Israel

I'll try not to make this post sound overly negative, but the truth of the matter is that Israel disappointed me. Part of the reason I am feeling this way may be that everyone I spoke to prior to the trip and everything I read about Israel used a lot of superlatives in their descriptions of the country, so I came with high (although admittedly vague) expectations. However, as I was travelling through Israel I was getting more and more puzzled as I was finding little to justify those superlatives.

In terms of nature, Israel just doesn't compare to other parts of the world. It has deserts, but they don't have the beauty of deserts in Australia, Argentina, USA, or even neighbouring Jordan. It has corals, but they are no Great Barrier Reef or South Pacific. It has beaches, but (apart from a few places on the mediterranian coast) there's little reason to fly for 18 hours when a tram to Sandrigham takes one to a lot nicer beach.

In terms of 'surface culture', i.e. what one notices through the course of day-to-day interactions with people, Israel is a second world country. It has already lost the innocence, hospitality, charm, and affordability of third world countries, but has not yet acquired the polish and politeness of the first world. Of course, we met plenty of nice and welcoming people, but unfortunately the overall impression was that of indifference sometimes bordering on rudeness. That was especially noticeable after Jordan, where the first English word people seem to learn is 'welcome'. Two other surface things that bugged me here were garbage and barbed wire. Both were everywhere, and both were ugly. I was shocked by the way the Israelies treat their country, especially given that a garbage collection infrastructure is available. We saw quite a few people chucking their bottles, cans, and cigarette butts on the ground without giving it a second thought - while standing a couple of metres from a garbage bin!

The history of religion and human civilization associated with the country and especially Jerusalem is usually one of the key reasons people visit Israel. It is definitely there, but to enjoy it one might have to have more interest in it (or a different kind of interest) than I do. Most key religious cites here had a decidedly unpleasant vibe of mass pilgrimage and hysteria, so much so I found that I was unable to enjoy them (unless I came early in the morning, before the crowds descended on them). I am not religious, so what I am interested in and search for is architectural beauty and the human spirit of the creators of places of worship, rather than the signs of whatever deity is supposedly associated with the place. This beauty and the spirit were a lot scarcer in Israel than I expected.

What I took away from my trip to Israel was that one needs to be clear about one's reasons for visiting it. The usual shallow reasons 'because it is there', 'it is a must-see destination' etc. do not necessarity work here or at least need to be heavily qualified. Whatever beauty this country possesses is not on the surface. It takes time and work to unearth it - perharps more time and work than I was prepared to put in.

I ended up with fewer pictures than I expected to, but here are a few snaps I did take.