When I first started travelling, Italy was one of the countries on the top of my wish list. When I did my first solo backpacking trip way back in the 1990s, I went to Italy and did Italian lessons before going. I made myself only speak Italian when I was there and was quite proud of how I went, even explaining to people what was being said on a couple of occasions. I have unfortunately since lost my Italian skills – I didn’t practice, which I should have! I can still pick up bits and pieces and get better as I go, even making do with very, VERY limited Spanish given the similarities between the two languages.
I travelled to the Middle East in 2008 but didn’t visit Israel. Travelling to Italy where there are direct flights to Israel, was a great opportunity to go there and also as there was now a family connection in Israel. A friend being in Rome was also the reason for taking that opportunity to visit Italy and my husband had not been there.
We have taken it as practice now on a big trip to stop on the way back somewhere in Asia to break up the trip and because it is my favourite part of the world. This trip we decided to stay on Hong Kong Island – we had stayed in Kowloon – the mainland of Hong Kong – on a previous trip stop-over. There are also direct flights from Israel to Hong Kong which makes sense for this to be the Asia stopover.
We fly to Rome from Sydney mid-afternoon via Singapore – this time not staying overnight at the Singapore airport hotel due to the flight times – which meant an overnight flight to Rome. This did mean arriving not as refreshed as I never sleep on planes, but with the comfort of knowing we were staying with friends when we got to Rome.
We arrived in Rome mid-morning and caught a taxi to our friends’ apartment in the Nomentana area of Rome. This was a really lovely part of the city – many trees and the apartment faced onto a park so you could watch people walking, playing with their dogs – and an area where foreign embassy staff lived. There was also an amazing gelati place just up the road so every day after exploring the city – it was incredibly hot when we were there – we would come back and have a gelato or granita. After unpacking, showering and refreshing we headed off to lunch at a restaurant run by an all female crew called Pianostrada Laboratario di Cucina – you can find information on the restaurant on Facebook.
After lunch we went for a walk around what used to be the Jewish ghetto area which is a fascinating area to walk around and less crowed than some other parts. Like a big part of Rome, every corner you turn seems to have the remnants of buildings and ruins and this is an excellent area to see that. This was also the first place where we saw the Stolpersteine or Stumbling Stones which are brass stones with the names of Jewish families who were taken from their homes and murdered during the Holocaust.
We caught the bus back to our friends’ apartment, had a gelato at the fabulous gelato place near there and had an early night suffering jetlag.
The next day was a full day of walking the central historical area of the city with one of our friends. We were also introduced by our friend to the Space Invaders ceramic mosaics by anonymous street artist Invader which are found throughout various cities – have since seen in London and Melbourne. You can download a digital map of different cities to where they are located on the Invader website. There’s also an app and you can spot and load pictures of them on your phone.
The sites we visited that day are some of the very well known – Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon (one of my favourite sites in Rome), Palazza Colona and Campo di Fiori. The Pantheon is free to visit during the week – reservations required on weekends and public holidays – and has a large whole in the vaulted ceiling which allow sin natural light. It is stunning building.
We walked across to the Trastevere area and finished our day out with gelato at Fatamorgana which focused on natural and sustainable ingredients – you must eat gelato or granita every day in Italy I think.
Day three we had a early start to do an early tour of the Vatican to beat some of the crowds and have early entry to the Sistine Chapel, before it opens to the general public, and not have to line up to access St Peter’s Basilica. It was well worth the early start and the money spent on the tour as you have a guide, there were huge lines, it was very hot in Rome. There are a few companies that do this and tours – we went with Walks of Italy.
After the tour another gelato claiming to provide gelato to the Pope. We then walked along Castle Sant’Angelo and along the river to Trastavere. We had a superb lunch at La Gensola Trastavere – amazing tuna carpaccio and a pasta with smoked cheese. Delicious!
We walked to Isola and then caught he bus back to our friends’ place with of course an afternoon granita. Dinner tonight was at a local pizza place with our friends and a walk around the beautiful area where they lived.
Our last day in Rome was exploring the Colosseum. Again we did a tour with Walks of Italy which gave you access to a ground view level of the Colosseum not accessible with the normal public access. Again well worth spending the money to avoid the long lines. The tour included the Roman Forum which was also very good to have a guide explain some of the main aspects of the site. We had lunch in the Monti area and walked around this area where there were many Stumbling Stones.
Dinner tonight was at Nonna Betta in the Jewish ghetto area. After dinner walked to look at the Trevi Fountain at night with what appeared to be every other tourist in Rome, followed by of course a gelato to end the evening.
