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| the Dome of the Rock mosque in the old city |
I spent the next week travelling around Israel, on my own, with my friend or with tour groups, as well as a short foray into Jordan to see the ancient city of Petra.
Before I describe my trip I want to warn fellow travelers that may be coming from Morocco and flying (indirectly - there are no direct flights) to Israel what they should expect from El Al security before they are allowed to board their plane.
Arriving in Barcelona I had to enter the Euro zone (go through customs, get my passport stamped) before I could get to the check in counter for El Al and get my boarding pass for the rest of my journey. Before you can go to the counter, security staff ask you a number of questions. I suppose my origin (Morocco) and the fact that I had spent 6 months there was some kind of red flag, along with being a single female traveler, so I got asked about 25 questions, before the agent talked to his supervisor, who then asked me another 50 questions or so. After about 20 minutes of this, all the while being reassured I would make my plane, I was brought to a small room to do a check of my person (pat down and metal detectors) and my carry-on baggage.
They literally took every item out of every pocket, zipper and section of my purse, wallet and backpack and were putting everything through a scanner. They asked me to turn on all my electronics (still not uncommon), and tell them when I'd purchased them.
The personal check was also very thorough, but not more than I would expect if I was pulled out randomly at Montreal or a London airport. Done by two women agents (they are NOT airport security) you have to take off your coat, scarf, shoes; they feel through your hair, pat you down, use a metal detector, check the cuffs of your jeans, then though, they asked me to unzip my jeans to show them the inside of the zipper, and to remove my bra (under my shirt) and hand it to them. I hope they enjoyed handling it, as much as I did not enjoy it!
After that I still had to wait 15 minutes before they were finished with my carry-on luggage, although when they handed it back to me they told me they had to put some of my stuff in checked luggage - they said "medications" but it was really my entire ziploc baggie of lip gloss, lotions and even my advil liquid gels for headaches (at which point I could have used one). They also had all my electronics - tablet, cameras etc still as well, but they reassured me that they would bring them down to meet me where they had my checked bag - they were also going to search that.
With the agent, we zipped through VIP security, and headed to the gate, where the other few hundred passengers are lounging around carelessly, with their ipods, laptops and other technology in hand. Does this feel like different treatment yet? We went to a room with an xray machine under the gate next to the plane, and they proceeded to remove all my clothes from my checked luggage and scan all of that. That was when I realized they were putting my tablet and camera in a box, which they said they had to put in the checked luggage. At this point I was very frustrated, since you bring those items as carry-ons so they don't get 1) damaged or 2) stolen and 3) so you can use them (I was in the middle of a book on my e-reader)! They said it would be perfectly safe, despite the fact that everyone who has ever flown has witnessed baggage handlers throwing those "fragile" labelled suitcases and boxes on to or off of a plane or cart. We disagreed and I became quite upset, we were talking several hundred dollars worth of gear as well as memories (photos) if this box was stolen, lost or damaged when I got to Tel Aviv. They let me put my cameras in my checked bag then, but still taped up my tablet into a box. I even saw another traveler who had just had his bags searched putting his laptop back in his carry-on and asked about that, but apparently I couldn't possibly have electronics (I later learned that he had also flown from Casablanca).
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| Jaffa oranges from Israel |
The actual trip
The flight and in-flight service from El Al's actual staff was great. Arrival was easy and I breezed through passport control. I made it to my friend's apartment in Jerusalem and the adventure began.
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| the Red Sea, Eilat beaches |
My first day was spent wandering around Jerusalem, I did the old city, the shopping/pedestrian area and Yad Vashem museum. It was sunny and above 20 degrees - there was a warm spell my whole trip. My second day was a trip with Abraham's hostel to Caesarea, Haifa (Mount Carmel), Rosh Hanikra and Akko. It was great, and was a great introduction to the history and the Mediterranean coast.
Day 3 I went to Tel Aviv on my own and explored the beach area and Jaffa's old city centre. I also took a bus tour around the city to see the sights. Thursday, the fourth day, My friend, her friend and I all hopped on a bus to Eilat, in the South of Israel on the Red Sea. From there we took an organized tour across the border into Jordan, spent the night in Aqaba, and left for Petra the next day with a small group tour. It was beautiful. The fact that people carved their homes and their tombs out of the rocks there a few thousand years ago is really impressive, especially some of the detail work. Hard to imagine what it looked like back then with caravans coming through for trade.
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| view from the Masada fortress on a hill overlooking the Dead Sea |
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| at Petra, Jordan |
We crossed back into Israel that night (all this border crossing was very simple in the south) and stayed over in Eilat. We spent most of the next day enjoying the beach on the Red Sea and visiting the underwater observatory (with coral reef, sharks, sea turtles, etc). We then got the bus back to Jerusalem (about 4 hours).
My second last day I spent in Jerusalem, since it was rainy I mostly visited important sites - the supreme court (worth the free tour), the Knesset (again, long security process), and the Israel museum. On the last day I went on another trip organized by Abraham's hostel to Masada, Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea. Again, a warm sunny day. It was amazing to float in the Dead Sea, surrounded by desert. I saw some rock hyrexes at Ein Gedi nature park as well. That evening, we went to the market in Jerusalem for supper.
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| gateway in Masada |
My shuttle left very early (2 a.m.) the next morning for the airport, so I didn't get much sleep. Again, as a warning to other travelers, I had a very similar security experience (although much less questions and much friendlier agent) in the TLV airport. It wasn't as bad though, as I could see them doing it to lots of people, and I was allowed to keep my electronics with me on the flight.
I had no trouble entering Morocco with Jordanian or Israeli stamps in my passport, although I can imagine this collection of stamps could be cause for more security issues in future. I would definitely recommend not traveling from an Arab country to Israel, as this seems to have been the biggest source of angst. If you had just been there on a short vacation it might be fine, but having done an internship there doesn't help you out if your want to do tourism or visit friends in Israel.
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