0:00:04 > 0:00:07I'm embarking on a new railway adventure
0:00:07 > 0:00:09that will take me beyond Europe.
0:00:11 > 0:00:12I'll be using this,
0:00:12 > 0:00:17my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide dated 1913
0:00:17 > 0:00:20which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel
0:00:20 > 0:00:22for the British tourist.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25It told travellers where to go, what to see,
0:00:25 > 0:00:29and how to navigate the thousands of miles of tracks
0:00:29 > 0:00:31crisscrossing the Continent.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35Now, a century later, I'm using my copy to understand
0:00:35 > 0:00:38how the great powers of Europe shaped lives and lands
0:00:38 > 0:00:40outside their continent.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49I want to rediscover those places and people before their way of life
0:00:49 > 0:00:52was transformed forever by the advent of war.
0:01:08 > 0:01:12My journey begins in modern-day Israel.
0:01:12 > 0:01:13This, 100 years ago,
0:01:13 > 0:01:17was known as Palestine or the Holy Land.
0:01:17 > 0:01:21It was home to the prophet Abraham and to Jesus Christ
0:01:21 > 0:01:23and the city of Jerusalem in particular
0:01:23 > 0:01:27is revered by Jews and Christians and Muslims,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30and whether you live in the Americas or Europe,
0:01:30 > 0:01:32vast swathes of Africa, the Middle East,
0:01:32 > 0:01:34or even Australasia,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37here, you may find your cultural roots
0:01:37 > 0:01:40and like the traveller of a century ago,
0:01:40 > 0:01:44I feel the thrill of arriving at a spiritual home.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52I'll be following my Bradshaw's to the port of Haifa,
0:01:52 > 0:01:56before heading south to Tel Aviv and Jaffa.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00From there, I'll travel to Jerusalem where I'll cross the barrier
0:02:00 > 0:02:01which now separates Israel
0:02:01 > 0:02:04from the Palestinian territory of the West Bank,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06on my way to Bethlehem.
0:02:06 > 0:02:08I'll then follow my guide to the Dead Sea,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11before heading south to Be'er Sheva and the Negev Desert,
0:02:11 > 0:02:13where my journey ends.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20In Jerusalem, I'll visit the holy sites...
0:02:24 > 0:02:28'..discover how the Holy Land left a mark on British royals...'
0:02:28 > 0:02:32- You're telling me that British kings were tattooed?- Yes.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40..and follow in the footsteps of a celebrated British hero.
0:02:42 > 0:02:43And up we go!
0:02:44 > 0:02:47Wow. What sort of targets does TE Lawrence select?
0:02:47 > 0:02:52He blows up substantial sections of the Hejaz Railway.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Travellers following my guidebook in 1913
0:03:07 > 0:03:09arrived on the Western fringes of an empire
0:03:09 > 0:03:11which once stretched from Eastern Europe
0:03:11 > 0:03:15and the Balkans to the Middle East and North Africa.
0:03:15 > 0:03:18But since the closing decades of the 19th century,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Britain, France and Russia had regarded the Ottoman Empire
0:03:22 > 0:03:24as the sick man of Europe,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28and it occupied a region vital to their own imperial interests.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33My first stop will be the city of Haifa,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36which Bradshaw's describes as "pleasantly situated
0:03:36 > 0:03:37"at the base of Mount Carmel
0:03:37 > 0:03:40"on the south side of the Bay of Acre.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42"The mount is frequently mentioned in the Bible
0:03:42 > 0:03:45"and has always been held in reverence."
0:03:45 > 0:03:47But 100 years ago,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51the pilgrims were being joined by modern-day tourists -
0:03:51 > 0:03:56people drawn not so much by the Torah or the Bible or the Koran
0:03:56 > 0:03:59as by a much more modern sort of book.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09At the turn of the 20th century,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13Palestine and the port of Haifa were developing rapidly.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16As the Ottoman Empire foundered, immigrants from Russia
0:04:16 > 0:04:20and the western European powers established new enclaves.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29They brought with them innovations
0:04:29 > 0:04:32such as the telegraph and the railways,
0:04:32 > 0:04:36which made travel to the Holy Land easier and encouraged tourism.
0:04:43 > 0:04:45I get the impression from my Bradshaw's guide
0:04:45 > 0:04:48that travelling to the Holy Land at the beginning of the 20th century
0:04:48 > 0:04:50was regarded as quite an adventure.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53It's recorded that there are no direct ships from Europe,
0:04:53 > 0:04:54you have to change in Egypt
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and then Bradshaw's says that some of the holy sites
0:04:57 > 0:05:00are spoilt by the tawdriness of the surroundings
0:05:00 > 0:05:03as though the guide book expected the shrines
0:05:03 > 0:05:05to be kept in a pristine state,
0:05:05 > 0:05:08not appreciating that actually, they exist
0:05:08 > 0:05:11in a country which is hot and vibrant.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21When travellers following my 1913 guide reached Haifa,
0:05:21 > 0:05:25they would have been intrigued by a new landmark on the slopes
0:05:25 > 0:05:29of Mount Carmel - a new faith had been established here
0:05:29 > 0:05:32and today, its spiritual heart attracts
0:05:32 > 0:05:33half a million visitors a year.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43In modern Haifa, the most spectacular religious shrine
0:05:43 > 0:05:47belongs to the Baha'is, a sect who share
0:05:47 > 0:05:52with Islam, Christianity and Judaism a belief in one god.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06The shrine is a modern reconstruction of the 1909 original.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09It houses the remains of the faith's founder, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13also known as the Bab, who died in 1850.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21In the years before my guide was published,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24the Baha'i faith was also spreading to Britain.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29An artist from Bath called Ethel Rosenberg converted in 1899.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36'The religion now has around five million followers worldwide,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39'many of whom come here on pilgrimages and some to volunteer.'