The website below tells you all about the ‘myth’ of throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain. I have done it each time I have been there – now three times – so who knows?
The next day we said farewell to our friends and caught a taxi to the train station for our train to Florence. We arrived in Florence around midday and walked to our hotel – the very lovely Continentale. This is a hotel listed through Mr. and Mrs. Smith – which I talk about a few times on my travel site. It was a lovely boutique hotel in a fantastic central location near the Ponte Vecchio and walking distance to almost everywhere. We had lunch at the hotel restaurant Caffe del’Oro as there was a huge downpour of rain so nice to not walk far and it was a very nice restaurant.
The next day we said farewell to our friends and caught a taxi to the train station for our train to Florence. We arrived in Florence around midday and walked to our hotel – the very lovely Continentale. This is a hotel listed through Mr. and Mrs. Smith – which I talk about a few times on my travel site. It was a lovely boutique hotel in a fantastic central location near the Ponte Vecchio and walking distance to almost everywhere. We had lunch at the hotel restaurant Caffe del’Oro as there was a huge downpour of rain so nice to not walk far and it was a very nice restaurant.
We headed out late afternoon for afternoon tea at Caffe Gilli, the oldest café in Florence.
We then met up with our Intrepid Urban Adventure’s Aperitivo Time Experience tour in the late afternoon. It was one of the best Urban Adventures tours we have done – we have done quite a few in different cities and countries. The guide was excellent and originally from Melbourne, Australia, and it was incredibly good value including many food and drink stops. It was great fun. This tour doesn’t seem to be running any more, but there are other Urban Adventure tours in Florence.
We had dinner at one of the places recommended by our guide Buca Mario.
On our second and last full day in Florence we spent the morning climbing to the top of the dome inside the Duomo. I will admit I booked this through the Duomo site and thought it included entry to the Duomo, which it didn’t as at the time you could not book and have to line-up. I’m also not great with heights so I spent the most part clinging to the side of the wall and trying to only look up and not down. It’s also many stairs and quite hot so something to keep in mind, along with the fact entry to the Duomo itself isn’t included. In hindsight I would have booked early entry to the Duomo itself and skipped the dome, although it still isn’t clear from the website if this is available. The lines were massive so we decide not to line-up but instead visited some of the side sites and buildings notably the Ballistero di San Giovanni which is quite stunning.
We had lunch at Eataly – great name and great food. They have branches mostly outside of Italy in the USA.
And then went to the Galleria dell’Accademia where we had pre-booked timed tickets. I would highly recommend anywhere you go in Italy – particularly at busy seasons – to pre-book tickets. It saves time and havign to line-up, as th elinse are usuallu long! This is the location of Michelangelo’s very famous statue of David. Pretty much a must see for a first-time visiter to Florence – which my husband was.
We then walked across Pont Vecchio to the Oltarno area – much quieter than the areas packed with tourist attractions and some lovely littel shops. A greart place to wander. We had gelato at Gelateria La Carraia.
Dinner tonight was at the fantastic food hall at the top of the Mercato Centrale. This is a great place to eat – lots of locals and tourists, lots of affordable but delicious eatign options, bas, music and a generally great atmosphere.
The next day we left mid-morning, walking to the train station to catch our train to Venice, arriving at around 12.30pm. I went to Venice many years ago (on a Contiki Tour – yes I’ll admit it) but stayed not in the central parts of Venice. It is a unique and amazing city, but I was very aware of the negativity that has surrounded tourism or tourists more precisely for the locals of Venice and the impacts it has had on locals for renting and housing prices, the environment and damage to the city, and adding to these problems. It particular the huge cruise ships which come in to dock, pour people out to the main sights during the day and then head back to the ships, not really injecting much income to the area.
It was hot and busy when we arrived – a lot of tourists – and we had to catch a vaperetto (water taxi) to our hotel. My husband and I again felt bad as you there were a couple of exacerbated locals trying to get on an off the water taxi and go about their daily life, which isn’t easy when you have hordes of people which we did feel like we were adding to.
We were staying on Dorsoduru at a small boutique hotel Charming House – another Mr. and Mrs. Smith find. The area is a bit quitter as it’s away from the central attractions and is really lovely – little bridges and alley ways, nice little cafes and very close to the Guggenheim gallery. Charming House DD724 was indeed charming – accessed by a gate and garden and very private, and with lovely views and very easy to catch water taxis every where.
