Saturday, April 04, 2009

Guiding around in Israel

Last week, for the first time in about ten years, Israel was visited by a Cruise Ship, the MSC Poesia.
During the two days they were here the passengers visited one day the north of Israel and one day Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the PNA.

Years ago I finished the tourist guide course and got my license. I use it now and then to take groups around and to show them Israel. It was not my main profession, but a hobby I can earn money with. It is great to have people from countries around the world and take them to places you love.

On the first day I had a group of Italians and we visited the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Wedding Church in Kfar Kana and we had a view from Tiberias towards the Sea of GalileeCapernaum and its surroundings. Together with my group more than 50 buses were operated simultaneously. The hardest part of the exercise was not losing somebody and finding some space for "my" group.

The second day I guided a German speaking group. We had a panoramic view from the Mount of Olives and went along the Via Dolorosa the the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We also visited the Western or Wailing Wall.
From there the group visited Bethlehem and I passed them to my Palestinian colleague.

It comes to show that Palestinians and Israelis can work together and honour each other in all fields. I and my colleagues from both sides of the border had one goal, to give our guests the best service we can during their visit in the Holy Land.