0:06:43 > 0:06:45- Hello.- Hi.- Hi.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Can I give you a hand with the dead heading?
0:06:47 > 0:06:49- Of course you can.- Of course. - Thank you.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Have you any idea how many volunteers you are
0:06:54 > 0:06:56and how many countries you come from?
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Rose is from Kenya. I'm from the United States.
0:06:59 > 0:07:04I have a friend here from Australia and New Zealand.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06There's people from Canada, from the United Kingdom.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Think of any country, you name it, the Baha'is have a presence there.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13This is famously a country which has been beset
0:07:13 > 0:07:15by political problems and conflicts
0:07:15 > 0:07:18but do you feel that in Haifa, there's quite a feeling between
0:07:18 > 0:07:20the different religions, different faiths?
0:07:20 > 0:07:24There is. I really feel like this is a really welcoming place
0:07:24 > 0:07:25to anybody who comes here.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34The major faiths are all present in Haifa,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38which is one of the most successfully mixed cities in Israel
0:07:38 > 0:07:41and the only one in which the buses run on the Sabbath.
0:07:44 > 0:07:45By the early 20th century,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47travellers were pilgrim tourists,
0:07:47 > 0:07:52visiting the religious sites as part of a modern-style holiday.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Interested not just in the shrines, but also the sounds,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58the smells, and of course, the food.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01- Hello!- Hi, Michael.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04I see that falafel is your speciality.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07- Yeah.- What is falafel? Chickpeas?
0:08:07 > 0:08:13Yeah, it's made of chickpeas and parsley and a lot of herbs
0:08:13 > 0:08:15and lot of love as well.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18I can't believe how skilfully he's putting them
0:08:18 > 0:08:22into those little cups and then just dropping them into the boiling fat.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25He's done it over, like, 40 years.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30These spicy fritters are a typical Middle Eastern fast food
0:08:30 > 0:08:33and recipes may be handed down through generations.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35So, Michel, what's the technique? Let me see.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39- Just fill that up.- Yeah, then push it out.- And then push it out.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Well, that looks simple enough.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45You have to turn it around with the other hand.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47- A little.- OK.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50- Is that looking good? - That's good.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53And a bit lower to the fryer. Yay! And in it goes.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57I think you can be in our staff so we'll put you on the shift next week.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00I think you'd get a lot of complaints.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10The falafels should be eaten piping hot with plenty of sauce.
0:09:13 > 0:09:14- Thank you, Michel.- Welcome.
0:09:14 > 0:09:19So, here we are - falafel with this sesame seed sauce.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23With the sesame sauce. It's called tahina in Arabic. Tahina.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26The best tahina comes from the West Bank.
0:09:27 > 0:09:34Crispy. Mm! Delicious! So spicy. Superb.
0:09:34 > 0:09:35Thank you, Michael.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50If the sights and smells of Haifa seem exotic to me now,
0:09:50 > 0:09:53imagine the impact on early-20th-century Britons.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57New railway lines were opening up the region
0:09:57 > 0:10:00making trade and travel for Europeans
0:10:00 > 0:10:02practical, safe and affordable.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07I'm meeting the manager of Israel's Railway Museum, Chen Melling
0:10:07 > 0:10:10at Haifa's original station built in 1903.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17- Hello, Chen.- Hi, Michael. Nice to meet you.- Great to see you.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21And what a superb setting with the original Haifa station
0:10:21 > 0:10:25and then all this rolling stock, current and, of course, historic.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29What line was this original Haifa station on?
0:10:29 > 0:10:32The station was built for the Hejaz railway's branch to Haifa.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35While the line was built as a branch, it eventually turned out
0:10:35 > 0:10:38to be the most important part of the system,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41both in its operations and income
0:10:41 > 0:10:44as well in its impact on the local surroundings.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Begun by the Ottomans in 1903,
0:10:49 > 0:10:50the Jezreel Valley branch line
0:10:50 > 0:10:52gave access to the sea
0:10:52 > 0:10:54from the Hejaz Railway
0:10:54 > 0:10:57which ran between Damascus and the holy city of Medina
0:10:57 > 0:10:59in present-day Saudi Arabia.
0:11:01 > 0:11:02When the Hejaz Railway was built,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04was it one of many lines in the Holy Land?
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Actually, it was only the second,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09the first one being the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway
0:11:09 > 0:11:12which served the Jewish and Christian pilgrims
0:11:12 > 0:11:13going to Jerusalem.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16This is similar to the Hejaz Railway's publicised purpose
0:11:16 > 0:11:19of serving the Muslims going on pilgrimage
0:11:19 > 0:11:21to Mecca and Medina in the Hejaz.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25But as the railway network grew, so too did British nervousness
0:11:25 > 0:11:27that Turkish troops could use it
0:11:27 > 0:11:30to threaten Egypt, India, and the Suez Canal.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32The British were worried about the Hejaz Railway
0:11:32 > 0:11:34even during construction.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37They almost came to an open war between the British and the Turkish
0:11:37 > 0:11:40around 1906 when the Turkish planned a construction
0:11:40 > 0:11:42of a branch from the main line to Aqaba Bay.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46This was never built due to the British opposition to it.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48Although that extension was prevented,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51the Jezreel Valley branch ran until the 1950s.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Today, there's hope that trains will travel along this section once more.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Now a new line is being built roughly along the same route
0:12:01 > 0:12:06which would serve the new and old towns along the edges of the valley.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09The railway is now a major part of economic life here.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11And how does a railway enthusiast like you feel about that?
0:12:11 > 0:12:13It's utter joy for me.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15In the last 25 years, it's a complete change.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23The railways were a source of high tension at the time of my guidebook.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29Today, there are other reminders of the region's ongoing conflicts.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40I'm following my guide book along the coast, bound 50 miles south.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45My next stop, Tel Aviv, doesn't get a mention in my Bradshaw's guide
0:12:45 > 0:12:51because it was founded only in 1909 to the north of the port of Jaffa.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53But at the beginning of the 20th century,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56the numbers were swelled by Jewish refugees
0:12:56 > 0:12:59escaping persecution across Europe
0:12:59 > 0:13:02who swelled the growing city of Tel Aviv.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Is it OK? Would you like my book?
