Israel

Unmistakably diverse—this is how Israel can be described in a few words. The north of the country stretches from the Mediterranean coast to the Golan Heights. There the river Jordan, the Sea of Galilee and places like Nazareth and Capernaum are the destinations of many Christian travelers. The port city and high-tech metropolis of Haifa and even more so Tel Aviv show how much the young state of Israel, founded in 1948, is shaped by the immigrants who come to the country from many parts of the world. Tel Aviv's founders, for example, dreamed of a New York on the Mediterranean. Today, Tel Aviv-Yafo is perhaps not quite as big, but it is as colorful and diverse as the melting pot on the east coast of the USA. And you can taste this variety in Israeli cuisine, by the way. Israel's south, where the desert comes alive, also offers a great variety: a diver's paradise in the crystal clear waters of the Red Sea, impressive nature parks and great historical sites from ancient times such as the rock fortress Masada, heroically defended against Roman troops, or the settlement of Qumran, where more than 850 scrolls from ancient Judaism have been found. And of course Jerusalem. An impressive city, where deep roots of culture and religion can be found. For the three great monotheistic religions Jerusalem is a holy or even the holy city. Nowhere else in the world are Judaism, Christianity and Islam closer to each other—geographically at least. Whoever experiences the Wailing Wall, the interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Dome of the Rock, gets an idea of what has moved people for thousands of years.