We left Amman on a sunny Wednesday morning and began the drive towards the border with Israel. Although it is possible to fly from Amman to Tel Aviv, tickets are quite expensive for the 45-minute flight. Instead we booked a private taxi service that drove us to the border and gave us instructions on how navigate the somewhat confusing procedures.

After arriving at the Jordanian border we paid the exit tax and got our passports stamped for the departure from Jordan. Next we boarded a bus for the half-mile drive across the ‘no-mans’ land between the two border stations. As we approached the Israeli checkpoint, we stopped and traded drivers with the bus making the opposite trip in the other direction. A few hundred meters later we gave our luggage to Israeli security and went inside to clear customs. A forty-minute taxi ride later we arrived at our Jerusalem apartment overlooking the city’s Botanical Gardens.

We walked into the old city our first full day in town to see some of the famous sites we’ve been hearing about since we were children.

And just this morning we we walked to the city’s Mahane Yehuda Market, where we were able to shop for fresh produce and meats just like we do back home at Pike Place.

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