Israel / Palestine - Cyprus - Malta

For a long time, Israel & the Palestinian territories have been considered the last place to visit in the Middle East because of the passport stamp thing. Since my passport is to expire this year, I wanted to pay a visit to Israel but later I learned that they introduced a new system in 2013 to issue tourist card instead of stamping your passport. Nevertheless, I decided to keep the plan and added two small Mediterranean countries to enhance the trip.

April 5, 2015

Jerusalem & Bethlehem

There is only one word that can be used to describe Jerusalem - “holy”. As a non-religious individual, my tour of Jerusalem's old city is more like a “tourist”. Luckily, all the holy sites are within walking distance in the old city. 

Although the West Wall and the Temple Mount are kind of “connected” to each other, there are separate entrances and security checks. The West Wall also has separate areas for men and women. Perhaps because of this particular date, the site is dramatic with so many prayers when I arrived in the morning.

Back to the non-Muslim entrance to the Temple Mount, there was a small queue but waiting time was not very long fortunately. It's nice to have a walk in the field, take photos and have yourself photoed by fellow tourists. After some pleasant time there, I left the Temple Mount from a north exit and started my Via Dolorosa walk.

The Via Dolorosa walk is a famous walk, even for non-Christians. Some of the stations can be easily missed. When I reached the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there were so many people and at times one could hardly move. To get to the 12th Station (where Jesus was crucified) was a real challenge. However, everyone had a chance.

Leaving the crowds at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, I walked to Damascus Gate and had lunch at the Arab run Alayed Restaurant at very reasonable price (hummus + pita + salad for 40 NIS). After lunch, I got on an Arab bus 231 heading for Beit Jala (8 NIS).

The last stop of the bus is Beit Jala, still some distance to Bethlehem. A taxi offered a “tour” of Bethlehem and some other attractions nearby for 180 NIS. Since there is no map in the LP book showing how to walk from Beit Jala to Bethelehem, I decided to use the taxi.

Again due to the date perhaps, there were so many people at the Church of the Nativity and I waited one hour to get to see the Grotto of the Nativity for 5 seconds! After the church, the taxi driver took me to Herodium (29 NIS) and drove around Bethlehem to see some anti-Israel Graffiti.

Back to Jerusalem in the evening, I checked out the Night Spectacular (55 NIS) starting at 8:00 p.m. at the Citadel near Jaffa Gate Hostel where I stayed. It's not that “spectacular” but something to kill some time if you don't have much to do in the evening.

West Wall, Jerusalem

April 6, 2015

Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is a different world. The local people you see are almost always Jews. The city beaches on the coast are good places to relax or just watch people. One downside of the city is lack of a subway or light-rail system that makes taxis inevitable sometimes. At Tel Aviv Savidor Central Station, a major railway station of the city, you can store your small luggage (a medium-sized bag) in one of the luggage storage boxes for 10 NIS – very handy for folks who want to check out the city but don't stay here.

Gordon Beach, Tel Aviv

April 7, 2015

Northern Cyprus

Nicosia, capital of the Republic of Cyprus, is a pleasant place to relax but has no real “sites”. All highlights of the divided city of Nicosia are in North Nicosia, capital of Northern Cyprus. The most important buildings, including Buyuk Han ad Selimiye Mosque, are a short walk from Ledra Street Crossing. The walled city itself is so small that you can easily walk to Kyrenia Gate to catch a bus to Kyrenia (the shared taxi stand to Kyrenia doesn't seem to have a lot of customers so the bus is still the best option to get to Kyrenia quickly).

The 45 minute bus ride from North Nicosia to Kyrenia (5 TL one-way) gives you a closer look at the controversial flag on the mountain. Kyrenia Harbour is a very nice area to spend some time and the nearby Kyrenia Castle (12 TL to enter) requires some climbing. Since I was a day-tripper and the ticket office staff didn't like the idea to have my bag stored at the ticket office for a while (other ticket office staff in Cyprus and Malta later in my trip didn't have this concern), I decided not to get in.

