CHINA – Truly Great Leap

“You godam’, murderous S.O.B.”, was in my mind when I first stood on Tiananmen Square in Beijin and looked dejectedly at the line-up waiting to enter the mausoleum of Mao Zedong.

And make no mistake, this was before the Tiananmen Square massacre and I could not help thinking of Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” and its estimated 20 million victims. Soon, I figured that that estimate could have been even higher as I talked to those who lived through it.

I was in China several times – first even before China opened up its “enterprise China”.  All was drab and uniform at that time and I got almost chopped apart in the rivers of bike traffic flowing quietly in both directions on main streets. China was a crowded country then and I could not imagine how this all would work out now as they were all just dreaming of having a car.  It has been getting crowded by automobiles ever since then.
Also, color was brought to the street as people immediately dressed up when they were allowed to.
The whole Chinese world immediately lit up in impeccably clean shiny colors

I was always living on a university campus, lecturing and getting our joint research ventures started. So I got to talk to people – who all wanted to practice their English. And I learned quite a bit from our discussions. I also learned quite a tasteful bit about Chinese food, especially when in the Province of Sichuan.

There I was a host of the University President which led to an interesting experience. We had a formal meeting together, attended by all the university dignitaries – quite a staged and stiff event.  We were seated next to each other like some statesmen and quite formally went through the agenda. What a surprise later on when we met informally – he was very warm and cordial person who even spoke English rather well.

Always, no matter where I was, I had a personal translator, who was often a guide and a “minder”. He facilitated not only live translation of my lectures but he also accompanied me on most interesting touristic trips as well as local exploratory outings.

My constant companion Sichuanese translator in Chengdu showed me then all kinds of things other foreigners probably have no idea about. An Engineering PhD student, he also divulged his desire to come to Canada. But he would have to know computers, I insisted. An impossible condition since computers were not accessible to students there at all.  OK, he cheerfully agreed. Gradually, we developed a collaborative project with his university and that could make it possible for him to join us in Montreal. In less than 2 years, he not only mastered “computers” in China – he became an expert, teaching all of us. No doubt, there are brilliant people everywhere in the world. Their concentration around that University President – carrying out quite active research in Chemical Engineering at the same time – was somewhat higher as he could select the top talents for his group.

On several occasions, I insisted on trips on my own – realizing that it was not easy at all in a country where one cannot even read the street name. An experience of the Beijing railway station confirmed that. It was totally crowded, I did not understand a single sign, public announcements seemed to have directed the streaming of people in all directions and I did not have a clue just how it happened that I arrived in Tianjin where I was supposed to go.

Similar experience I lived through when I was visiting the terracotta warriors then recently discovered buried outside of Xian. On a big square, buses were departing left and right to different destinations. Some good-soul drivers pointed me to the right one and I did get to see this uniquely  non-sensical archaeological site. Burrying a whole terracotta army ! Apparently, the emperor at the time could not come up with a more sensical idea –

And I even caught the right bus back.

China is truly huge and awfully crowded. I will not even mention its Great Wall, everybody knows it. When I was visiting there, China barely started to open up and develop and I am sure that I would not even recognize it nowadays.  

 

Guilin is renown for its unique karst topography with steep hills sticking up like stretched fingers everywhere. And water is all around. We took a trip down the river Li to see more. Of course that my pleasant minder was also with me there. Another trip we made to mountains in Western Sichuan, they reach 6,000 meters - we did not.  

Sichuan is renown for its flavorful and hot dishes. I have fond memories of fantastic and not necessarily peppery-hot meals, coming out of dark cave-like eateries surrounding the university campus where I was. We liked testing all of it with my highly cooperative guide.
Thank you, Jinbai, I trust that you are doing well now and I am really proud of your accomplishments.
 

The students, milling around at the chow-time on the campus, were stuffing themselves quickly from their rice bowls held high at the mouth level. And then some time for ping-pong, everywhere on campus on improvised tables. They beat me any time they wanted - but they were also polite -



Underground beverage fermentation pits are family treasures that take decades for developing the right microbial flora to produce very special alcoholic drinks. Their production is still a mystery to me, despite my advanced fermentation background.
Not a drinker, I hesitatingly tried some at Sichuanese markets. Well, different !  Those markets were a special treat - I barely recognized half of the stuff being sold there.

