Get those PSA Blood Tests Done Boys!

On September 17 Bonnie and I flew from England to Ben Gurion airport, Israel, to begin our two weeks in Palestine, Israel and Jordan, as part of two courses with St George's College in East Jerusalem.

Through the Easy Jet app we organised a car to pick us up and take us to our hotel in Tel Aviv. We were not in England. This was hot. We booked into the hotel (Villa Rothschild by Zvieli) and then set of exploring where we were. We were near Allenby Road, a large central road in old Tel Aviv. We saw groups of protesters returning from the weekly protests against Benjamin Netanyahu's attempts to reform the judiciary. We had a great meal.

The next day we had a few hours to explore Tel Aviv. We found some amazing spice markets and then headed down to the coast, walking through Charles Clore Park to Charles Clore Beach, which was unlike any beach I had seen before. then we explored a little of old Jaffa, visited St Peter's church, looked around Abrasha Park, and back down to the Old Clock tower. We stumbled upon a lovely market area. A place to pause and eat and drink, and find some amazing repurposed plastic made into art works that looked like paintings. And we finished by following a walking trail telling the story of the origins of Tel Aviv as a purpose build Zionist city. 

You can find more photos of this grand day here.

I have to say that given what has happened over the last 12 months with both the Hamas attack on Israel, and Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and Palestine in general, I feel quite ambivalent about what I experienced that day. Here trouble began. And yet Jews needed a safe place from the horrors of Christian Europe and centuries of persecution.  It is all horrific.

Then we headed back to the hotel, and trained up to Jerusalem. We tried catching the light rail but took too long working out how to buy the tickets, so had to persuade a taxi driver to take us to St. George's College in Arab East Jerusalem. Luckily I had been there before and knew how to direct him. This was not a part of town they usually went to, if ever. We made it just in time. We checked in, found our rooms. A quick change and then time for the welcome service, drinks and a meal, and then the first lecture  of the 10 day Footsteps of Jesus pilgrimage. What a gift these two weeks were going to be.