At the taxi stand near Kyrenia Harbour, I got a taxi to take me to the famous St Hilarion Castle for 80 TL return. The entrance fees to this spectacular castle ruin on the mountain is 9 TL including the museum. The view from the top is the major draw. To take the best photo of the castle, you need to ask the taxi driver to stop at a place farther from the entrance to the castle.

Back to Kyrenia, I got on a bus to Guzelyurt (10 TL). The “buses” in Northern Cyprus use minibuses. They may not look as “luxury” as the bigger buses in the South but actually are more frequent, but without schedule (each time I waited no more than 10 minutes). I arrived at Guzelyurt 1 hour late and tried to figure out how to get to Pmos or Polis in the South. As expected, there is no public transportation on this route and I negotiated a taxi ride to Polis for 115 euro. The 2 hour ride turned out to be very scenic with endless mountain and ocean views en route.

At Polis, I easily caught the 6:00 p.m. local bus to Pafos (1 hour) and changed to another bus to Harbour Bus Station (15 minutes). All city buses in the Republic cost 1.5 euro per ride or 5 euro per day. Diner at the oldest restaurant in town Hondros was not bad either.

St Hilarion Castle

April 8, 2015

Pafos & Ancient Kourion

Pafos city bus actually goes to Petra tou Romiou but it's not frequent, especially in the winter schedule. As it's slightly more frequent in the morning, I took the bus there and back in the morning. Honestly, the rocks are not very impressive to me, compared to some other rocks I've seen elsewhere.

Back to the city, the Pafos Mosaics within Pafos Archaeological Site (4.5 euro) are quite worth seeing, as well as the free Hrysopolitissa Basilica & St Paul's Pillar - both are within walking distance from Harbour Bus Station. The staff at the station is quite helpful and always tries to promote their bus service to tourists.

I needed to check out Ancient Kourion before reaching Lemesos but didn't know how to do it. I wanted to try Travel & Express but couldn't find it (the map in the LP guidebook is totally out of date). While buying a hamburger at a local restaurant, the staff volunteered to call Travel & Express. To my surprise, they arrived at the restaurant in 5 minutes and dropped me right in front of the entrance to Ancient Kourion (9.5 euro between Pafos and Lemesos, no matter how far you  travel, they can pick you up and drop you anywhere en route, including Pafos Airport).

Ancient Kourion (4.5 euro) is a big area and requires some walking. The view of Kourion Beach is spectacular. There is also a theatre still in use today. According to the staff, there is bus service to the site but the last bus leaves around mid-afternoon. So I walked 20 minutes to the nearby village to catch the No. 16 bus to Lemesos (1 hour). The bus terminated in the middle of nowhere and I walked another 20 minutes to Old Port where I caught the frequent No. 30 bus to my pre-booked hotel in the so-called “tourist area” east of the city.

Ancient Kourion

April 9, 2015

Troodos

The reason I stayed at a budget hotel in the “tourist area” was because I booked a Troodos tour online in advance (35 euro) and I needed to select a pickup location when booking the tour. Most of the pickup hotels are luxury hotels in the “tourist area”. I happened to find a budget hotel in the “tourist area” Golden Arches Hotel (only 20 euro – perhaps a promotion), just opposite the luxury Mediterraean Beach Hotel which is in the pickup list.

In the morning, the minibus arrived 2 minutes after the pickup time and after picking up a couple of other tourists it stopped near the expressway. All the tourists from Lemesos got on to a big tour bus joining the folks from Pafos. The tour officially started. This tour is mainly to see the famous Kykkos Monastery with a “coffee stop” at the picturesque Pano Platres village. The Kykkos Monastery itself is quite impressive and the restaurant nearby is very reasonably priced.

Back to Lemesos, I asked the mini-bus driver to drop me at Old Port where I caught the 6:00 p.m. InterCity bus to Larnaka.