We had a light lunch at a little café right near our hotel. I had booked tickets for that afternoon to visit Basilica du San Marco which was a mistake – not booking the tickets but going in the afternoon. There were so many tourists that it was near impossible to get to the area, hugely crowded and just not very pleasant. In hindsight, I would have booked an early morning or evening visit as we discovered later, when literally the streets become empty when everyone heads back to their cruise ship.
The Basilica and Palazzo San Marco are beautiful and definitely a must-see, – as you will see from the website – but we could just see the faces of the people working in the shops and cafes around the area and a general air of unhappiness. In the way back to our hotel – as we could walk there across various bridges – we went into a shop and started chatting to the owner. We asked if all these people generate a good income but he said no, it was the phenomenon of the cruise ship and people being rushed between sights and not really putting money into the local economy. He also told us about people jumping into the canals and swimming, when there are signs every where saying don’t do it and because it is polluted, and then getting injured. It was pretty confronting seeing the damaging aspect of tourism and feeling like you are contributing to it.
When we got back to our hotel, we talked to one of the staff there about it and how bad we felt. The thing they said is that of course they want tourists to come as it is such a massive part of their economy, but it is damaging the city. She said we were doing the right thing by staying at small, independent hotels, eating in local restaurants at night, and visiting less well-trod areas.
That night we caught a vaparetto across the canal to go to a restaurant I had found via New York Times called CoVino. It was down the back streets and is a tiny, cozy restaurant, seating around 14-16 people and with an open kitchen. The service was very friendly and being so small, very personalised, and a lovely friendly atmosphere. The food was excellent. It was a great experience all round.
We walked back to our hotel through the area where we had been today and as I had said above, the streets which had been so crowed earlier were now literally deserted. It was quite a different experience and was beautiful on a lovely warm evening walking back. Looking in the distance you can see these massive cruise ships – I think we counted about six at any time – and when you think all those people are emptying out during the day and then heading back in the afternoon, you start to understand the impact now seeing this city almost empty at night.
The next day we got up early to go to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection to try and avoid the crowds, so got there when it opened. The building is beautiful with lovely gardens and great views, and the collection amazing. By the time we had done a loop and come back to the start, the crowds had started coming in, so definitely recommend getting there early if you go.
We then caught a vaperetto to Carnnaregio, which was the Jewish ghetto area. The area was very quiet, so a great and incredibly interesting area to visit in Venice as it is less crowded. We had lunch at a lovely restaurant in Campo del Ghetto Novo where you could sit outside and view the square/palazzo which is the main square of the Ghetto Novo. The website Visit Jewish Italy has a good history of the area.
We did a tour of the Synagogues, most of which have been maintained. We also again saw many of the Stumbling Stones (mentioned earlier for Rome) as several hundred people were taken from the area and murdered during World War II.
We went back to our hotel and had a gelato, and early evening walked to Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute which is at the tip of the Dorsoduro island. We had a very nice seafood dinner at Ristorante lineadombra – it was touristy but a lovely view out over the water and very nice to sit out on the terrace over the water on a warm evening. We had a very early start the next day so had an early night.
We caught a water taxi to Venice airport for our flight to Israel. As with walking around Venice at night, it was lovely to be up early and almost have an early morning tour of the canals with virtually no people. Also, quite unique experience catching a boat to the airport.
I had been well prepared for the detailed questioning and scrutiny by security and before flying to Israel, which it was. As I was told, you get questioned before you get on the plane, not when you arrive in Israel. We arrived early afternoon and caught a taxi to our Tel Aviv. We were staying at CuCu Hotel – small hotel in a great location on Dizengoff Street and another Mr. and Mrs. Smith booking. It’s a happening area – like a lot of Tel Aviv – with lots of cafes, restaurants and shops and easy to get to other places. Tel Aviv is a very cosmopolitan city with an almost European feel. It is a beach city and we were there in August when it was hot, so it was a summery atmosphere.
My husband’s nephew was living in Tel Aviv so we spent the afternoon with him having a late lunch, a swim at the beach and a walk to dinner at a great little and very cool restaurant in the Neve Tzedek area.
The next day we spent the day in Haifa which is famous for the Baha’i Gardens which have a central location sloping down the hill in the almost center of the city. Haifa is a port city and you get amazing views from the tops of the garden looking down towards the city and water. We travelled by train to Haifa and caught a taxi to the gardens.
You have to do a tour and can’t visit the gardens on your own. There are tours at specific times in English. We missed the English tour and took the Hebrew tour and fortunately there was someone on the tour how translated for their friends who didn’t speak Hebrew so we could listen in. The guide did at times also speak English.
