Israel, Jordan and Egypt
Here is the low down on my trip to Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Ill let you know what we did, what we ate, and what I would change or not change.
Budget Flying
First things first, The flying. We paid $300 per ticket to get t Tel Aviv Israel. That's it! Did we save a bunch of money , yes! Were the flights and layovers kind of on the crazy side, also yes.
We had to change airports twice on our journey, if this is your case, I highly recommend carry ons. In my masterful plan I had scoped out luggage drop off locations in New York and London so we wouldn't have to lug our backpacks around but.....the app I downloaded was less than helpful and couldn't find the drop offs in New York and in London, well.....we had to go straight to the other airport instead of exploring downtown like I planned because the trains were on strike.
Our flights to Tel Aviv
Cedar City, UT----->SLC, UT
SLC, UT------>Newark, NJ
JFK, NY------> Gatwick, London
Luton, London----->Tel Aviv
Traveling with a Teenager
I ended up taking my son with me because A. My Husband didn't want to go, he still had trauma from thinking about the airport stays we had on our last adventure to Africa. B. I think traveling should be part of a person's upbringing/education.
SO I brought my 14 year old with me who has only travelled in the U.S. before this trip. He learned to try new foods without complaint, go with the flow, listen to instructions from adults besides his mom :), and so much more.
Draw backs-I had to be a mom and a responsible adult the entire time and never really had down time.
Israel Itinerary
We only had a few full days in Israel and crammed a lot in those few days. Keep in Mind, Our itinerary is not for the faint of heart or frail. We averaged over 19k of steps each day.
My aunt and uncle live really close to Old Jerusalem so they were our tour guides. I highly recommend booking a tour with a small group (large groups are not my thing) or hire a guide to do little day tours with you in the area. It's super easy to get loss in the old city. Even with my aunt who lives there, we got turned around multiple times.
Day 1-Saturday (the Sabbath)
A lot of blogs and articles I read warned us that many things would be closed on the Sabbath but we actually loved it and everything we wanted to visit was open and way less crowded.
We went to Church at the Jerusalem Center
Ate at a hummus shop (all store bought hummus is now ruined for me)
visited the Garden tomb, the baths of Bathsheba, Gethsemane, Church of all Nations, Mount of Olives, the Western Wall, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (where it's said this is where Christ was on the cross, where they prepared his body and where his tomb may have been as well). Keep in mind that many holy sites have churches built on top on them and since it's been over 2000 years since Christ was on the Earth, there are many sites claiming to be Holy. Like there's a place called the Milk Grotto where it's said "This is the spot where Mary stopped to feed the baby Jesus while fleeing into Egypt and some of her milk dripped onto the ground and turned the rock white".....all the rocks are white there......
Smething I didn't realize before this trip, not all of Israel is desert. There are mountains, fields, and even forests.
Day 2-Masada, Dead Sea
I highly recommend breaking up the touring with doing physical things. On day two we stopped on the side of the Highway and road some camels, not in the itinerary but a welcome addition. Then drove down to Masada. Masada was a palace built by Herod the Great on top of a huge Mesa/Hill/Mountain. I would consider this area of Israel to be deserty. It's right next to the Dead Sea and has some amazing Panoramic Views of the area. Years later after the palace was deserted, it became the last stand fortress for some Zealots against the Romans.Spoiler alert, they didn't win.
You can read the official Wikipedia article about Masada here.
You can either take a tram or hike to the top of Masada. We hiked to the top. It wasn't hard but definitely wasn't easy either. There a pretty steep incline for most of it and stairs that are uneven and sometimes to tall for this Photographer's short legs. Great workout though. The ruins on top were quite impressive.
The birds that live around Masada will eat directly from your hands, which was pretty neat. Make sure you give them food that they could find naturally in the wild.
We spent a whole lot of time at Masada, more time than we anticipated. When we got down, we headed to a point at the Dead Sea that has a "beach" that you can "swim" at. You really dont swim or sink in the Dead Sea. Just float, on your back.
The wind kicked up when we got there so it was actually kind of cold (not the water, the wind) and there were waves which is on the unusual side of happenings.
This was a surreal activity that everyone who visits Israel (or Jordan) needs to try.
You also rub mud all over your body for the minerals and nutrients. Note: Only use the grey mud and do NOT get the water in your mouth or eyes, it stings BEYOND anything you have ever felt before.
