Travelled from Bethlehem yesterday (Friday) morning. Got on the No. 21 Arab bus. Passport requested at checkpoint. No problems. Arrived at the bus station near Damascus Gate. Big military and police presence around the Old City. There have been problems in the past ten days with the Temple Mount. So, since last Friday, the Old City seems to be closed off. Moslems under 50 not allowed in. I was able to walk through the Old City to Jaffa Gate. There I enquired at the Tourist Office about times of buses from Central Bus Station to Tiberias. Also asked for information about getting a bus from Jaffa Gate to the Central Bus Station. To prove that some taxi men are the same the world over, I was quoted 70 shekels to get to Central Bus Station! I decided to be stubborn and went to try for the bus. The taxi men said "there are no buses to Tiberias to-day" (Jewish Festival of Sukkoth). No sign of any local buses, so I waved down a taxi outside Jaffa Gate and got to the Central Bus Station for 30 shekels. Conversation along the way was "effing this" and "effing that" and "effing everything"! Central Bus Station much bigger than I expected, but a female soldier gave me directions. Had to go through security to get into the mainline bus platforms. Bought my ticket and negotiated my way to platform 20. Bus left exactly on time. It was a two hours and twenty minutes journey (about 10 euro) with one quick stop for toilet etc. Entering Tiberias centre, I spotted my hotel and got off the bus. Tiberias was like a ghost town. It's a Jewish holiday and sabbath so most places were closed (still are to-day). However, I managed to put in the time alright for the afternoon and evening. Went to Mass (Italian) at 6 p.m., and then had something to eat. I don;t really know what the story is about everywhere being closed, and there being relatively few people around. Also, this kind of situation is totally different to my experiences so far (plenty of people around etc). Couldn't face another full day with every place (almost) closed on to-day, Saturday, so I hired a taxi for a few hours to go to Mount Tabor (next blog - maybe to-morrow). No photographs to-day; no connection between this hotel computer and my camera!
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