Below you will find pages that utilize the taxonomy term “Ramallah”
Bethlehem
June 11, 2015
Tuesday was supposed to be my lazy day. I had extended my 3-night stay in Ramallah to a 5-day one and wanted to spend my last day with doing nothing besides some writing and drinking coffee.
Fellow traveller Nigel got in the way though. He’s working as a journalist and mentioned that he’d join an anthropology student to interview a farmer who’s land is about to be taken away.
His initial invitation I tiredly refused. However came mid-day, my curiosity got the better of me and I told him I’d join him for the trip. Plus Bethlehem is less than an hour away.
Our local contact ran late and so we went on the tourist trail instead. First stop: church of nativity. It’s built on the site were baby Jesus was born. It’s a tourist drag but the locals don’t get much from it as most tours are organised by companies in Jerusalem.
[caption id=“attachment_3089” align=“aligncenter” width=“450”]
Stable yesterday, Church today[/caption]
Not having had a religious upbringing, the whole of Bethlehem didn’t have any spiritual appeal for me. It was more of a “let’s have a look around”.
One thing to have a look at in Bethlehem
More local Experiences
June 7, 2015
On day 2 of my Palestine adventure I met up with another local couchsurfer, Hiba. We walked around the city a little and she gave me a bit of a background about herself. Being a pharmacist and having studied foreign languages (German) at the local Goethe Institute, she certainly is part of the educated population.
One of the sights we visited was a traditional Palestinian house that is now a museum.
Ramallah relaxed
June 6, 2015
After the initial shock of the noisy market in front of the hostel, I found Ramallah to be a very relaxed and calm city. People in the streets are friendly and I get a lot of “Welcome” and “Hello”. Not a lot of tourists around here.
Later in the day I met up with a local couchsurfer, Mohammad, who showed me a few parts of the city and shared a lot of his opinions and views on the current situation.
Into the West Bank
June 5, 2015
Left the hostel in Jerusalem in the late morning and took the local bus to Ramallah. Good deal, 8 NIS / 2 EUR for the 40 minute ride. Crossed the wall at one of the checkpoints - fortified like the inner-German border in the 80s.
Arrived at the hostel in Ramallah not much later. Everybody on the way has been friendly and welcoming. It’ll take me a while to get adjusted to the noise level in the streets, everybody is shouting.