RUSSIA - the unhappy USSR

This trip to Russia was extraordinary on many counts and that’s why I want to mention it. Despite that it took place more than half a century ago.  It was my first trip abroad and quite an eye opener to the young man that I was at that time.  It was virtually impossible to travel abroad then during the hard-line commie regime in Czechoslovakia of that period when Russia was really the USSR. 
The crude Czech communist propaganda painted it as an absolutely superior “brother forever” and a “shining example” for us and the world.

We had to use a ‘ruse’ to somehow receive special permission for our expedition which had as its purpose kayak exploration of wild rivers in the Caucasus region.  Actually, a mathematician friend of ours was giving then private math-lessons to a highly placed army general – in his preparation for a high-school final exam ( so called maturity exam). 
That, of course, could speak volumes of the contemporary commie leadership educational level.  And through the word of this general it was how we received a very special permit for 12 of us “paddlers” to take four cars, a few kayaks and all the supplies and go expedition-like for a 7,500 km round trip to the Caucasus mountains. 
And that’s how this enchanting and thoroughly shocking trip originated – to shoot some Caucasus white-water river streams.  Crazy idea – just corresponding to our desire for travel and adventures. And what an eye-opening adventure this was ! 
Never mind that Ukraine, Russia and Georgia that we crossed, are nowadays all independent countries - this was one sweeping trip through a part of what was then one country – the totalitarian USSR. We managed to glimpse at what was, and still is, a truly huge country.  In 1961 it was under quite a hard-nosed communist regime where Khrushchev just took the power. And that empire was militaristic, ruthless and dangerous - but poor, brain-washed, isolated and miserable, historically going through one convulsion after another for centuries.

A little confused just what really to expect, the 12 of us packed 3 colorful Skoda cars and one Russian Volga car with gears, supplies, spare parts – and kayaks on roof-tops.  I emphasize the color of the cars – blue, yellow and red Skodas and a baby blue Volga.  These cars became an apparition to the Russian population all along the way. All that simple Russians were familiar with at that time were olive-green military jeeps and black government Volga passenger cars. 

And zipping by, here came this rainbow streak of foreign vehicles – “You must be Americans ! You are from Czechoslovakia ?  Oh-well, I don’t quite know it beyond the Ural mountains” – we actually heard that many  times.

THE UKRAINE

At that time, there were virtually no foreigners allowed into the USSR and we had a strictly limited access visa for a controlled travel route through Russia. Sure enough, shortly after we crossed the border, a police motorcycle with a sidecar started tailing our little convoy. Bored by a monotonous drive through flat Ukraine we could not help playing a cat-and-mouse game with that Russian accompaniment.  Their clumsy motorcycle just could not keep up when we playfully accelerated on the west-east primitive but relatively smooth highway.  Never mind, they must have thought, radio-waves are faster – and we could notice a police crew waiting for us at every major intersection.  Fine, we just kept to our schedule, reporting into the best hotels (for foreigners) at the end of our driving days in major cities along the way. These were pre-booked for us and expecting us. This part made for a boring drive – but extremely educational.

One could not NOT notice huge fields along the way just before the summer harvest – with tiny rarified wheat overgrown by dominating huge weeds.  Rather disastrous agricultural results !  Certainly far from that “shining example” which our commie propaganda was feeding us with at home.  You remember hearing of those “Potemkin’s villages” ? 

Right along the main road we saw those poor and decrepit villages – the fronts of their primitive wooden houses painted silver (!!).  This “beautification” was likely done with the stolen paint from a gas pipeline that was being constructed toward the ‘West’ right along our route.  That was the only type of paint available to the dirt poor local collective “super-farmers”.  This depressing view was rolling right by us -

Our eyes were just becoming wider and wider as we stopped to overnight on our way through Ukraine, then one of the  Soviet Union republics.  We stopped over in Ukraine's large drab cities on our way East:  Uzhgorod, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kiev, Kharkiv, and then we turned due south passing through Russian Rostov, Pyatigorsk – and on towards the Caucasus.  The juxta-position and contrast of what we heard and what we witnessed driving through the European heartland of the USSR was just mindboggling. While none of us did believe the manufactured brainwashing propaganda of the commie regime in Czechoslovakia, what we saw around us ‘on location’ was surpassing all our expectations.  Poor and totally brainwashed local folks !

We were an immediate local attraction wherever we stopped. Our ‘special’ hotels were usually on main squares of our stop-over cities – and that’s where ritual late-afternoon promenades of the locals were taking place daily (something like our grandfathers may have remembered at home).
At the end of one day, maybe in Zhytomyr (or could it have been in Kharkiv ?), a few of us were sitting on the first-floor hotel balcony overlooking the gathered crowd below that was thoroughly examining the line-up of our parked cars, even crawling underneath them. A self appointed crowd-leader had a discourse there.  We could understand Russian rather well:

“You see, comrades, these are undoubtedly the prototypes of our new soviet cars.  They are equipped for all circumstances. Notice the floats on their roof-tops. It may happen that a road ends at a river – no problem for these cars. They flip over and cross the waterway on those floats.” 

