Holy City Honeymoon

My husband and I just recently got married and decided to take a fantastic honeymoon to Jerusalem. Our wedding date was just about a year ago and it was probably one of the happiest days of my life. Unlike most couples, we opted to go through the local courthouse and actually got married that way. Instead of having a big wedding, we decided to go more for a fun and adventurous honeymoon in an area that neither one of us had ever been before. At first it sounded weird – Jerusalem? For our honeymoon? Really? But when you come to think of it, this is one of the most romantic places on earth and we knew this is the perfect destination for us.

We needed a rest after the long flight and decided to stay in our hotel room till the evening. It is hard to explain, but Jerusalem has a different atmosphere. I’ve been travelling a lot around the world and have never had this feeling in any other city I’ve been to. I had never visited Israel before; however, my father had been there and had nothing but good things to say about the country and its capital city of Jerusalem. I had a lot of things planned and made sure to book several Holy Land tours so that we could familiarize ourselves with the area and could find out more about the people and history of Israel and Jerusalem.

We chose to do a number of different Jewish tours throughout the area in order to learn more about the culture of Jerusalem and I am so glad that we did. There are plenty of things you can do while visiting the city. The variety of potential activities is endless. One thing that I had heard of was called midnight cycling and it was apparently very popular among tourists and locals. By bicycling through the newer and older sections of Jerusalem at night, you gain a sense of peace by relaxing and listening to a guide who is educating you on the history of the area with fun and factual information. During one of the many nights that we were there, my husband and I made sure to go on one of these famous bike rides and it was a wonderfull experience.

The Western Wall was something else that we had promised ourselves to go to while taking one of the Israel tours. I was very curious about this site, hearing stories about it for the past several years. Apparently, many people go there all throughout the day and night to pray and take photographs. It’s a famous historical landmark and so I made sure to get some great pictures when we finally made it over there. Truth be told, it was just an amazing experience that can’t be put into words.

My husband and I also took the time to visit the many museums around the area that were  filled with an immense collection of a variety of different sculptures and modern art. I love historical museum artifacts and was somewhat drawn more to the archeological finds than the modern art sections of the museums. We also made sure to visit the Holocaust Memorial which is the world’s most prominent memorial to this horrendous time in world history. Because I’ve always been interested in the Holocaust, I found this museum to be especially amazing and extremely saddening when thinking about its purpose and the history in which it was based on.

If I could, I would have stayed in Jerusalem for at least a month. However, we had to go back home and start our new life as a married couple. I have no doubt I’m going to visit Jerusalem again soon. In fact, I’m planning to come back and visit this amazing city together with my husband’s parents next year – at our anniversary.

Israel (Holy Land) 2011 Part I