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Six railway lines bring passengers
0:13:19 > 0:13:22to Tel Aviv from all over the country.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25With large commercial and technological districts,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28the city that was embryonic at the time of my guide
0:13:28 > 0:13:30is now Israel's metropolis.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37From reading Bradshaw's, you'd imagine
0:13:37 > 0:13:40that the Holy Land consisted of narrow streets
0:13:40 > 0:13:45winding between ancient synagogues and Christian churches and mosques.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49None of that would prepare you for Tel Aviv
0:13:49 > 0:13:51with its high-rise buildings
0:13:51 > 0:13:56and its railways threaded down the centre of modern highways.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00It's a kind of blueprint for the city of the future.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Today, Tel Aviv has a reputation as a party town
0:14:13 > 0:14:17with a large international community and a vibrant beach-side nightlife.
0:14:19 > 0:14:20So I head for the shore.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30- Hello, guys.- Hello. - Are you having fun?- Yeah.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33- Are you from Tel Aviv?- No. - Not originally.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37- I mean, now, we are.- Now you are? What? You're immigrants?
0:14:37 > 0:14:39Yeah. From the States, from France.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42Tel Aviv appears to be the Israeli city where you have fun.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45- Is that right?- Yeah. It's like an oasis.- I'd say so.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47There's this expression that you pray in Jerusalem
0:14:47 > 0:14:50and you work in Haifa and you have fun in Tel Aviv. Is that right?
0:14:50 > 0:14:53- I think people... - That's a way to summarise it.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- People here work.- Yeah. - Did you just call us lazy?
0:14:56 > 0:14:59Sometimes. We're actually on the job right now.
0:14:59 > 0:15:00We are paid beach-dwellers.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Actually, they say that the nightlife here
0:15:06 > 0:15:09doesn't get going really until about 1:00am
0:15:09 > 0:15:10but I've got a busy day tomorrow
0:15:10 > 0:15:15so for me, it's an early night, into bed with a good book.
0:15:32 > 0:15:34In all of my travels,
0:15:34 > 0:15:37I can't remember waking up in such a young city.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42I want to find out how Tel Aviv grew out of the old sea port of Jaffa.
0:15:44 > 0:15:45I'm meeting Tomer Chelouche
0:15:45 > 0:15:49at the monument to the city's founders, his ancestors.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53Tomer, if I understand correctly,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56your great grandfather was one of the founders of Tel Aviv.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58- Tell me about that.- That's right.
0:15:58 > 0:16:03The Chelouche family was one of the first founders of Tel Aviv.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06The story starts 170 years ago
0:16:06 > 0:16:08when they came here from Northern Africa.
0:16:08 > 0:16:09They took part in the construction
0:16:09 > 0:16:13of the first Jewish city in the world - Tel Aviv.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18Tomer's family came to the Holy Land in the 1840s.
0:16:18 > 0:16:2240 years later, Jews fleeing anti-Semitic riots and massacres,
0:16:22 > 0:16:25called pogroms, in Russia and Eastern Europe
0:16:25 > 0:16:28began to arrive in a wave of immigration
0:16:28 > 0:16:30known as the First Aliyah.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35The ancient Biblical name for the Jewish homeland is Zion,
0:16:35 > 0:16:41and from 1897, the idea of creating a Jewish national home in Palestine
0:16:41 > 0:16:44spawned a political movement known as Zionism.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48It grew strongly at the turn of the 20th century
0:16:48 > 0:16:50as further European pogroms
0:16:50 > 0:16:54propelled a second wave of Jewish refugees
0:16:54 > 0:16:55towards these shores.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Their first new city was Tel Aviv.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03It was founded in 1909. Tell me how it happened.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05It's a magnificent story.
0:17:05 > 0:17:0860 Jewish families bought a huge lot of land
0:17:08 > 0:17:11which they parcelled out between them in a lottery.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15They took 120 sea shells.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Each family drew two sea shells
0:17:18 > 0:17:22and eventually, they parcelled out the land between them.
0:17:22 > 0:17:28And you can see that already in 1949, when they constructed this monument,
0:17:28 > 0:17:29they were thinking about the dream
0:17:29 > 0:17:32that this city will become eventually
0:17:32 > 0:17:34the city of skyscrapers here in Israel.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36The dream has come true.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42Successive migrations of hundreds of thousands of Jews
0:17:42 > 0:17:47were to cause unrest and discontent among the native Arab community.
0:17:49 > 0:17:51And as the Jewish population grew,
0:17:51 > 0:17:55so a momentous cultural shift began to take place in the Holy Land.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01This beautiful square is named after Hayim Nahman Bialik,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03the national poet of Israel.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06A century ago, he gave the Jewish people
0:18:06 > 0:18:08both their rhyme and their reason.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Bialik, a Ukrainian Jew born in 1873,
0:18:14 > 0:18:16helped to establish modern Hebrew
0:18:16 > 0:18:18as the national language
0:18:18 > 0:18:22and is revered today as the Israeli Shakespeare.
0:18:22 > 0:18:23Hello, Ayelet. I'm Michael.
0:18:23 > 0:18:24'Ayelet Shlonsky
0:18:24 > 0:18:28'is curator of the museum at the poet's Tel Aviv home.'
0:18:28 > 0:18:31First of all, the house - complete surprise to me.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34I did not expect anything as colourful as this.
0:18:34 > 0:18:36What does it tell us about Bialik?
0:18:36 > 0:18:41Bialik was the architect of the Hebraic culture.