We almost flipped from the balcony over this unexpected elevation of our kayaks, obviously never before seen by that population.  Such extraordinary gatherings took place in every city where we stopped.  Incredible encounters as we were mocked by curious crowds –

We spoke Russian and could communicate, engaging in all kinds of discussions. As foreigners (with ‘fancy’ cars !), we were automatically considered to be Americans. Over and over again we were answering curious questions fired from the gathering crowds – who are you ? what jobs ? how much salary ? these were test cars ? – NO, just our cars - and THAT proved to have been just too much for the inquisitors.  Once, after an awkwardly silent pause, a self-appointed crowd leader just declared with a stone face:  “But Gagarin - you don’t have !” – and with the air of victorious superiority he walked away.

Russians are marvelously hospitable and warm people – totally unfortunate though, historically.  For centuries, their rulers just brutally have kept them down.

TOWARD CAUCASUS

The deeper south we reached, the more disorganized the country was – and our police supervision eventually lost track of us as we were approaching the Caucasus where we had to, at least symbolically, also touch its highest mountain in Europe – Mt. Elbrus (15,554 ft = 5,642 m). Not acclimatized, we experienced the high altitude sickness already when reaching the mid station Priyut.  The side-trip to Mt Elbrus led through many kilometers of a gorgeous wild river valley (Baksan) where one could spend the rest of life shooting its boiling rapids.

We had just a small exposure to it all, mother nature was overwhelming and our itinerary crowded.  But it was all worth it.  No propaganda, just wonderful mountains and endless whitewater streams –

Caucasus  mountains have been dividing continents and cultures since times immemorial.  With a marvel of a road cutting wildly through them – the Georgian Military Road.  One cannot forget the multitudes of wild road switchbacks and not less wild car horn sounds echoing through the valleys as trucks barreled along – when they were not stuck in an endless line-up. The Road is a bewildering mountain range passage that brings northern travelers, not quite safely, across and down south into the plains of Georgia with Tbilisi as its capital and our next destination.

GEORGIA

Quite a different country, different folks and different attitudes.  Despite its long-term association with the Soviet empire, there is a big difference between Georgians and their Russian neighbors across the Caucasus.  Even their simple white shirts and dark pants or skirts strike a more Italian-like resemblance, making a more elegant impression than the lack of taste we noted in rather insular Ukraine that did not seem to have any notion of the rest of the world.

Then locally, we wanted to see Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.  No dice, not allowed, it was not on our visa itinerary, end of discussion.  So we turned West and continued driving toward Sukhumi on the Black Sea – who will see the sea first ? Many of us had never seen a sea before. Finally !

Recently, I have read somewhere:  “Sukhumi – a beautiful decay”.  Yes, Sukhumi was scenic and simple when we visited – however, mildly said, the region there has been rather tumultuous.

TURNING HOME
At the end of our final land-trip leg was Sochi – a Russian seaside resort town (the Caucasian Riviera), recently made famous through the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.  We also relaxed there for a few beautiful days –
Eventually, we had our cars loaded onto a ship – funny to see them hoisted high, floating on a crane high above our heads. Around, we could not miss a whole bunch of very good-looking girls getting ready to board the same ship.  As we chatted, they turned up to be members of Beryozka dance troupe.  Their company made it easier for us to leave the Sochi paradise and we were looking forward to our sea voyage.  Next morning of the departure, however, a blizzard roared in with 5m waves. 
 

Our huge ship sailed alright but pitched and rolled in the rough seas.  That was not too good for us land-lubbers and my buddy and I wanted to sleep outside in the fresh air, eventually finding a nook right behind the ship’s stack – overlooking the main deck.  That way, we could see the ballerinas promenading right below apparently looking for us.  Our 'destabilized' stomachs, however, made us remain sheepishly in hiding.  The Beryozka ensemble left the boat next day at the next stop-over in Yalta, or was it Sevastopol ?
At the end of our sea voyage was the Ukraine port of Odessa.
The remaining land leg took us relatively fast from Odessa all the way home to Praha.
We covered about 7,500 km through a difficult-to-visit USSR.  We saw and experienced.

And I think that I am digesting this whole trip – still.