We decided to walk from the gardens to the train as it didn’t look far but got a little lost and hot. We stopped at a bakery on the way and had a cold drink and fresh, warm rugelach – which is a crescent shaped pastry usually filled with a mix of chocolate, fruit and nuts. We had intended to look more around Haifa but it was hot and by that stage decided to get the train back to Tel Aviv. Haifa is definitely a place to spend more time as it is a lovely location and very picturesque. The afternoon as spent relaxing at the hotel. They had a serve yourself beers and snacks, so a cold beer on the small but cool balcony of our hotel room was a good way to spend the afternoon.
That night we had dinner with my husband’s nephew in the Old Port area of Tel Aviv which has lots of restaurants and after dinner walked back along the beach back to our hotel.
We spent the next day walking from our hotel up to Jaffa – we stopped along the way to look at some of the Bauhaus buildings – some restored and others now derelict – having amazing rugelach along the way. There is a Bauhaus Center in Tel Aviv and is worth checking out to see why Israel become a center for this architectural style.
Jaffa has markets and many shops and has great views looking along the beaches of Tel Aviv. We had lunch at a fantastic café in Jaffa – there are many good eating options. Walked back to the hotel – I was a bath of sweat after doing this and needed a nap and another cold beer on the hotel balcony!
We had dinner at one of the many and largely all good shawarma falafel places along Dizengoff Street – they are great as you can help yourself to the rang of condiments and get a heap of sides which almost make a meal. We walked around the area in the cool of the evening and had ice-cream.
Our next stop in Israel was to Eilat with the main purpose of visiting Petra in Jordan. I had visited Petra at the beginning of 2008 when I did a trip through the Middle East travelling through Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Turkey. Israel was now the most accessible and safest way to get to Petra and being in Israel, it was the time to go there as a wanted my husband to see one of the greatest sights anywhere in the world.
We flew to Eilat arriving at the slightly chaotic airport where it was every person for themselves getting a taxi and there was no interest in lining up! Eilat is a tourist town for Israelis located on the Red Sea with lots of big hotels. We stayed at the Dan Eilat, a pretty standard 4 star hotel, but it was located on the water. We had lunch at the hotel, and then went for a swim. Everyone staying there and it appeared other hotels all went to the hotel pool which was crowded so we went down to the beach which had hardly any people but was lovely. The sea water was cold but absolutely perfect in the hot weather. Eilat is hot, a dry heat – one night we were there it was 36 degrees at about 9pm in the evening.
Dinner that evening was at a seafood restaurant called Pago Pago – not kosher obviously and the food was not outstanding, but good.
The next day was an early start and long day to cross the border and travel into Jordan to visit Petra. We were picked up from our hotel and driven to the Israeli border. We had a long wait as the two other people in our group were late – they were very apologetic when they eventually arrived. We walked across to the Jordanian border and met our guide Achmed. The drive to Petra took about two hours.
Even having been to Petra before, I find it such a remarkable and amazing sight. I was lucky to have been here before and spent one and half days exploring the area, which means you can see some of the more out of the way buildings (there are literally buildings every where you walk) and the less visited and harder to access sight The Monastery – which is bigger than The Treasury but accessed by many steep stairs.
That long walk to when you then arrive and spy through the Siq (entrance) to the Treasury is amazing. One of the clear things being here a second time and a number of years later was the huge impact the war is Syria and unrest in the whole area has had on tourism. While it was hot and a less visited time to Petra, there were very few people there compared to the huge numbers when I last visited. This must also be having a great impact on the town of Wadi Musa – where most people stay when visiting Petra – which was evident when we had lunch in Wadi Musa and were the only people in the whole restaurant.
We spent about 3 hours exploring Petra and then had lunch – as mentioned – before driving back to Israel. At the Israeli border I got interrogated by the border official My husband and the other two male travelers went through without problem. Evidently me having a different name to my husband – there was a comment about that – led to suspicion. I will say it was one of the most unpleasant experiences on my whole trip – I will say rude and sexist without reason. Something to keep in mind f you are crossing the border as I know it has happened to others.
We got back to our hotel by about 6pm, pretty hot and exhausted and had a gorgeous swim in the cold Red Sea. We had dinner tonight – burgers and beer were in order – at Mike’s Place which is an institution in South Africa and has branched out to Israel.