0:18:41 > 0:18:47He helps to create institutions such as the Tel Aviv Museum,
0:18:47 > 0:18:49the Hebraic University,
0:18:49 > 0:18:50Israeli Opera.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57Creating a new national language was seen as crucial to unite
0:18:57 > 0:19:01the diverse European Jewish populations arriving in Palestine.
0:19:03 > 0:19:04It also heightened awareness
0:19:04 > 0:19:07of the pogroms taking place across Eastern Europe.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13His big creation was actually to go
0:19:13 > 0:19:18and write about the Kishinev pogrom, 1903.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23Synagogues are being burnt and people are being killed
0:19:23 > 0:19:29and he blames the Jewish people not to do anything about the pogrom.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33We cannot just sit quiet when other people
0:19:33 > 0:19:36create pogroms against us.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Bialik's work is so important to Jewish culture
0:19:42 > 0:19:46that studying it is compulsory for children in Israeli schools.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Well, the house also has a very, very beautiful archive.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55And this, then, I assume is his poetry, is it?
0:19:55 > 0:19:57Yes, this for example,
0:19:57 > 0:20:03is a poet about his own source of inspiration.
0:20:03 > 0:20:05Hm. The struggle of the poet.
0:20:05 > 0:20:06Mm-hm. And it says...
0:20:06 > 0:20:10SHE SPEAKS IN HEBREW
0:20:18 > 0:20:20Let me read the English translation.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24"I didn't win light in a wind fall,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27"nor by deed of a father's will
0:20:27 > 0:20:31"I hewed my light from granite, I quarried my heart."
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Wow, beautiful in Hebrew, beautiful in English.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Yes. Bialik was a beautiful man, you know.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50In 1913, the newly established city of Tel Aviv
0:20:50 > 0:20:52and cultural leaders like Bialik
0:20:52 > 0:20:55were laying the foundations for a new Jewish state.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01Following more than two decades of chronic unrest
0:21:01 > 0:21:03between native Arabs and Jewish immigrants
0:21:03 > 0:21:07and the deaths of hundreds of British military peacekeepers,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10the State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17The need to provide a home for hundreds of thousands
0:21:17 > 0:21:20of Jewish refugees after the Holocaust
0:21:20 > 0:21:22added to the political pressures.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27Hundreds of thousands of Arabs were displaced
0:21:27 > 0:21:31and Palestinians today still remember that as the Catastrophe.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Their demand to return to their former homes
0:21:35 > 0:21:37continues to be fiercely debated.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44But tourists following my Bradshaw's in 1913
0:21:44 > 0:21:46could not have foreseen
0:21:46 > 0:21:50the intensity and scale of the conflict that was to unfold.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09So, from Tell Aviv, the new gateway to Israel,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12towards Jaffa, the old gateway to the Holy Land,
0:22:12 > 0:22:17from one hub to another, there's only one way to go - by bicycle.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21For Edwardian tourists bound for Jerusalem,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Jaffa would have been the first port of call.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27The Eastern Mediterranean is so beautiful.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29This is the way to travel...
0:22:31 > 0:22:33..if you can't go by train, of course.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50So this is Jaffa.
0:22:50 > 0:22:51Bradshaw's tells me,
0:22:51 > 0:22:54"that travellers usually enter the country at Jaffa.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58"The quickest routes from Europe are via Alexandria or Port Said."
0:23:00 > 0:23:04But long before I knew Jaffa to be a city in Israel,
0:23:04 > 0:23:08it was known for something else, famous, actually, around the globe.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16In the late 19th century, Jaffa oranges were big business.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21By 1870, 38 million were dispatched to Europe each year.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26I'm meeting former exporter Yoram Weinberg.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Many people made a living out of this business.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34There was the grower, the picker, the exporter.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39Everybody was happy and this business went up and up and up.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42How did the oranges reach the port?
0:23:42 > 0:23:44There were the convoys of camels
0:23:44 > 0:23:47coming toward the road with the oranges.
0:23:47 > 0:23:54There was a train here on a special, very narrow rail.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58Hundreds of boats coming and going loaded with oranges
0:23:58 > 0:24:03or with people, people going and coming from the ships.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Exports rose steadily, particularly to Britain...
0:24:08 > 0:24:10..and trade was boosted by the railway.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Would I be right to think that while the oranges
0:24:15 > 0:24:18are leaving the port of Jaffa, immigrants are coming in?
0:24:18 > 0:24:20This country was a country of pilgrims.
0:24:20 > 0:24:24There was a good train network here, so many pilgrims came
0:24:24 > 0:24:27and the immigrants always came through the port of Jaffa
0:24:27 > 0:24:30because this is the only entrance.
0:24:30 > 0:24:35Today, the once-Arab port is home to both Arabs and Jews.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Unfortunately, this port disappeared.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43We don't see the activities of port.
0:24:43 > 0:24:49There are some fishermen here but no more business in this port.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09This is Old Jaffa Station,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12built as part of the first railway line constructed in the Holy Land
0:25:12 > 0:25:14at the end of the 19th century
0:25:14 > 0:25:18to take pilgrims from the port of Jaffa to the holy places.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21For the site of Solomon's temple,
0:25:21 > 0:25:24for Calvary where Christ was crucified,
0:25:24 > 0:25:29for the mosque of the golden Dome of the Rock, this was the gateway.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38In Bradshaw's day, the train ran from Jaffa to Jerusalem.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41Today, it leaves from Tel Aviv.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57I'm travelling on the older of two lines
0:25:57 > 0:25:59that existed at the time of my guidebook...
