When I arrived Vilnius, my couchsurfing hosts Rokas and Agne picked me up from the train station and took me to the Beer Tower right next to their home. Prices were super low and the traditional food they served was good. When walking on my own I managed to find a similar pub called Snekutis which...Read More
Although Riga is in the middle of the Baltics, it still really felt like a Scandinavian city. On every street corner you could find Norwegian stores such as Narvesen, DnB Statoils and Rimis. The language spoken was pretty different though. I hopped on a sightseeing tour with the red buses that go in an hour...Read More
Bethlehem was a city under Israeli control until the Oslo Accords in the nineties when it became Palestinian. Today there are mainly Muslims and Christians living there, giving it more Christmas atmosphere than I had seen anywhere in Israel. In the city center where was a huge Christmas tree, decorated with a Palestinian flag on...Read More
Jerusalem. It’s a city that has given me a good dose of religious experiences, history and emotions. It is one of the oldest cities in the World and sacred to all Muslims, Jews and Christians. I stayed five nights in the citadel hostel, the chepest place in town, yet has the best view and quite...Read More
When going to the Dead Sea, most tourists seem to choose Ein Gedi as their entry point as it is a natural oasis in the desert with a waterfall. When I was there there was no access to the Dead Sea in Ein Gedi because of dangerous sinking holes at the sea front. So instead...Read More
Masada is a mountain fortress by the Dead Sea that has, in my opinion a quite amazing story. The fortress was tried occupied by the Roman’s around year 75, but due to the strategic location and around a thousand Jews throwing rocks at the intruders, the Romans did not have much luck conquering it when...Read More
The empty streets in the market with nets hanging over the streets After the 1995 Oslo accord, borders were set between Israel and Palestine, where the city of Hebron was divided into a tiny part for the Israelis (about 700 settlers) and Palestinians (over 200 000). The Israeli part contains the site “The cave of...Read More
“Dangerous to your lives”- signs that stood at every entry to Palestinian territory What I wanted from my visit to Israel was to get a better insight into the Middle Eastern conflict, and I got thag today after visiting Balata, the biggest refugee camp in Palestine. I was a tiny bit worried about security walking...Read More
Although Palestinians want it to be Jerusalem, Ramallah is the de facto capital of the country. Being a Christian village around a hundred years ago it js today a more liberal city with cafes, cinemas and even a brewery. I met a Palestinian university student early in the morning who was happy to show me...Read More
The Jesus trail is a pilgrimage hike that can be done in four days, walking between his hometown in Nazareth to where he delivered his famous sermons and performed his first miracles. Instead of walking I took the easier way of hitch hiking and riding bus, so that I could see both cities in one...Read More
Again I found myself couchsurfing in a Kibbutz- a Israeli collective community. Traditionally Kibbutzes were based on farming, but today they stand for almost a tenth of all Israeli output, producing everything from IT services to military equipment. They also work in different ways, which I found out after my second Kibbutz visit. The people...Read More
Driving through the desert from Eilat to Mitzpe Ramon, there was little to see except some lonely farms and lots of military bases. At the end of the ride we drove down into the Ramon Crater and then up from it again into the town of Mitzpe Ramon. Well settled into my hostel, the Green...Read More
My plan for leaving Egypt early in the morning was to see a littlebit of Eilat, but as I spent more than six hours at the border it had already gotten dark when I got there. Eilat is like the Cancun of Israel in the way that huge resorts make up most of the coast...Read More
As the decision to go to Egypt was made the same day as I went there, I had nothing planned and no idea what there was to see in the gigantic capital. All together there were more than fifteen million people living in the city center of Cairo and will an additional five million going...Read More
At first when arriving in Egypt, I thought that the pyramids were all centered around Giza, which would have made it easy to just catch a train from Cairo and see it all from there. The truth is that they are spread out over three areas, and getting taxis in between each is not wise...Read More
The ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba was a mess. People were climbing over seats, pushing each others and shouting to get into the boat, to get their passports stamped inside the boat and again when departing the boat. Almost everyone were men (Egyptian migrant workers) and the few women who were there were with their...Read More
*This is purely a practical post for those looking for answers to how the border crossings are between these countries as of December 2015. Situations change fast and I was not able to find updated information online before I went, but if you’re not looking for these answers then don’t bother reading on* The information...Read More
When I got to Aqaba, a tax free town in the South of Jordan I met up with my couchsurfing host Omar, who was a dive master instructor and was on his way out to do some diving. Knowing that the red sea is famous for having some of the World’s clearest waters I was...Read More
Wadi Rum is one of the two places in Jordan that every traveller must visit. It is also referred to as the valley of the moon and is a valley in the desert that is cut into sandstone. I had booked a tour with Rumshines after reading that they would provide the most genuine Beduin...Read More
Getting from Amman to Wadi Musa was much easier than first expected. From the airport it was just a couple of dollars to the bus station, and then a few more dollars for a bus leaving ten minutes later and five hours after I had landed I was where I wanted to be for the...Read More