Painting at Kykkos Monastery

April 10, 2015

Larnaka to Malta

It's an interesting day. Within one day, I checked out 2 Neolithic sites in 2 countries.

In the morning, I arranged a taxi to take me to Choirokoitia and then drop me off at the airport for 70 euro. The stuff at Choirokoitia (2.5 euro) dates back to 7000 BC and this can be seen from its color – grey. While after a 3 hour flight to Malta, the first sight I checked out was the prehistorical Hagar Qim & Mnajdra Temples. The stuff there dates back to 3000 BC and that can be seen from its color - pale brown. Also, there is much more stuff to see than that in Choirokoitia.

To get to Hagar Qim & Mnajdra Temples, I took the hourly No. 201 bus from the airport. The same bus continues to Dingli Cliffs where I got off. Like Petra tou Romiou in Cyprus, Dingli Cliffs are over-rated in my opinion. 

While in Dingli town, there are more buses going to Rabat, including the No. 52 bus. I stayed at Point de Vue (68 euro including breakfast) near the main gate to Mdina. It's quite pricey but the queen size bed is very conformable (throughout my trip, most places I stayed offered two twin size beds so this queen size bed is kind of luxurious to me). Another good thing is that you get 20% off at their restaurant but you do need to let them know you stay there.

Dingli Cliffs

April 11, 2015

Mdina & Valletta

After having breakfast at Point de Vue, I walked into Mdina and was quite impressed by the little walled city. Unless Cyprus, you need to pay to enter some famous places, including St Paul's Cathedral (5 euro). I've also seen staff at a less famous museum trying to promote their place to tourists (of course you need to pay). Apart from St Paul's Cathedral, another interesting building is Carmelite Priory – it's actually free but accepts donations. Other than seeing those famous buildings, just walking on the alleys is amazing.

After touring Mdina, I took a bus to Sliema. Bus 202/203 links Rabat to Sliema (every 30 minutes, 1 hour). Hotels in Valletta are quite expensive and I couldn't find one below 100 euro so I booked Europa Hotel in Sliema for only 35 euro. My room is on the 1st floor but still with ocean view. It's quite spacious but I couldn't find the remote control to the nice LCD TV. Never mind, it was just a night's sleep and I didn't need to watch TV. Another interesting thing to compare is that the staff at the hotel in Larnaka was very helpful in letting me use their printer to print my boarding pass without charge, while the staff at Europa Hotel let me do the same but charged me 1.50 euro for the “ink”.

The ferry from Sliema to Valletta (1.50 euro one-way) provides some good views to both cities. Valletta is like a bigger version of Mdina with steeper alleys. The most important buildings are St John's Co-Cathedral (closed when I was there) and Grand Master's Palace (10 euro for both State Apartments and Armoury). After some nice walk in this bigger walled city, I reached the southwest corner of the city and saw an elevator there (free going down). It happened to be the Great Ditch – very interesting.

Across the elevator is a little pier with ferries to the Three Cities. I didn't see any ferries there and there were no other passengers. However, an old man offered to take me to Vittoriosa using his dghajsa for 10 euro and I accepted. 

Vittoriosa is a very old city and very small (800m x 400m by size). The major thing to do there is, again, just walking around. Outside the city gate, I got on a passing bus back to Valletta and from there another bus to Sliema. A day pass for buses in Malta is only 1.5 euro and it's quite handy to use the buses to go around the island.

Vittoriosa

Summary

Israel & the Palestinian territories, Cyprus and Malta are kind of close but it's still interesting to combine the 3 countries in one trip. Jerusalem is very “holy” and sometimes I found myself difficult to relax. Cyprus is the most laid back country of the three. People are nice & helpful, both in the North and in the Republic. Prices are comparatively reasonable, with most hotels I stayed offering 30 euro per night. Malta is a tiny country with a lot of history. People are also nice but there are less freebies.