Jerusalem is the most miserable capital I have visited
The holiday in Egypt was wonderful, if not to include our last excursion to Jerusalem. We were staying at the TUI Club Magic Life hotel and our hotel guide Noi Abu Lele suggested several excursions that we were delighted with, but not the last one. Noah himself did not tell everything, which is understandable, it is more important for him to sell as many excursions as possible, and we were very stupid when we did not ask how long our trip to Israel would take.
I do not advise you to go to Jerusalem, unless, of course, you are a very religious person, as this is just a waste of time and money. I went with my parents, it was a gift, paid a little over 400 dollars, and it turned out to be the worst excursion in my life.
Let's start from the very beginning - crossing the border. There were about 300 of us all, 132 persons were not allowed in, without explaining the reasons for the refusal. We stood at the border for 5 hours, no less. The attitude of the border guards was simply killing, they looked at us like we were some kind of animals in a zoo, which in itself was annoying. At first they let us into some kind of cage, they told us to lift our passports up (I don’t see any logic in this), then there was the next “cell”, where you have no toilets, no chairs, or at least benches. Many people had many heavy bags, which made things even more difficult. We went through the metal detector check more or less quickly, but after that people again lined up in a zigzag line, again without the opportunity to go to the toilet and sit. I'm not talking about the coffee machine and stands with sandwiches and other snacks. When it was interview time, they checked their phones, asked obscure questions (like what was the topic of my thesis, or a photo of my work office), and, as I mentioned earlier, a little less than half of the people were not allowed in. Our family was missed. After five hours of continuous standing, we were put into terribly uncomfortable buses, which we waited for about forty more minutes.
We were taken to the Dead Sea, dropped off near a cafe and a store with Dead Sea cosmetics, buying which you will look 20 years younger (I see that only beauties live in Israel). My mother and I decided to drink coffee, which cost $10 (five each), we refused pastries, deciding to eat a sandwich from our dry ration, which the hotel gave out. In general, we were fed for free once in 32 hours, and the dry ration included water, a small banana, two sandwiches and that's it! Excellent.
After having a bite, we were given about an hour to swim. The beach we were taken to was a pitiful sight. There is nothing there for the convenience of an ordinary tourist: no shops where one could leave things, no umbrellas to hide from the scorching sun, only two unfortunate changing cabins and toilets that were cleaned for the last time, probably a hundred years ago.
The next destination was the Jordan River. The guide told us that you can’t swim in the river if you don’t buy a shirt for $ 10 in that store, there are cheaper ones, but apparently there were some wrong shirts, and nothing will work with them. With his all the more impossible! After I saw a man dressed in a shirt and who had ulcers on his legs, we abruptly stopped wanting to swim in the miracle river, and when we saw the river itself, we were generally glad that we had not bought anything. The river is small, terribly dirty, I don’t understand how you can swim there!
Then we were taken to Bethlehem, which is located in Palestine. First, we went to the next store to buy the right icons, crosses and a set of "Ladle", as one "believer" put it. If you've watched American films showing Nigerian areas, you can imagine a similar place where we were taken: graffiti everywhere, lots of garbage, drivers didn't even hear about the rules of the road.
After all the purchases, churches awaited us: the Nativity of Christ and the Holy Sepulcher, as well as the highlight of the program - Golgotha. In one temple, the central part was fenced off with plasterboard for reconstruction, but there were a lot of people, because of which the stuffiness was incredible! Then the Orthodox priest yelled at people several times, and at one pregnant woman who took out her phone, I thought he would beat her there! They decided to tell us the story about the mosaic, which is more than 1700 years old, although it has been preserved, as if it had been laid yesterday. Then a diesel tractor drove into the temple, and my faith that I would see at least a little something spiritual here completely disappeared. It's just business, baby. Oh yes, Golgotha! I always imagined that it was a mountain, but no, we just went up to the second floor and the guide solemnly announced with a breath: “Friends, we are on Golgotha! ”
Guide is a separate issue! We had Igor, and he seemed to be very good, but he completely lacked an understanding of who he was telling all this to and for what purpose. One got the impression that he was giving a lecture at the university, and the students were taking notes, or you know, one Russian channel Ren-TV, they like to tell "incredible" stories and hang noodles on people's ears, moreover, in such a voice as if they were revealing the secrets of the universe. Here, Igor spoke in a similar voice. There were ninety percent of unnecessary information that people would forget in a few days.
After my remark about speeding up, the guide made a surprised face, and other people began to resent my ingratitude. In general, the scam was a success! People did not understand that they were bred for their own money.
The wailing wall came out much faster. On the way back, our bus really broke down, and we had to wait about half an hour for another one, the one that arrived was two seats less, so our accompanying Antonina rode on the steps! Great.
The tour itself lasts about 17 hours, so we were told at the very beginning. I don't know what idiot came up with this! If we consider how much time we spent on the road, then 32 hours will come out. During this time, we practically did not sleep, walked for 17 hours, stood for 5 hours, and spent the rest of the time in uncomfortable buses. We ate normally only once in some kind of gendelyk.
Jerusalem is the most miserable capital I've ever been to, and I've been to 10 European countries, so I have something to compare with. For Jews, Jerusalem is not a sacred place, but a place where you can cut down more not money, but dough.
The dissatisfaction with this excursion is huge. The guides could have shortened the tour if we spent so long at the border, but it didn't occur to them. After all, it is written that it should be 5 p. m. , so it will be so, and when tourists return to the hotel there, and how they feel at the same time, no one cares.
It would be possible to divide people into several groups, into those who came on a pilgrimage, and simply into tourists who want to see the old city, take pictures of temples and that's it, and not listen to lectures for half an hour.
In general, think about it, people, do you really want to go to Jerusalem, do you need this divorce for money and what do you generally want to get from this excursion.
Py. Sy. I filed a complaint with the Ukrainian Embassy of Israel, because the conditions of our citizens when crossing borders want to leave the best.
