Garden Tomb, Jerusalem

Advantages: History, Scenery, Religion, The Old City
Disadvantages: Its the city they all want

...of Synagogues, Churches and Mosques oversee your every step around the city. I just loved walking around and getting lost, always finding something new and old. There is plenty to buy. This is the place for souvenirs, rugs, ancient pottery, crafts, religious artefacts etc. Don’t forget to haggle. The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a mix of very religious and secular Jews. There are thousands of solders walking around with guns strapped to their bodies, the women looks something out of Tomb Raider and wear a machine gun as if it’s a fashion accessory, its pretty amazing to see a beautiful Israeli girl with long flowing hair polished nails, in a rather tight army uniform sporting an Uzi sub machine gun or a AK47 assault rifle. There are many all female police patrols or even roadblocks so there is a very even balance between men and women. Beer... Read review

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Advantages: a travel destination like no other
Disadvantages: We didn't find any that gravely disturbed us.

...men, they have to serve for three (!) years, it’s voluntary for young women, if they do it, it’s two years for them. Did we feel safe in Israel? Surprisingly, we did, never have we seen so many armed people, soldiers everywhere, they have to carry their arms with them even when off duty. We got the feeling that the state did everything possible to give the population a feeling of safety. As the world has learned, terrorist attacks can’t be foreseen, they’re successful because of the surprise moment. Another aspect is that Jerusalem is rather a safe city generally; Seattle, USA, has roughly the same number of inhabitants (~720 000) as Jerusalem but a murder rate seven times higher. Are all attractions concentrated in the Old City? Most of them, yes, but immediately outside rises a hill with the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus walked... Read review

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Advantages: Amazing, beautiful
Disadvantages: Dangerous

...Jerusalem is the kind of city it is impossible to visit 'blind'. Everyone knows her glancingly. Her name invokes impressions, differing impressions, in people across the globe, and her role in Western Civilisations cannot be underplayed. I was fortunate enough, and I do use 'fortunate' guardedly, to have spent a few months working in Jerusalem a few years back. The city I often now see on my television screen isn't always the happy, hearty, lively Jerusalem I remember, a city probably with more spirit than I have even felt from a city, but sometimes it is exactly the Jerusalem I remember, the fear, the hate and the entrenched beliefs. Jerusalem is a divided city. Jerusalem has been a divided city for hundreds of years, centuries even. Palestinian East Jerusalem as distinct from Israeli West Jerusalem, The Old City as distinct from... Read review

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