Day 3-Jerusalem
We started bright and early on Day 3 so we could get to the Dome of the Rock in the Old City before all the crowds got there. The Dome of the Rock is a Mosque that is built right where the Jewish temple once stood sooooooo there quite a bit of conflict between the two religions. While we were there, we actually saw some Jewish people being escorted off the grounds because they tried to pray and worship there :(
You can read about all that here.
You aren't allowed to go inside the actual Dome but the grounds are an amazing Photo Op location.
We then went back to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to see it during the daylight hours and then visited David's Citadel next which was cool but it's going to be sooo much more cooler for those of you that visit in the future. They're turning many of the rooms into a interactive Museum. We got to see some of the rooms and some of the displays were already working and they were so much fun. On top of David's Citadel gives you a good view of a old and new Jerusalem.
(By this time, we had done 2 laps around the old city. lol)
After the Citadel we headed to Hekiziah's Tunnel. This was one of my favorite things to do in Jerusalem. You walk through a tunnel under the city that has water in it!
According to the Bible, King Hezekiah prepared Jerusalem for an impending siege by the Assyrians, by "blocking the source of the waters and leading them straight down on the west to the City of David" (2 Chronicles 32:30). By diverting the waters , he prevented the enemy forces under Sennacherib from having access to water.
I was a little bit worried about it being super cold water because we were visiting in Winter and also worried about getting back into the cold afterwards. But those worries were for nothing. The water was cold, but not freezing and I feel i prepared pretty well to be warm afterwards.
What to wear for going through the tunnel in Winter months:
athletic Leggings, quick drying tshirt , head lamp, water shoes, fleece pullover if wanted. Day pack.
What to bring: day pack, dry pants ( i dont think you will need a dry shirt, Im 5 ft 2 inches tall and the water didnt get up past my hips) , travel towel.
In hind sight, We should have eaten lunch at this point but we kept going. After the Wet Tunnel we went though another newer tunnel that is higher up that you go through to bypass walking in the city. We heard workers and cars above us and came out in a archeological excavation site in the city of David. After we got out of the Tunnels we head to the Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu. This is where it's believed that Peter heard the Rooster crow and also where Christ might have been kept after Gethsemane.
We then caught a taxi to take us to the other side of the city to Eat at the Souk. Which is a open air market place. We shopped around there for a time before heading back to rest.
Day 4- Caeserea, Nazareth, & Jordan River
Day 4 we headed north up the coast past Tel Aviv to visit Caeserea first. Caesarea was built by Herod the Great (we didn't realize that we picked Herod hot spot's it just ended up that way). He named it after Caesar because basically Herod lost against the Romans and Caesar let him live and govern over the Israelites under Caesar so as a thank you for not killing him, he named his big ol' brand new sea port after him.
We first visited the ancient aquaduct that runs along the Mediterranean coast. The day we visited, the sea was crazy turbulent and a ton of wind and rain because of the winter storm Brenda. Thanks Brenda..... Just kidding, it was cool not to see something in it's norm.
After the aquaduct we headed into Caeserea. The ruins reminded me a lot of Rome (go figure....)
After Caeserea exploring we traveled back south to Nazareth We visited the church of the annunciation (where Mother Mary was visited by the angel) and a replica Nazareth Village that had tradesmen acting out and working like tradesmen at the time of Mary and Joseph. It was way cool to have the visual aids to go with the time period.
Next we visited the Jordan River which Im going to call the "pretty" site where they say Christ was baptized by John the Baptist. After we visited the touristy part we travelled down the road a bit to an area of the river where you can actually swim in. It was pretty dang cold that day and I'm a chicken so my brother and son were the only ones that got in and swam. I dipped my toes in. :) Note: The mud along the Jordan at this Location is crazy sticky so be prepared for that.
Day 5-Petra
Because we were so close to Petra and I wanted to do everything in my power to get us there. We did a 1 day tour with TouristIsrael from Jerusalem. Which was very cost effective. In hindsight and if we had more time in our whole trip, I would of had us stay in Eilat the night before and leave for Petra from there AND do a 2 day tour minimum from there because our tour was a good sampling but only a sampling. I want to go back to Petra already.
Our tour was as follows; leave Jeruslaem on a nice tour bus at 2 am, head towards Eilat along the Dead Sea and on the Israel side , got turned away by a border check and had to head BACK to Jerusalem and go another way down. Got to Border of Jordan and Israel in Eilat at 10 am (11 am Jordan time). Border crossing included getting off bus, passing two check points and then getting on another bus on the Jordan side and driving 2 more hours to get to Petra. We spent a total of 3ish hours in Petra before we had to get on the bus and head back to Jerusalem. Hence my alternative itinerary.