0:26:04 > 0:26:08..sharing the journey with railway historian Tony Travis.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11- Hello, Tony.- Hello, Michael.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14I join you for a great scenic railway journey.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Jaffa to Jerusalem was the first railway line built in the Holy Land.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21- Was it difficult economically and physically?- Yes, both.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24Economically because it was necessary to get a permit
0:26:24 > 0:26:28called a firman from the sultan in Constantinople.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Eventually, a young Jewish entrepreneur from Jerusalem
0:26:32 > 0:26:34called Joseph Navon
0:26:34 > 0:26:39managed, in 1888, to obtain a permit but he couldn't raise any money
0:26:39 > 0:26:43so in the end, he sold the rights to the railway
0:26:43 > 0:26:45to some Catholics in Paris.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Opened in 1892, the French-built line
0:26:49 > 0:26:52was then the largest civil engineering project
0:26:52 > 0:26:53undertaken in the Holy Land.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Traversing the mountains and winding through the valleys of Judaea,
0:26:59 > 0:27:01the 54-mile line crossed iron bridges
0:27:01 > 0:27:04designed by Gustave Eiffel in France.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Who was the line really built for?
0:27:08 > 0:27:10For pilgrims and tourists.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13In particular, they wished to visit the holy places,
0:27:13 > 0:27:15particularly Jerusalem.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20Tourism had grown tremendously from the mid-1850s.
0:27:20 > 0:27:22For example, Thomas Cook & Sons
0:27:22 > 0:27:27opened up the Holy Land to travellers from Egypt in 1869.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30Thereafter, many thousands travelled here
0:27:30 > 0:27:35and then by 1913, there were 40,000 trips on the railway
0:27:35 > 0:27:37by tourists and pilgrims.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40Europeans were keen tourists,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43and their rulers took a political interest in the region
0:27:43 > 0:27:45as it began to modernise,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47at the same time as the Ottoman Empire that ruled it
0:27:47 > 0:27:49continued to weaken.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57During the 1890s, the Ottoman Empire was very close to the German Empire.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01There was a great deal of trade between them
0:28:01 > 0:28:06and I think the British, like the French and other European nations,
0:28:06 > 0:28:08were very concerned.
0:28:08 > 0:28:10There was a great deal of competition
0:28:10 > 0:28:12between the European nations
0:28:12 > 0:28:15to make their presence known here
0:28:15 > 0:28:17and this is seen still to this day.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34For millennia, Jerusalem has been a centre point
0:28:34 > 0:28:37for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40Since the Middle Ages, the old city has been divided
0:28:40 > 0:28:43into the religious quarters that we find here today.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01"Jerusalem," says Bradshaw's, "is an irregular square
0:29:01 > 0:29:07"enclosed within walls 38.5 feet high and 2.5 miles in length."
0:29:07 > 0:29:10And there's a sketch map to the quarters of the city.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13I remember a map from the 13th century
0:29:13 > 0:29:16which I saw in England's Hereford Cathedral.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20It shows Jerusalem massive in the middle
0:29:20 > 0:29:24and the cities of London and Paris and Rome are small
0:29:24 > 0:29:28and dotted all around because then, in 13th-century Christendom,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32religion was at heart of everything.
0:29:32 > 0:29:36Today, in the 21st century, religion is at the heart of everything
0:29:36 > 0:29:38still for millions of people
0:29:38 > 0:29:41and for them to enter through the Jaffa Gate
0:29:41 > 0:29:44is to come to the very centre of the world.
0:29:56 > 0:30:01Bradshaw's dedicates many paragraphs to the city's holiest sites.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03I'm heading first to the Christian quarter.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09What are you making of it? How are you enjoying it?
0:30:09 > 0:30:13It's amazing. It's beautiful. We're enjoying it so far.
0:30:13 > 0:30:17What do you make of the mix of cultures and religions in Jerusalem?
0:30:18 > 0:30:21Well, it's a fascinating melting pot.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23I mean, we said "shalom" and "tobah" to a guy
0:30:23 > 0:30:25and he said, "I don't speak Hebrew"
0:30:25 > 0:30:28and we realised we'd just wandered into the Arab quarter.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30I mean, it's one on top of the other.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34You don't realise how close it is together but it's amazing.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Do you think many people would be surprised to find out
0:30:37 > 0:30:42how much there is in common between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity?
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Maybe for some people, it would be.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Especially with the conflict that's going on at the moment,
0:30:47 > 0:30:51you'd think they'd have completely different histories and cultures
0:30:51 > 0:30:54but actually, it's all centred around here in Jerusalem.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07This is the 4th-century Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
0:31:07 > 0:31:08where Christians believe
0:31:08 > 0:31:12that Christ was crucified, buried, and resurrected.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26Bradshaw's is quite sceptical about the Chapel of the Sepulchre.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30"Everything is so encased in marble and the surroundings are so bizarre
0:31:30 > 0:31:32"that a strong mental effort is required
0:31:32 > 0:31:37"to picture a recess in the naked rock fitted to receive a body."
0:31:37 > 0:31:40It is not a strong mental effort that is needed, it is faith,
0:31:40 > 0:31:45to believe that when Christ died, he left his light in the world.
0:32:01 > 0:32:02Tourists following my guide book
0:32:02 > 0:32:05lived in an age of scientific discovery
0:32:05 > 0:32:08and scepticism about the literal truth of the Bible
0:32:08 > 0:32:10was becoming more common.
0:32:11 > 0:32:14I feel that even in that age of reason a century ago,
0:32:14 > 0:32:16non-believers would have been moved
0:32:16 > 0:32:19by the places mentioned in the Bible.
0:32:20 > 0:32:21I'm meeting Haseem Razzouk,
0:32:21 > 0:32:25whose family business has made its mark on visitors over generations.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30- Michael.- Good to see you. - Nice to meet you.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Why is there a connection between pilgrims and tattoos?
0:32:33 > 0:32:38A lot of people who used to come and do their pilgrimage
0:32:38 > 0:32:39here in the Holy Land
0:32:39 > 0:32:43would want to get a cross or a similar religious tattoo.
0:32:43 > 0:32:47It goes back about 300, 400 years here in the Holy Land.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49And what are these beautiful objects here?
0:32:49 > 0:32:52Well, those are actually wooden blocks.
