sydie in the city: jerusalem, israel

our first israel now day was to the old city of jerusalem and it took about an hour and a half to get there. i was so excited to get out of tel aviv; even though i’ve been loving it i was really craving a change of scenery. the first stop after picking up our tour guide was to a beautiful view of the old city. we stopped and chatted about the point of the day which was to understand different perspectives to see a big picture in a different way. at the end of the day i definitely felt like i understood that message, but beyond that the entire day felt very holy and spiritual.

had to get a picture at the first stop. one of the most interesting parts about israel to me is that it’s such a small country yet each city feels completely different. the architecture in jerusalem is wildly different than tel aviv, and the limestone everywhere is so beautiful. there is so much rich history here and it’s very surreal to even just walk through the narrow streets and take it all in.

next we passed by the western wall & went to a discussion with a Palestinian man to hear about his perspectives on living in israel but not truly feeling protected and respected by the country. this talk was controversial and interesting and left us with a lot to think about. at some points it certainly got heated, with people on both sides getting a little bit offended and confused, but at the end of the discussion i was definitely grateful to have heard his point of view and develop my own perspective a little more.

next —> lunch! around the kotel there were so many hole in the wall lunch spots and i knew whatever we ate was going to be authentic and delicious. i got a pita with shawarma, israeli pickles, red cabbage, eggplant, hummus, and tahini and it did not disappoint. this was my first shawarma of the trip and it was exactly as i remembered it from my last time here.

easily the best part of the day for me was spending about fifteen minutes at the western wall. even though the women’s side is much smaller than the men’s side, it’s still so empowering and beautiful to be there and be so in the moment. one of the things people do at the wall is write notes with blessings or wishes and put them in the small cracks, and this was something i was very excited to do again. it was a few really nice minutes of peace and i felt so content after.

we wrapped up the day at the menachem begin center which i didn’t get any pictures of, but it was a walk through museum that took almost two hours. there’s so much fascinating information about menachem begin (sixth prime minister of israel) and although the entire group was exhausted, it was a nice way to end the day.

such a long but fun day and it gets me even more excited for our overnight trip in just a few weeks. stay tuned for more israel updates & feel free to message me with questions/comments about anything!

yalla ♥️,

sydney