Because of our limited time, we didn't exchange money in Jordan which turned out to be ok. Most shops and vendors to US dollars. It is NOT cheap in Jordan like Israel and Egypt. It was more equivalent to the Euro.
Definitely wear good walking shoes and your cute outfit because there re Major Photo ops. When I had research many blogs said don't give into the men saying you needed to pay them to be your guide to get to certain areas but Im going to go against the thought and say do.
Example 1- I asked a guy who was with a camel in front of the Treasury (Iconic Petra spot) offering camel rides that if I paid him one dollar extra (total of $6), if he would get me right in front of the Treasury and get all the other tourists out of the way. (there were a ton of people.) He said no problem and I got some epic photos and experience out of it.
Example 2- This guy said we couldn't go up on the cliffs overlooking the Treasury without a guide. I read that this was a total scam. I ended up making a bargain with him that I would let him take us up there but he had to show me the best time ever in Petra. He turned out being basically the best hype guy ever. He took photos, videos, panoramic, suggested poses and even gave us tea. $5 per person. SCam? Maybe. Worth it? HECK YES!
Day 6-Jerusalem and flying to Cairo
Day 6 was used for doing laundry, getting ready to fly out to Cairo and going to Bethlehem . Did you know, Although Bethlehem is only 10 km (6 miles) away from Jerusalem, Israeli citizens cannot visit it. Similarly, Palestinian citizens also have very restricted access into Israel. On the other hand, tourists are free to enter and exit the checkpoint from Jerusalem to Bethlehem without any restrictions. I recommend having your passport just in case because sometimes the border patrol are board and like to check passports. I didn't realize this.
In Bethlehem we visited the Church of the Nativity and some wood Carvers that use olive wood. Our tour guide at the church of the Nativity was actually Muslim so that was a little interesting to hear his spin on the Nativity story, lol.
The Wood Carvers shop was a way cool experience. My son is obsessed with knives and swords and really wanted to get one. Like the whole trip up to this point was constant talk about them and getting one. Also by this point I convinced him to make a knife or sword instead of buying one because of the whole multiple security check points we have to go through and only having carry on luggage. Anyways, my son starts talking to the owner of the Olive Wood shop about knives and making them and the owner took us into the back where the carving takes places and GAVE my son a piece of scrap Olive wood and told him how to make a knife handle out of it. How cool right?!?!?!
We flew EgyptAir to Cairo which was a super nice airline that gave us a full meal for a 1 hr 15 minute flight. Highly recommend that airline.
Cairo is INSANE! So many people. It's actually the third most populated city in the world. (Totally didn't realize this before out trip)
For the Egypt portion of our trip we used a newer Travel agency based out of Egypt called Iegypt. I found them on instagram, and then asked total strangers how their experience was with them. I told them what we wanted to see and do in Egypt and our budget and they put the whole itinerary together for us including meals and transportation . Turned out to be a good decision except our first night they put us in a hotel that was over an hour away from the Airport and we had to wake up at 2 am (again) to fly to Aswan the next day. I think if someone were to do the itinerary we did that I would suggest a hotel closer to the airport. Just a suggestion.....
Day 7- Aswan Egypt
We flew from Cairo to Aswan and getting to Aswan was like a breath of fresh air. Its so much smaller than Cairo and along the banks of the Nile river. Aswan is South of Cairo but is considered Upper Egypt because the nile enters Egypt down that way, flowing from South to North. We started touring almost as soon as we got out of the Airport. We visited the Philae Ruins by boat. There were people selling trinkets and things right on the boat docks. I wish I wouldve bought some things there because there were some more unique finds along those docks.
After Philae we visited a Perfume factory and Spice shop (you can read about what I thought about those places in my Egyptian Souvenir post. We then finally got on our Nile Cruise ship and freshened up. A nile cruise ship is only a few stories tall with rooms, a dining area, lobby, and bar/parlor. With a open air bar and sitting area on top with a pool and/or hot tub.
In the evening we were greeted by a Nubian guide who took us by boat to visit a Nubian Village. Nubians are a native ethnic group of Egypt that have lived along the nile for centuries. We visited a Nubian Household and got to hold a baby crocodile. Nubians believe that crocodiles are good luck and protection so most households have a pet or stuffed croc hanging around. Note: Wild Nile Crocodiles can only be found above the dams in Lake Nasser.