0:32:52 > 0:32:59They are carved with different designs, stories from the Bible.
0:32:59 > 0:33:01So obviously, these are historic.
0:33:01 > 0:33:06So did your ancestors tattoo any distinguished, famous people?
0:33:06 > 0:33:11We know of many. King Edward and King George,
0:33:11 > 0:33:14also we know of them that they were tattooed in the Holy Land.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18You're telling me that British kings were tattooed?
0:33:18 > 0:33:23Yes, emperors, kings, even British soldiers
0:33:23 > 0:33:27were tattooed by my grandfather as proof and as certification
0:33:27 > 0:33:29of their visit to the Holy Land.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Christians would have a small cross tattooed on the inside of the wrist
0:33:34 > 0:33:36which served as a kind of passport
0:33:36 > 0:33:39to the holiest Christian sites.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41This will be the place to have the tattoo.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45This is a nice place on the arm where it doesn't really hurt much.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48It hurts more down at the wrist.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00'You didn't really think I'd go through with it, did you?'
0:34:00 > 0:34:02- Beautiful.- Thanks very much.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19From the Christian quarter,
0:34:19 > 0:34:21it's a short walk to the Muslim quarter,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24which contains the third holiest site in Islam.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29Bradshaw's tells me that "the Temple Haram Al-Sharif
0:34:29 > 0:34:33"is a large enclosed quadrangle
0:34:33 > 0:34:37"where there are three mosques and some relics of Herod's Temple.
0:34:37 > 0:34:41"The most considerable building is the Kubbet es Sakhra,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43"or Dome of the Rock."
0:34:43 > 0:34:44A century ago, to visit,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47you had to apply to the British or American consul
0:34:47 > 0:34:50who obtains permission from the authorities.
0:34:50 > 0:34:52In today's political situation,
0:34:52 > 0:34:54getting permission from the authorities
0:34:54 > 0:34:56is even more complicated.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58We've just about been allowed to film,
0:34:58 > 0:35:00but inside, I'm not allowed to say a word
0:35:00 > 0:35:04but I will say I can't tell you how excited I am
0:35:04 > 0:35:06to see these magnificent buildings.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19Al-Haram Al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22is a raised area of the old city
0:35:22 > 0:35:26with enormous religious significance for Muslims, Jews and Christians.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31The Kubbet es Sakhra,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34or Dome of the Rock, was built in the 7th century.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37It is one of Islam's most sacred monuments.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53It's from the rock, enshrined in the dome,
0:35:53 > 0:35:57that Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01The shrine is built on the site of the Jewish First Temple
0:36:01 > 0:36:05where Jews believe that Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16I feel quite overwhelmed
0:36:16 > 0:36:19and so few people are allowed in at any one time
0:36:19 > 0:36:21that it's very sparsely populated
0:36:21 > 0:36:24and so it's been the one place really in Jerusalem
0:36:24 > 0:36:29where I've felt the full sense of dignity that these places merit,
0:36:29 > 0:36:31a feeling of spirituality.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47The site is also known as the Temple Mount
0:36:47 > 0:36:49and at one corner is the Western Wall.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56This is the holiest of all Jewish monuments,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59all that remains exposed of the Second Temple,
0:36:59 > 0:37:02which was destroyed by the Romans in the 1st century AD.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08Men cover their heads before it.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16"The Western Wall," Bradshaw's reminds me,
0:37:16 > 0:37:21"is the site of Solomon's temple and of a later temple erected by Herod.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25"Here, each Friday, Jews gather in the late afternoon
0:37:25 > 0:37:29"to pray and to chant lamentations."
0:37:29 > 0:37:32Well, now they come every day of the week, and at the Wall,
0:37:32 > 0:37:39I saw some lost in deep prayer and others clearly ecstatic
0:37:39 > 0:37:43with the joy of arriving at the holiest of places for any Jew.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Nick Pelham writes about the Middle East, its history and its present.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58- Hello, Nick. - Michael, good to see you.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00Good to see you.
0:38:00 > 0:38:02Here we are with a wonderful view of the Dome of the Rock
0:38:02 > 0:38:03and the Western Wall.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06We're not very far from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10The most sacred places for Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13What do those three religions have in common apart from Jerusalem?
0:38:13 > 0:38:15They are all rooted in the holy text,
0:38:15 > 0:38:19they are peoples of the book and the book in all three faiths
0:38:19 > 0:38:22describes the centrality of Jerusalem.
0:38:22 > 0:38:24It makes Jerusalem the centre point,
0:38:24 > 0:38:26the geographical centre point of the three faiths,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28so we are really at the point
0:38:28 > 0:38:31where scripture, tradition, and geography all meet.
0:38:31 > 0:38:35So really, although we might not realise it on a day-to-day basis,
0:38:35 > 0:38:38a lot is held in common.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41There's far more that they have in common than actually divides,
0:38:41 > 0:38:44and you can see, though, the struggle here in Jerusalem
0:38:44 > 0:38:46for elevation, for supremacy,
0:38:46 > 0:38:51for priority, to essentially achieve the best sites in the city.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00I'm now heading out of the Old City into modern Jerusalem.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09Since 2011, a new light railway
0:39:09 > 0:39:11has connected the cities old and new...
0:39:12 > 0:39:15..but running into Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem,
0:39:15 > 0:39:17its construction was controversial.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25I've seen how within the Old City of Jerusalem
0:39:25 > 0:39:29the three great monotheistic religions vied with each other
0:39:29 > 0:39:32for access to and control over the holy places
0:39:32 > 0:39:35but I also understand that outside the city walls,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38the great powers were in competition,
0:39:38 > 0:39:40establishing institutions for their nationals -
0:39:40 > 0:39:44banks, insurance companies, post offices and hotels.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50I'll be staying at the American Colony Hotel,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53but before I head there, I am keen to make one more stop
0:39:53 > 0:39:56at a place where this city's complex and rich history
0:39:56 > 0:39:58comes together under one roof.
