the Dead Sea to go swimming. It was way more exiting than I expected!! The sand on the bottom was like salt and it was even difficult to keep your feet on the bottom when the water was up to the waist. There is white salt along the coast.

It is dangerous to swollow however, and Marlee just had to try even though we told him not to, several times. That was not a fun experience. We had to take him to the beach doctor who gave him oxygen and observed him for a while. Unfortunately it made Marlee a little afraid of the water and he did not want to go swimming in the sea anymore. I am glad he got to be in it for a while at least!

After a late lunch the plan was to go see Masada but it was closed to we took the chance to explore the landscape below it. It looks like it is from a different planet! The rocks are so soft, you can break them with your hands.

I forgot to say the the temperature has risen since we got here and when we arrived to the Dead Sea it was 36C/97F. Do I have to say that it is hot!!!

The beach where we went swimming.

- Do NOT drink seawater, Marlee!!

Alex and Marlee

"Sand" from the bottom

Salt by the shore

Where we went exploring when Masada was closed

Below Masada

Dirty hands!

Driving out from the parking lot

Turned on the TV for the first time here and they show a Swedish movie with 2*Rapace!!

Saturday

Woke up and got ready to go visit Masada and the natioal park En Geti. we made it up to Masada before lunch but it was a lot more to explore than we knew and we stayed up there until 2.30pm. Masada is an ancient fortification, on top of an isolated rock plateau, overlooking the Dead Sea. Herod the Great built palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE.

It was really really warm, probably around 40C/104F, so we tried to keep Noah in the shade while one of us walked with Marlee.

After some yummy lunch the next stop was En Geti/Ein Gedi. The park closed at five so we did not have much time and just took a quick walk to the nearest water fall where we went swimming. It was a very nice and refreshing break before our drive back to Tel Aviv. While being by the water fall we got to see some local animals, the Nubian ibex and the rock hyrax.

Now we are back, close to Tel Aviv and had a very good dinner in a restaurant by the beach. Marlee god a very nice Kids meal with chicken bits, Alex had a traditional Lamb kebab and I had an Israeli dish called Kubbe. It was all very good!!

Waiting for the cable car (seen in the background) to take us up to Masada

The view from Masada over the Dead Sea

View...

Masada

This is where they kept drinking water in Masada...

Time to go back down with the Cable car. Maybe we will walk next time!!??

A Rock Hyrax in Ein Gedi

An Ibex

And a (pale) dad and two sons!! ;-)

Marlee's food!

Kubbe

 Now all my boys have been sleeping since long and it is time for me to do the same. Tomorrow we are getting on the plane home again. It is passed two so forgive me for not proof reading this. Hopefully it will be ok anyways!! Good nite and see you in Sweden next time!