Day 8-Abu Simbel & Ko Ombo Temples
Fun Fact-During the time of the Ancient Egyptians, all the cities, civilizations, and temples were built on the east side of the Nile, because sun rises in the east, like a life starting. On the west side is where toe tombs and life ends, like the sunsetting.
You think we would have learned our lesson by now about having to pick things to see and do that require waking up at 2 in the morning, but we didn't. Abu Simbel is a temple thats even FURTHER south that Aswan. #.5 hour drive in the middle of the desert. Abu Simbel a temple all about Ramesses II (he thought he was a super awesome dude and made his presence known ALL over Egypt). Theres a smaller temple nestled next to his that he dedicated to his favorite wife Nefertari . But Ramesses, being the kind of guy he was, couldnt let even a smaller temple right next to his be solely about his wife. SO the entrance to her temple has two statues of her and 4 of Ramesses. SO nice......lol
When we got back to Aswan our ship got moving up the Nile. That evening we docked in Ko Ombo and toured that temple and crocodile museum by night.
Make sure to get requests guides that will interact with you and not just throw out fast facts at you. We had the latter at Ko Ombo and my brain barely remembers what went on there.
Day 9-Edfu, Karnak, & Luxor
Our ninth day started off early, with a horse carriage ride. I can't recommend taking these carriage rides. They made me super duper sad because of the condition of the horses. They had open sores, you could see a lot of the horses ribs and were super dirty. Not a fan.
Temple was super crowded because we got there right at opening and our guide was super fast again.
Got back to the boat and sailed on to Luxor.
I love Luxor. It's cleaner and prettier than some other cities we visited.
Fun Fact: Luxor is built on top of the ancient city of Thebes.
Karnak was my all time favorite temple we visited. Just oodles of columns that made photos just amazing. Our guide was super impressive in Luxor (I might have said some to Iegypt about Edfu and I think they found us a guide that would better fit our group and dynamics)
Luxor was cool. We visited after it got dark, Kind of wish I could see it in the daytime as well, especially to walk the avenue of Sphinxes.
Day 10-Hot air balloons & Valley of the Kings
Well....we didn't get to go ride in hot air balloons like we planned because Luxor airport grounded all balloon flights because of "wind."
We actually got to sleep in because of this so thats a small plus. A bigger plus was that the Valley of the Queens got added to our itinerary to replace hot air balloons which was super cool.
Valley of the kings is where all the tombs of the kings are, valley of the queens, you guessed it, tombs of the queens (and some of the princes)
I think it would be really cool to help with an excavation. I wonder if theres a way you could do this while on vacation.....someone look that up for me.
Late that night we flew back to Cairo.
Note-we got to the airport in Luxor 2 hours before our flight and the airline decided (for lack of better word) depart early so we had to wait an extra hour for another flight . That was all on the slightly stressful side of things.
Day 11-Cairo
We finally got to our Pyramid Day! Pyramids really are as impressive as they seem.We got to stand on top of them, go inside one of them, and ride some camels out into the desert by them.
Note: There are guys that come out on horses and offer you drinks. They aren't gifts. Even if they say they are gifts, they aren't. My son and I were approached by one of these guys and we took "his gift" he then insisted that we drink the bottles of soda right in front of him. And then wanted a tip afterwards. Oh that reminds me. Tipping is super BIG in Egypt. Bathrooms, drivers, guides, everything and everyone gets a tip.
Last day
You made it to the end of our trip!
On our last day in Cairo and Egypt we visited a couple of Mosques, the Egyptian Museum and a huge marketplace.
Hot tip: There are a few different Museums in Cairo. The one we went to had King Tut's treasure which was so awesome to see (no pictures allowed :( ) The egyptian Museum is quite old and has a wonderful collection but it isnt super organized.
The Grand Egyptian is opening March 2023 and will eventually have King Tut's collection and basically is going to be the biggest Museum in Egypt.
The other Museum in Cairo is The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. It has the biggest collection of Mummies. We were going to go to this one but decided we wanted to see the treasure more.
The market was massive, make sure to figure out a meeting point and keep track of landmarks around you because it's super easy to get lost.
Our flight didn't leave until 2 in the morning so after an authentic Egyptian dinner, we were pretty wiped out and asked to go to the airport instead of killing time around Cairo.
It was an amazing once in a life time kind of trip that I'm so glad that we did. Would I go there again? Some places yes, other places no. I hope you enjoyed reading out my travels, and were able to fleece some advice and knowledge from this post in preparing your own adventures.
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