Tour of Palestine

View from Mount Olives

We had set Thursday aside to travel in the Palestinian territories outside of the Old City in Jerusalem so that we could pray Jummah in Masjid Al-Aqsa and walk around Salaah time. We woke up early to perform Fajr at Al-Aqsa, and it was the Imam (Shaikh Ali Al Abbasi) who helped us arrange a driver (Abdul Wahab) to take us on a tour for the day.

We left the hotel at 9.30am and visited the following sites:

1) Mount of Olives

2) Mount of Taqbeer (where Omar RA said Taqbeer before entering Jerusalem)

View from Mount of Taqbeer

3) Garden of Gethsemane (the place where Judas is meant to have betrayed Jesus according to the Bible)

4) Bethlehem - The Wall and then Church of Nativity

Church of Nativity Bethlehem

5) Halnoun - Masjid Yunus (prayed Dhuhr) and the grave of Sahaba Lalak ibn Abdullah ibn Jerr RA died 55 AH (which has an incredible 1400 year old olive tree growing outside it)

More info: http://www.islamiclandmarks.com/palestine/other/mosque_of_yunus_as.html

Masjid Yunus AS (Makam) on Halnoun

Old Olive tree and Grave of Lalak ibn Abdullah RA

6) Hebron/Khalil - Graves of Ibrahim AS, Isaac AS, Yaqub AS and wives including Sarah, Rufqah and Ruqayah (mimber from Salahuddin Ayubi).

More info http://www.islamiclandmarks.com/palestine/other/majid_khalil.html

Outside Masjid Ibrahim in Khalil / Hebron

Inside Masjid Ibrahim

Ghost Town - Streets of Khalil

Graffiti in Streets of Khalil

Abu Mazen Restaurant

Then had a meal of stuffed chicken at Abu Mazan in Hebron / Khalil



7) Bin Naim - Masjid where Lut AS stayed (prayed Asr) and visited Mount where Ibrahim AS made sijdah when he saw the punishment of Lut's AS people, Masjid Yakeen there are second footprints.
Grave of Fatima bint Husain bin Ali RA in same area (i.e. grand-daughter of Ali RA)

Makam Lut AS in Bin Naim

Mountain where Ibrahim AS did sijdah when seeing punishment of Lut's town

Spot where Ibrahim AS did sijdah

More info: http://www.islamiclandmarks.com/palestine/other/tomb_of_lut_as.html

8) Lod - Place where Dajjal is destroyed by Isa AS and then Markaz Dawah (maghrib in same place Masjid Lod)

Lod

9) Daoon Anwas - Graves of 14000 sahaabas who died in a plague


10) Bait Hanina - Esha in Masjid Hijrah, right near the Wall

Konafa in Haj Jafar

Then had Konafa (Palestinian dessert made of cheese, crumble and nuts) at Haj Jafar famous dessert place

We got back to Jerusalem at around 11pm

Costs:
Taxi for tour: 1700sh (£288)
Lunch for 7 (dawat AG): 260sh (££44)
Dessert 4 plates: 24sh (£4)

Note: We never had much time to shop around and negotiate for the taxi cost of the tour, we think we paid too much but between the two people recommended to us that we spoke to this one was much cheaper (the other brother, Abu Saleh, who is well known in the area and speaks good English wanted 400sh each = 2400sh/£400 for the day). If people have more time they should ask more people and shop around and probably can get a better rate. They should also try to find an English speaking driver, we made do with Br Abdul Wahab as me and my brother can speak enough Arabic to explain what we needed to.

From Amman to Jerusalem

On Wednesday we travelled from Amman to Jerusalem via the King Hussain (Allenby) Bridge border.

We left Amman at 1:15pm after praying Dhuhr and reached the Jordan checkpoint at 3pm. We left the Jordan checkpoint at 4:40pm (sat and waited in-between) to catch the bus over the border.

Streets of Jerusalem

At the Israeli border we were questioned briefly, and then asked to wait in a waiting area after filling in forms. Three out of six of us were questioned again, and they had clearly done some research on us in the meantime. Generally, we were treated quite well by the Israeli security staff. The waiting area had AC and even wifi (though I don't know if we were meant to use this). There was no aggression in the way we were treated.