The UK – Wales Pub Crawl

Everybody has been to the UK, everybody knows it – even cousin Marta does. OK, but not everybody has been to the ICI, Ltd. (Imperial Chemical Industries).  This was the largest chemicals producer in the UK (founded in 1926) until it was taken over by AkzoNobel in 2008 and dismantled.
It also developed and operated the world’s biggest bio-reactor which, at that time, interested me. I got to actually see that bio-behemoth that was 10 times the size of the largest conventional bioreactors. 
As it happened, I got invited to talk shop at the most impressive ICI research headquarters located half-way between Liverpool and Manchester. In the middle of nowhere, only fields all around it – and that very location in the fields is of importance to my story here.

All done, I was looking out of the window of one of the bosses’ office there when he mentioned, pointing outside, “They are all rentals” – meaning the cars parked on a fairly big lot. Obviously seeing a big questionmark on my face, he added an explanation:  “We are somewhat isolated here and our people need cars to get around – so we have a whole fleet of rental cars available.  Would you like to spin one for your days in England ?”

Actually, I was just contemplating what would I do for those remaining 5 days that I had in England. 
The offer couldn’t come at a better time – and I found myself on the roads of “UK West”. Welsh castles – my educated head suggested and I added “pubs” to that cultural idea.
The cozy rustic charm of English pubs is well known and I was not familiar with it at that time.  I glanced at the map and then, dutifully on the left-hand side of the road, the engine of my ‘rental’ just purred –.

A few miles and there they were, the famous ancient Welsh castles, or distinguished ruins of them.
I recall Conwy, Caernarfon, Aberystwyth, Criccieth – and several pubs in each of the villages with impossible Welsh names that I drove through. History to contemplate, rugged coast and mountain vistas to enjoy, some stop-over beers to taste – and here came juuust a tiny bit of a disappointment :  There was hardly any food in those lovely pubs !
Of course that I remember hearing about that - but it was so hard to believe that those cozy places wouldn't feed you.
I guess that things are getting better on that front.

But then, those local beers were not quite fitting my Czech beer palate either.  But this little disenchantment did not bother me at all as I drove through impossibly narrow country roads hemmed in by hedges and hand-piled walls of black stones, even roofs of farmhouses scattered through the countryside were covered with that black slate.
Strange and haunting.

To make a circle, I had to turn away from the Wales coast – inland, into England. First road sign mentioned Stratford-upon-Avon – that invariably meant Shakespeare !
OK, why not ?  Take in one play perhaps. I drove in and they played, you would not guess, Romeo and Juliet, my goodness !
One cannot miss that – and I did not.

It happened to be a new staging of the play in a contemporary set up – very controversial (Romeo drove a car !). The theatre critics and I had something to talk about for years. Nothing could beat that and I headed straight back to return the ‘rental’ up 'north' in Runcorn - and flew home.
Thank you ICI !
A bit of the UK in a very unusual and unplanned way. I have been to England not much, but several times, however, hardly anything can beat this whimsical and scenic trip full of little happenings !

THAILAND – 5.5 Tons of Gold

I must see that ! The Golden Buddha, discovered by accident when a chip of clay chipped off as it was being moved in 1954 and a rope broke.

Made in 13-14^th century (Sukhothai Dynasty), the statue was eventually completely plastered over to prevent it from being stolen by Burmese invaders in 1767. Moved several times, it was largely forgotten for almost 200 years.  Now it sits pretty in a large new (2010) building of the Wat Traimit Temple. Considering human nature, it is a small miracle that no attempts have been made to steal the statue whose gold content alone is worth some US$ 250 million.

I dropped in on Bangkok on my way back from India to connect with the well known Asian Institute of Technology.  As a European, I was a bit disappointed by the relative novelty of Bangkog (Thai capital since 1801).  Ilustrious as it is, most of its picturesque temples and pagodas date back only a few centuries – thus made a rather ”Disney-land” impression on me. Bangkok now dwarfs other Thailand’s urban centers in terms of importance – and also in chronic and crippling traffic congestion.  Located in the delta of Chao Phraya river, Bangkog is practically afloat on water – and sinking through soil subsidence. Make a depression in soil with your heel and it quickly fills with water. There are fears that the city may be submerged by 2030 -

A turist destination, the city is well known for its vibrant street life and cultural landmarks, as well as its notorious red-light districts.  It was somewhat shocking when the first thing the hotel employee carrying my suitcase asked me “Sir, would you like a scotch and a girl ?”  (Hmmm, I declined both).

