One could easily spend a week in Jerusalem. So much of significance, everywhere. One of the ladies in the group doing the tour, wanted to know from the guide, whether he was sure that Jesus had really walked exactly where she was walking now! Well, the guide said, where we are walking now is about 4,5 meters above the original level, as different layers have been added over the centuries. Jerusalem has been fought over 16 times, destroyed 2, besieged 16, attacked 52, captured and re-captured 44 times. So, sorry I can’t say for certain!

In Jerusalem in particular, I saw plenty of armed police and military. Lots of young women in uniforms, make-up and all, looking stunning with their revolvers, automatic weapons, and ammunition. No pushover, I might add. I was sitting at a restaurant, eating when a young police woman stopped a man who had obviously done something wrong, and told him in no uncertain terms she wouldn’t accept that again (my own interpretation). I seriously contemplated doing some kind of offense myself, just to be dealt with by this young lady! Security checks are carried out at the entrance of all shopping centers, post offices and other places where many people are gathered.

According to a report I read in a newspaper at one of the hostels, Israel is ranked 11th on the “happiest people in the world” list. The author of the article found it quite odd that a country with numerous challenges like Israel and with no likelihood of things changing in the foreseeable future, could rank that high on the list. It is possible then to be happy living in a country that in many ways is isolated, he added.

Throughout my stay in Israel I met only extremely friendly and helpful people. Often, driving along the road on my bike, I would see in the mirrors, a car come quite close to the bike, then back off and follow a bit before overtaking, hooting and waving out of the car windows. Not many bikes in Israel with a DK number plate, I guess. I am quite intrigued that on all my travels in Israel, I have not met one foreigner on a bike, and only one or two Israelis. Perhaps I am the only one stupid enough to travel in this heat. Reminds me of the old Noel Coward song: Mad dogs and Englishmen .... go out in the midday sun!

My bike was due for a service with oil change and new tires. The Greek - as you recall - preferred an extended holiday, to servicing my bike, and Israel was the last opportunity to have it done at a BMW Motorrad dealer, before entering Africa. There are only two dealers in Israel, one in Haifa and one in Tel Aviv, so it was back to Tel Aviv again. Not a simple thing to book a time for service at this dealer, and I really must thank Adi at Abraham’s Hostel Jerusalem’s info desk, who helped me way beyond what could be expected. Thank you, Adi. We had to mail all my particulars and the registration papers for the bike before they would do anything, and if you don’t do that, do not bother to turn up at the workshop, we cannot do anything for you, was the parting shot from the service manager. Welcome to BMW land! When I arrived after the one hour drive from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, it still took them 3 hours to get me registered and “approval” from management. After that, however, things moved quickly, and with only a couple of hours left before closing, the workshop got to work. I collected the bike the following day around noon, serviced, new tire, washed and looking like new.

On the first day at the dealer while waiting, I met Doran, a tour guide from Tel Aviv and a very keen motorcyclist. We spent a couple of hours chatting, and he gave me some valuable  information about various routes, particularly about good camping spots in the Negev desert, which he considered a must. He also wanted to see if there might be a possibility for him to drive with me a few hours the next day.

Doran did not make it, so the next day I picked up my X-Country at BMW and headed towards Mitzpe Ramon and the Negev desert. Along the way I stopped at the desert home of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. When travelling in Israel you can’t help noticing that many things are named after him; streets, buildings, monuments, university, highway, hospital and so on. A very interesting fellow - himself born in Poland, his wife Paula in Minsk, Russia. At one point he was expelled from the state of Israel, and took a ship to America.