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Mahane Yehuda is the city's largest food market
0:40:08 > 0:40:12and can offer even the most secular traveller a taste of the divine.
0:40:13 > 0:40:17- Hello.- How are you? - Very well, thank you.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24I just love all this fresh produce. It just all looks fantastic.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26The dates and the glorious nuts. Ooh!
0:40:32 > 0:40:34That's really kind of you. Thank you.
0:40:36 > 0:40:39Oh! Tastes quite different from the way it looks.
0:40:39 > 0:40:44- I'm kind of thinking cheese. - It's sesame and chocolate chips.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46- Sesame and chocolate chips?- Yeah.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49With amazing sweet and savoury treats on offer,
0:40:49 > 0:40:51this is a delight for all the senses.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Look at that!
0:40:55 > 0:40:58Look at all those lovely pistachios saying hello.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04That's fantastic. Thank you so much.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16A day amongst the Jerusalem crowds,
0:41:16 > 0:41:19observing intense religious devotion
0:41:19 > 0:41:23has been exhilarating but draining too, and sleep will be welcome.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41Bradshaw's recommends that I engage a dragoman,
0:41:41 > 0:41:43a nice old-fashioned word for a guide.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47"They arrange everything necessary - eating, sleeping, travelling
0:41:47 > 0:41:49"and they speak English."
0:41:49 > 0:41:50Mine today is called Nader
0:41:50 > 0:41:53and I need him because now I need to go into Bethlehem,
0:41:53 > 0:41:55which is in The West Bank,
0:41:55 > 0:41:59in territory that was occupied by Israel in 1967
0:41:59 > 0:42:02and there is a barrier between Jerusalem and Bethlehem
0:42:02 > 0:42:04and my dragoman will help me to cross it.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09Today, tourists may make the five-mile journey
0:42:09 > 0:42:13into the Palestinian West Bank only accompanied by a Palestinian guide.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17- I'm Michael.- Lovely to see you. - Lovely to see you.
0:42:17 > 0:42:19- Welcome.- You're going to take me to Bethlehem?
0:42:19 > 0:42:22- Yes.- Let's go.- With pleasure.
0:42:26 > 0:42:31The separation barrier is 8m high, cast in concrete,
0:42:31 > 0:42:32capped with razor wire
0:42:32 > 0:42:35and punctuated by watchtowers and checkpoints.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40For Israelis, it gives protection against bombers.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46For Palestinians, it's made daily life fraught with difficulties.
0:42:48 > 0:42:52So quite often, you pick up people here at Jerusalem
0:42:52 > 0:42:56- and take them into Bethlehem...- Yes, exactly.- ..for sightseeing and so on.
0:42:56 > 0:42:57Yes.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59We're now approaching the checkpoint
0:42:59 > 0:43:01which will take us through the barrier
0:43:01 > 0:43:04and at this point, we will have to switch off the camera.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13So we got through the security checkpoint
0:43:13 > 0:43:15with no difficulty whatsoever
0:43:15 > 0:43:18but we did go through two very grim-looking walls
0:43:18 > 0:43:20and a kind of no-man's-land in-between.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23Whatever the reason for it,
0:43:23 > 0:43:27I was depressed to see two peoples separated by a wall,
0:43:27 > 0:43:30scarcely improved by attempts to decorate it.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Here, the barrier has been turned into a work of art.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38They call it the wall museum.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40There is the famous art from your country,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43he draw five drawing here on the wall.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45His name is Banksy.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49And in the front of us, there is the drawing for him.
0:43:49 > 0:43:51The dove with the olive branch
0:43:51 > 0:43:53'wearing a bulletproof jacket.'
0:43:55 > 0:43:57The people you drive,
0:43:57 > 0:44:01are they mainly tourists or would you call them pilgrims?
0:44:01 > 0:44:03Are they religious people?
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Some, they are religious people and some, they are tourists.
0:44:08 > 0:44:11If he start to pray or he start to cry,
0:44:11 > 0:44:13means he's religious
0:44:13 > 0:44:20and people just want to take picture quickly and leave,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23- you can tell from that, yes? - Of course, of course.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26So this is the old entrance of Bethlehem.
0:44:26 > 0:44:29You've been an excellent guide and dragoman. Thank you.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31- You are most welcome.- Bye-bye.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Tourists following my guidebook were drawn to Bethlehem,
0:44:36 > 0:44:40and it's clear that many millions have since followed in their wake.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45As my guidebook puts it plainly,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48"The Church of St Mary is built over the birthplace of Christ,"
0:44:48 > 0:44:52and it wasn't just a baby that was born to the virgin,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55it was the second Abrahamic religion,
0:44:55 > 0:44:58one with hundreds of millions of followers across the world.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17Even at the time of my guide book, places like Bethlehem
0:45:17 > 0:45:18were beset with tourists,
0:45:18 > 0:45:21who were offered trinkets and religious artefacts.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25My Bradshaw's remarks, "There's a small industry
0:45:25 > 0:45:28"in crosses, rosaries and mementos."
0:45:30 > 0:45:34Another attractive souvenir in those days was the local embroidery,
0:45:34 > 0:45:39a tradition which is being revived by local Arab women today.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45I'm meeting Helen Saman at the Arab Women's Union.
0:45:45 > 0:45:46Hello, Helen.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49- Hello.- I'm Michael.- Hello. - Very good to see you.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52You're welcome. Very good to see you, too.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56How old is the tradition amongst Palestinian women of embroidery?
0:45:56 > 0:46:00Embroidery has been made in Palestine for ages,
0:46:00 > 0:46:04for a very long time, perhaps several centuries.
0:46:04 > 0:46:07What is it that you're doing in the centre today?