Worth seeing is the traditional Thai "finger dance". The girls doing it are trained for it in special schools since early childhood. The flowing and gracious movement of hands and fingers is to behold. Take a look in this video -

 

I don’t remember how it came to it, but a lasting impression left my visit to a huge rice mill – one with a special environmental twist. From a multi-ton supply of rice delivered on several large barges every day, the operation did not discharge any polluting substance whatsoever.  All was recycled, all was used. It was the owner himself who used his imagination, clout, funds and engineering education to design, build and operate a series of interlocking systems accomplishing this goal. For example, the waste rice hulls fueled his electricity-generating plant and the residual ashes were being used to produce cinder blocks for building construction. 

Among affiliated operations converting other rice-processing waste products was also production of chickens, fish and bananas – these productions are integrated into so called “polyculture”. No waste – that is the future that we need. All this was an amazing large-scale toy for the enthusiastic well-to-do mill owner.

I cannot say that I got to know Thailand, this was just a short visit to Bangkok – but it left an impression -
Also a culinary one - it is hard to walk along the streets of Bangkok with food temptations all along. Have a taste of this exotic food - or at least take a look :





 

IRAN – In a Spin

It was quite a shocker and I did not quite know just what was going on. A loud procession of people was pushing through a Tehran street – beating themselves with whips and chains chanting something I did not undersand. It did dawn on me that they were in a kind of religious frenzy. Flagelantes, I was later told and this was Ashura, the holiest day of the shiite muslim religion. The sight of their naked bloodied backs is still haunting me. Whoever does this, even in a religious ceremony, is in some kind of a trouble.

And so they were – and this was nothing compared to what the Iranians had to live through a little later. Revolution, regime change, mass arrests and executions, a vicious war, oppression. Beautiful and potentially rich Iran has become a pariah state, embargoed, excluded and isolated.
As I arrived in Tehran, way then, at my first glance I realized that I had not seen so many expensive cars in my lifetime. That was a long time ago and particularly Tehran was full of very rich people. Actually, like so often throughout the history of mankind, that probably was the undoing of the whole society.

Obviously, the population just could not absorb the pace of modernization that the shah introduced – unevenly and unsensitively, mainly financed through the oil revenues. Accompanied by progressive oppression in order to control the country. His rule became more and more detached from the reality and more despotic. The system was falling apart and I came in just at the cusp of a historical moment – how many of them ancient Persia has gone through ? During my brief stay, I visited several campuses and as students were talking to me, I felt the underground social tremors in our discussions. And then, soon after I left, the shah was ousted and the Ayatollah (Ruhollah Khomeini) came to power and sheer madness took over.
Followed an exodus from the country that went into its historical spasms to last for decades. I met many Iranians since – in Canada and in the USA. One of Iranian students in my own lab decided to return – despite our warnings as I happen to know something about “revolutions”. Her brother was killed then and she was persecuted when she returned home. She had to work in a factory for “re-education”. Eventually, she was lucky and a decade later ended up in Australia where her family has been living happily ever after.

As I was staying in Tehran for only perhaps a week, I truly only had some quick “impressions” during my stay. Tehran was extremely modern and throbbing with life – nestled in a huge sloping flat-bottom valley surrounded by high mountains.



We made a trip to a ski resort (Shemshak), one of the best kept secrets of Iran, perfect alpine skiing – so I also briefly checked it out there, look :

I was fascinated by the way bread was made, practically on the streets in fired owens filled with pebbles. One can have Sangak bread plain or with sesame on top. Absolutely delightful.
Look here, but don’t try to do this at home :

And Iranian food ?
From an  internet  discussion:
● Why is Iranian food so bland ?
● I like Iranian food, their kebabs, however, most of the dishes have no spice in it, and you can't really taste much flavor. Arab food in comparison has more flavor, Afghan food is more spicy and obviously Pakistani/indian food is really spicy and flavorful
● Lol. Arab food better than Iranian food, are you kidding me ? Arab food is literally boiled meat. Iranian food is not overdone with spices, which can hide the quality of meat and ingredients. Spicy food, despite being tasty, can be a real copout for any chef as you can literally load anything with spices and they will all taste good if one likes spicy food. But what about the subtle hint of herbs, the freshness of the ingredients, the taste of actual meat, the interplay between pulses and vegetables. If you can't appreciate non spicy quality food, it's not the food, you just have an undeveloped palate.
● I agree Iranian food is very classy, it is almost looks like French food. Iranians as a people are also very classy. However we are talking about flavors here. I didn't find the food too flavorful, despite being very elegant/classy.
● It's like asking why is Indian/Pakistani food so spicy ?  (Now, go figure !)