On Saturday being the Sabbath, there were no flights so our only option was to hire a driver and drive to Jerusalem. Again something to keep in mind if you are traveling in Israel and need to get anywhere on a Saturday. I had arranged this all before leaving Australia so we had a driver to pick us up and make the four hour drive across the Negev Desert. While it was a long drive, there are some great sights across the desert seeing the Dead Sea and date trees growing out of the desert.
We arrived in Jerusalem at around 2pm. We were staying with friends in Jerusalem and met up with them at the AirBNB where the four of us were staying. It was a great location on Jaffa Road not far from Machaneh Yehuda Markets. Just about everything was closed, so we went for a walk around the area and through a large park. We had dinner that evening at a fantastic little Ethiopian restaurant near our apartment.
While they only about 1 and a half hours ‘down the road’ from each other, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are very different cities. Tel Aviv is modern and cosmopolitan and Jerusalem is the religious center where the Ultra-Orthodox are much more prominent. It is where the well-known politics of Israel collide.
Our first full day in Jerusalem was to travel to the West Bank to Nablus. We did a tour with Green Olive Tours to Central West Bank and Nablus. It is a full day – we left at about 8.30am and arrived back at about 5pm. It is where you drive through the settler areas, which is confronting to actually see this.
The tour included a visit to the Balata Refugee Camp and the church at Jacob’s Well. Had the best falafel ever at a refugee camp stall. We had lunch in the Old City and then walked through the markets having kenafe along the way. It was wonderful to watch the process as after one batch of kenafe being made and sold, the next being made as the people gathered and then dispersed once this process was done.
I would say anyone traveling to Jerusalem should visit the West Bank – it is important to see and understand all parts.
We had dinner tonight at a fantastic French Lebanese place in Mahane Yehuda markets. They cooked whole eggplants in a stone over and they were served with hummus, falafel, or many other things. These markets are amazing – one of the world’s great markets, so much wonderful food and great little cafes and bars. A MUST visit for the food and sights in Jerusalem.
The next days was a tour of the Old City – an area the many a religion have a sense of ownership over. We met our guide at Dung Gate visited the area of King David’s tomb. We went to the Western Wall – or Wailing Wall. I looked at it from a distance – there are separate male and female parts of the wall – the women’s part seemingly crammed into one small area. That’s all I say about that.
We had lunch in the Jewish Quarter – more great falafels – and walked around and down the allies of the various quarters – Jewish, Muslim, Christina, Armenian and Catholic. We visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre –it contains two sites considered to be where Jesus was crucified and where he was buried and resurrected. The one thing I will say about this small area of land that some many argue over and which causes seemingly endless conflict, is that you feel it everywhere you go. There is an unfriendliness and tension from everyone. It’s not a happy place to say the least. Tonight for dinner we got various delicious things from Mahane Yehuda and ate back at our apartment.
Today was a visit to Yad Vashem – the world’s preeminent Holocaust Remembrance Centre. It’s worth allowing a full day to visit as there is much to see and take in, and quite beautiful gardens to contemplate what you are seeing. There are many powerful exhibits. The museum’s design intends to create an evolving narrative, with a beginning, middle and end that leads on a journey of how the Holocaust occurred. The Hall of Names where Jews who perished in the Holocaust are commemorated. The Book of Names is a 2 meters high, 8 meters long and a meter deep installation containing the alphabetically arranged names of 4,800,000 Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust.
Dinner tonight was at a place called First Station – which is a large, family friendly precinct with markets, shops and many restaurants and cafes. We had dinner with relatives of my husband and was interesting to talk to people who loved in Jerusalem and how the saw it, particularly people who were of the left of politics.
On our last full day in Jerusalem, it was our friend’s birthday so her partner went to Mahane Yehuda and we had a fabulous breakfast to celebrate. Husband and set off on our own today and went to a really interesting gallery and museum called Museum on the Seam which is described as socio-political contemporary art museum. It is named after being located on the geographic seam line between East and West Jerusalem. The building was an Israeli army outpost on the border between Israel and Jordan and was converted into a museum in the early 1980’s, becoming the current in 2005.
The exhibitions change – many of the ones that were featured when we visited spoke of the way women are treated by the religions which co-exist in Israel and Palestine. The rooftop has a fantastic view over Jerusalem. It’s definitely worth a visit to see a different side of the city.
We went back to the Old City and walked the ramparts and had lunch in Jaffa centre – the main thoroughfare in Jerusalem with many shops and cafes.
