Beirut-Damascus- Sheik Maschen- Jarash,- Amman-Petra- Wadi rum- Aquaba- Jericho, Jerusalem- Ramallah- Nablus and Tel Aviv.
The last days of our trip once again become a rollercoaster between destinies, environment, lifestyle and people. The first stop after Jerusalem, Ramallah, which is the political centre on the west bank showed a unexpected picture with big cars, nice restaurants and not least a “Stars and Bucks”.. Ramallah had a charmy atmosphere with friendly people and actually a lot of bars. Strongly recommend the Taybe beer, said to be the best beer of the Middle East (Wonder about the stiff competition), brewed of catholic settlers since decades. The life standard and price level in Ramallah was surprisingly high- where do people earn their money? After 2 days in Ramallah we decided to continue to Nablus. We discussed either we should bike or take the bus. Together with the foreign ministry’s travel advice and consultation of other people we took a minibus. We thought it would be smart to so to skip the 5 checkpoints and in case of something happening. We strongly regretted that when the driver gave us a trip we want forget and actually fell a sleep while driving… Anyway Nablus was fantastic. We only got the opportunity to spend 1 day there but we met a girl who voluntarily took us around. Without her we probably would have missed out on everything that is worth seeing and doing. She took us to a soap fabric, the church where Jesus drank the water and together we climbed a clock- tower in the centre. We finished by get back to the hood where she lived. She took us inside the refugee camp where she lived and showed us around. We could of course not filming or taking any pictures but some of the stuff is something you will remember for a long time. We never felt insecure, since we where with her, but we should probably not walked in their alone. Interesting, fascinating, scary, horrible, exiting, like most places in the middle east, nothing is never black or white, nice or bad etc.
1 day later we continued to Tel Aviv, the very last lap of the trip, and the nicest. Nablus in the mountains-tel Aviv on sea level. With Police escort we rolled into Tel Aviv!! The ocean, beaches everywhere, WE DID IT. We dropped the bike and ran to the water, INCREDIBLE!
What about Tel Aviv? Tel Aviv was like coming to a new country compare to other places in Israel we’ve been to. It’s a bubble where people party like there is no tomorrow, dress as less as possible and where some clubs opens 5 a clock in the morning. It’s fairly expensive but no one gives a shit. 3 days of wrapping up the bike , catch a few cold ones and swimming finished yesterday when we started our trip back home.
The planning where of course non-existing but with extraordinary god support and hospitality from our new Israeli friend we had the best shower on the trip and managed to get to the airport in time. The bike is currently chilling out in Israel confiscated for security reasons… Back home in the safest country on earth it’s a lot to take in and reflect of. We expected the trip to be very unexpected. What we didn’t expect where how unexpected an expected unexpected trip could be……We have had an incredible journey from Beirut to Tel aviv. We have couch surfed, and hitched in every country. We have met people with the most breathtaking stories and background from the wheels of our tandem. Thank you everyone for following us. and We get back with a movie and some more pictures later on.
Stay tuned until next trip and remember: “Its good to be single, nice to be three but bettertobebuddies” //Viktor And Philip