ISRAEL – The Craddle

Israel is a country new and yet ancient. Far-reaching history and legends that have their origins in the murky times of humanity. The cradle of our Western civilization that rests in monotheism and kept reading the Bible for millennia. I certainly wanted to visit there, to pay my homage.

The Middle East has been a place of continuous unrest for thousands of years. It is in a flux today – and who thinks that some solution is possible to that troubled region may be deluding themselves.
I do not intend to get involved with politics in this blog – but that may be outright impossible when mentioning anything to do with the Middle East. Arguments, discussion - and conflicts - are a way of life there. And, again, going millenia back.
I had to notice right away as I was flying to Israel from Iran. Two enemies ancient and current. David and Goliath.
I have never been subjected to a more thorough personal security search as before boarding that Israeli ELAL flight from Tehran.  And it was before the time of the terrorist threat. And then the flying – the plane flew direct but not to Israel - rather towards Greece, way up north. Somewhere close to Greece, all of a sudden the plane banked turning left and headed due south to Tel Aviv - following a strange “L”-shape trajectory.
It was not allowed into a good part of the Arab air-space, that's why. Good neighbors, you see.

And so finally I was there – in the holy land. It used to take pilgrims, just like crusaders, perhaps half a year to reach that destination. Tel Aviv is flat and modern. A big city noisy with traffic. My colleagues from Tel Aviv were expecting me and soon I was on my way to Technion in Haifa.
Haifa was a more likeable destination – a smaller European-like port city, hilly and it sounded all kinds of languages. I had a professional connection there centered around growing algae and purifying water. There is a lot of excellent research done in Israel. 
The population of Israel is well connected to the outside world and its level of education by far exceeds the Middle East average.

What remains strong in my memories, however, is the historical aspect of my visit with Jerusalem at its focus. And so there I was, in the crooked streets of the Old City, home to many sites of seminal religious importance, among them the Temple Mount and its Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, the Garden Tomb and al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jerusalem is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  Israelis and Palestinians both claim Jerusalem as their capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power; however, neither claim is widely recognized internationally.

During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.

 

Archaeologists have unearthed a 7,000-year-old settlement in northern Jerusalem from the early Chalcolithic period. They describe it as the oldest discovery of its kind in the region The part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE.

In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters

 

While most of the revered Jerusalem places are sort of low lying, the most recognizable landmark is the  Dome of the Rock (Al-Haram al-Sharif), a shrine located on the Temple Mount, initially completed in 691 CE on the site where the Jewish First Temple and Second Temple had stood.  It is an amazing structure with its exquisite art work patterned after Byzantine churches and palaces.

 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre – The church contains, according to traditions dating back at least to the fourth century, the two holiest sites in Christendom:  the site where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, known as "Calvary" in Latin and "Golgotha" in Greek, and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected.
 

The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic, and to a lesser degree the Egyptian Copts, Syriacs and Ethiopians. Meanwhile, Protestants including Anglicans have no permanent presence in the Church and they generally prefer the Garden Tomb, elsewhere in Jerusalem, as either the true place of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, or at least a more evocative site to commemorate those events.

And I ended up disappointed.  Jerusalem, being the center of Christianity, is steeped not only in history but particularly in religion with its legends, rituals - and power-struggles. The memorable places in Jerusalem were crowded with pilgrims and tourists and far from serene, majestic and “holy” as I imagined it. Over the time, different churches made various claims and there has been incessant fighting over these “holy” places.

There has been a perpetual religious frenzy of (competing) religions that have not hesitated to clobber each other over the head at any opportunity in the name of God - to this day.  
Not my kind of spirituality –

Due to its position and history, Israel lives in a permanent state of alert. Its army is strong, omnipresent and effective, called to smaller-scale actions frequently.
It conducted several wars with its belligerent neighbors in the recent decades. It also built a barrier wall at critical border stretches that cannot be overlooked.
How many walls need to be built to keep us from each other's throat ? It is perhaps better to share our meals, prepare them and enjoy together : 

Israeli cuisine comprises local dishes by people native to Israel and dishes brought to Israel by Jews from the Diaspora from abroad. Israeli Jewish fusion cuisine has been developing, particularly lately influenced by immigration. 

Kosher foods are those that conform to the regulations of Jewish dietary law. The Torah specifically forbids eating of 4 animals, the hare, hyrax, camel, and pig.