Dinner tonight was at am amazing and well-known restaurant called Machneyuda – near Mahane Yehuda markets – which the very famous Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi featured in his series about Jerusalem. It was colourful, loud and fun and the food was equally so. It was a very memorable experience.
On our last day in Jerusalem and Israel we went to the Israel Museum which has historical exhibits along with an art collection, and special exhibits. There is a lot to see her – including the Dead Sea Scrolls- and we probably didn’t; allow enough time. There was an absolutely amazing Ai Wei Wie exhibit which was possibly the highlight and I’m very happy it just happened that it was on when we visited. It has one of the largest travelling collections of his various works and was pretty incredible. There was much there to even recall what we saw!
We went back to Mahane Yehuda for one last lunch – at another excellent café. We bid farewell to our friends and late afternoon caught the bus to the airport for our flight to Hong Kong which left at about 10pm.
On this visit to Hong Kong we were staying on the Hong Kong Island side to see a different part of the city. All the times I have been to Hong Kong on that trip from the airport to the city, I am always amazed at just how many people are crammed into a small space and those huge, tall high-rise apartments – wondering what life would be like on the uppermost floors. Also know how expensive Hong Kong is and how small the apartments would be.
We arrived at about 2.30pm and caught a taxi to our hotel the Shangri-la Hong Kong Island. This was our treat at the end of the trip staying a big, fancy hotel. The Shangri-la hotels are always skating the edge of being over the top, but they are great, always smell amazing (yes, they have a certain smell) and the breakfast buffets are always out of this world.
We had afternoon tea at hotel bakery café and then spent the late afternoon in and by the pool. We spoke to one of the pool attendants about the very fancy house we could see from the pool on the side of the mountain and about how much a meter of real estate in Hong Kong cost!
In the evening we went for along walk down to and along Hennessy Road and had dinner at place recommended in Lonely Planet called Kin’s Kitchen. The food was amazing, but we ordered way too much and could barely finish by the time we got to mains -s felt very bad leaving food. My sleep that night wasn’t great as my body told me I had eaten WAY too much, even with a walk back to our hotel.
On our only full day in Hong Kong, we had a fabulous buffet breakfast at the hotel and walked back along Hennessy Road up to Causeway Bay for some shopping. We caught the famous double decker tram up to Central for yum cha at City Hall Maxim’s Palace. We were a bit late – getting a little lost – and hot and bothered – trying to find it and got there at the end and quite clearly the staff weren’t particularly interested in getting us food. It was a little chaotic and most if the dim sums we ordered didn’t arrive. Oh well, it was an experience and a first world problem!
After not really having many dim sum, we had afternoon at the Pacific Place shopping mall – near the hotel – and after a swim and relax at the hotel, had dinner at the fabulous Lobster Bar and Grill at the Shangri-la – listed as one of the world’s best bars.
On our last day in Hong Kong before returning home, we were greeted in the morning by a typhoon watching the wild weather from our high up room. Everything was closed, so it was enforced relaxation in our hotel room before checking out. We went for a walk around the Pacific Place shopping mall as you could access it underground via our hotel. Most shops were closed due to the typhoon but they gradually opened – apparently a level 2 typhoon is considered when everything can start opening in Hong Kong. We had excellent dumplings at a place called Dim Sum Library – making up for our other dumpling fail – and after wandering around the shops a bit, went back to the hotel and caught a taxi to the airport.
We were worried we wouldn’t be able to get to the airport with the weather, but like I said once you get down to level 2 typhoon everything gets going. We were also worried about the flight leaving, but it boarded and as we sat on the tarmac the plane was being buffeted and rocking from side-to-side. The flight took off – much to the surprise of the flight attendant sitting in front of us – but once we were past a cerium level, it was as clam as anything and you wouldn’t know there was a typhoon just below.
There are actually quite a few similarities between Italy and Israel, and Hong Kong to some extent. Italy and Israel – countries with layers of civilisational and conflict, with a culture and history steeped in religion that still is central and influences politics and like. Two – Israel and Hong Kong – still deep in conflict, with deep divides within it’s people. Yet three countries with my favourite things about travel – superb food that is also a central part of culture and daily life.
Italy is a country I will always love – going back to my experience of learning the language and actually being able to understand and converse, which undoubtedly deepens a travel experience. I am conflicted about Hong Kong – I was astounded by the bravery of its people in standing up for their country in the face of a power much bigger than them. I don’t know if I will go back. And Israel – it has family connections and I absolutely loved Tel Aviv but as it stands now (as of 2023) even people once involved in the security of the country are concerned about its future.