Eventually, we left the border at 8:40pm and reached the Hashimi Hotel at 11pm.

The Hashimi (http://www.hashimihotel.com/) is a very basic hotel/hostel and is not good value for money, the manager was also an unpleasant man in my opinion who spoilt the first night of my trip (my full review Tripadvisor review here) but it is only one of two in the Old City that I know of (the other being the Golden Gate Inn http://www.goldengate4.com/) - if I get the opportunity to go again and the Golden Gate is not available I would stay at the hotel again solely because it is a 7-9 minute walk to Masjid Al Aqsa from the hotel. The Golden Gate will add 1 minute to that walk, but that hotel is cheaper, the bedrooms have more character and from my experience of talking to staff their they seemed more pleasant.
Once we were settled we went out to look for something to eat, but only had around 8 shekels each as the exchange rate was very poor at the border and we didn't want to change more. We found a popular takeaway right across the road from the Damascus Gate and had a very good falafel and salad pitta sandwich. After that, we headed back to the hotel for rest so we could make an early start with Fajr at Masjid Al-Aqsa.

Tip: Restaurants are more expensive directly outside of the Damascus gate (e.g. approx £9 for quarter/half roast chicken and fries), if you walk out of the gate and turn right, walk for around 8/10 minutes to Sharie Salah ud Deen (Salah ud Deen Street) you can buy Broast Chicken (fried chicken) with wedges and drink for £3.50/£4 and can also find many money exchange places that offer a better rate than close to Damascus gate.

Costs:
Taxi Amman to border: 35JD for 6 (£29.35)
Jordan coach: 5.3JD (£4.86)
Israel coach: 42 shekels (£7.11)
falafel sandwich: 7 shekels (£1.20)
Hotel triple room: £25 per night x 3 (£75)

From London to Amman

We arrived in Amman late on 5th June 2012. We had booked Easyjet flights around 6 months in advance for the amazing price of £139 each inclusive of booking fee.

Once we got to Amman airport we had to pay 20JD/£20 at the airport for a visa. Note: at the airport we received an exchange rate of 1JD for £1, but in Amman we were regularly found the rate of 1.09JD for £1, so only change what you need to at the airport for visas and getting to the hotel.

Obtaining the visa and getting out of the airport (Queen Alia International) was fairly straightforward. A taxi to central Amman is around 20JD, we found a minivan for all 6 of us at 35JD.

The journey from the airport to our hotel, the Toledo, was approx 30-40 minutes. We had also booked the hotel well in advance, and planned to spend one night in Amman, followed by 3 nights in Jerusalem, returning to Amman for 3 more nights.

We had booked the Toledo in advance for 22.5JD each per night in 2 triple rooms. The hotel was excellent, the best 3* I have stayed in with 5* service (link to my Tripadvisor review here).

That night we went for a walkabout close to the hotel. We went past Abu Ghaith restaurant which smelt very nice, but opted for KFC at the next large junction. This was a big mistake, the worst KFC or chicken burger meal we had ever had! We later had the chance to eat the good food of Abu Ghaith so missed out on our first day - future travellers: don't make the same mistake.

Afterwards we went back to our hotel and crashed out after a long day of travelling, and in anticipation of another long day of travelling planned for the next day to get to Jerusalem...

Objectives

Assalaamu Alaikum Wa'Rahmatullah Wa'Barakatahu,

On 5th June 2012 we (group of 6: 3 brothers, 1 cousin, 2 friends) set out for a 7-day trip, with plans to visit the main Islamic and historical sites around Jordan and Jerusalem - and the main aim being to perform Salaah at Masjid Al Aqsa.

We agreed to create this blog so that others interested in visiting could replicate our trip and learn from our experiences.

Being experienced travellers, we had done our research and created our outline itinerary for the 7-days. We hope you find this blog useful and interesting. If our efforts help you to visit the Al Aqsa, please remember us in your duas.

Note: You can click on any of the photos to see a larger version of the image.

Ma'Salaam,

Ismail and the Team