0:46:07 > 0:46:10In the centre, we are trying to revive the tradition.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14For a period of time, it was very slow,
0:46:14 > 0:46:16very few people could do it
0:46:16 > 0:46:20but now it is back into fashion.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Today, the centre sells the work of local Palestinian women.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27But in such a fragmented and restricted economy,
0:46:27 > 0:46:30selling to a population which depends on international aid
0:46:30 > 0:46:32to feed itself is a challenge.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35Is this a table mat? No this is bigger.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37Let me see what this is, please.
0:46:37 > 0:46:39- It's going to be a runner. - It's going to be a runner.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43How long will it take you to do this?
0:46:43 > 0:46:45- Two weeks.- Two weeks. Wow, it's beautiful work.
0:46:47 > 0:46:48Let me see how you do it.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54Amazingly quick, so fast.
0:46:54 > 0:46:56Well, it must make you very happy, Helen,
0:46:56 > 0:46:59to see a tradition being revived.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01Of course, yes, very much so.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19It's time to leave Bethlehem
0:47:19 > 0:47:22but for this stretch of my journey, there's no railway,
0:47:22 > 0:47:24nor do I see a donkey,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27which Bradshaw's recommends for this excursion.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32I'm bound for the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50A sight I've always wanted to behold, the Dead Sea.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52According to Bradshaw's, 47 miles long,
0:47:52 > 0:47:569.5 miles wide at the broadest.
0:47:56 > 0:47:58"No living creature other than microbes
0:47:58 > 0:48:02"has been found in the sea nor have shells been found
0:48:02 > 0:48:05"but the desolation of the scene has been much exaggerated.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08"There's generally a slight haze over the sea
0:48:08 > 0:48:11"and when this clears away, the view is beautiful."
0:48:11 > 0:48:16In that, I'm fortunate indeed. This evening, it looks stunning.
0:48:21 > 0:48:26The absence of life in the sea is due to its extreme saltiness.
0:48:26 > 0:48:301,300 feet below sea level, the mud here is rich in minerals,
0:48:30 > 0:48:33which are said to be revitalising
0:48:33 > 0:48:38and the area is surrounded by spas catering to a healthy tourist trade.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43Apparently, if you want soft skin like a baby's,
0:48:43 > 0:48:46there's nothing compares to Dead Sea mud.
0:48:55 > 0:48:57Because I know I'm worth it.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00The Dead Sea is actually a lake
0:49:00 > 0:49:02but when its water evaporates,
0:49:02 > 0:49:07dissolved salts are left behind and the sea becomes naturally buoyant.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14For reading in the Dead Sea, I tried to find some scrolls
0:49:14 > 0:49:16but Bradshaw's will do very nicely.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35My final day in the Holy Land begins at Lod Station
0:49:35 > 0:49:39from where I will head south, bound for the Negev Desert.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51It seems that in 1913, a journey to the desert was arduous.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54"The country is naked and sterile,
0:49:54 > 0:49:59"the roads are mere stone-strewn ways practicable only on horseback."
0:49:59 > 0:50:03But after that date, a railway was built to the south
0:50:03 > 0:50:07and today, the train will take me from Lod to Be'er Sheva -
0:50:07 > 0:50:10Hebrew for 'Seven Wells'.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27Early in 1915, the Ottomans began
0:50:27 > 0:50:30to extend the Jaffa to Jerusalem railway
0:50:30 > 0:50:34south from Lod to Be'er Sheva in the direction of the Suez Canal.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42I'm meeting historian and archaeologist Shimon Gibson.
0:50:43 > 0:50:46Hello. It's a pleasure.
0:50:46 > 0:50:47I imagine that the British
0:50:47 > 0:50:51were highly suspicious of all these railway developments.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55The British were suspicious and the Ottoman Turks were suspicious.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57There was suspicion on both sides.
0:50:57 > 0:50:59And the suspicions actually started out
0:50:59 > 0:51:01because of mapping operations
0:51:01 > 0:51:04which were being undertaken by the British
0:51:04 > 0:51:09in the southern deserts of Palestine towards the Sinai Desert.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13This was in 1912, 1913,
0:51:13 > 0:51:17and this was all done under the guise of exploration
0:51:17 > 0:51:20but the reality is that they were spying,
0:51:20 > 0:51:22they were amassing a lot of information
0:51:22 > 0:51:25which could then be used by troops.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30The Palestine Exploration Fund, or PEF,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34was a London-based organisation which had undertaken
0:51:34 > 0:51:37extensive mapping expeditions in Western Palestine
0:51:37 > 0:51:39in the late 19th century.
0:51:39 > 0:51:42In 1908, the Fund had begun to work
0:51:42 > 0:51:45with the British War Office on the advice of Lord Kitchener,
0:51:45 > 0:51:47to collect information
0:51:47 > 0:51:49about the less well-known south of the country.
0:51:51 > 0:51:55When does TE Lawrence first appear on the scene?
0:51:55 > 0:51:58TE Lawrence actually was an archaeologist,
0:51:58 > 0:52:00and he is brought down by the British Museum
0:52:00 > 0:52:01and the Palestine Exploration Fund
0:52:01 > 0:52:05to conduct an archaeological survey in the area of Be'er Sheva
0:52:05 > 0:52:09and he sent out to look at archaeological sites
0:52:09 > 0:52:11which have already been surveyed.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13Now, I'm an archaeologist,
0:52:13 > 0:52:16I can tell you that there is no point in exploring sites
0:52:16 > 0:52:18that have already been explored.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22Lawrence's archaeological work was a smokescreen
0:52:22 > 0:52:26for mapping the area and cultivating local Bedouin tribes
0:52:26 > 0:52:29who might aid Britain in the event of hostilities.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35Once the Great War broke out,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39the Ottoman troops and supplies moved south along the new railway,
0:52:39 > 0:52:42some of whose original structures still exist today.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50What sort of targets does TE Lawrence select?
0:52:50 > 0:52:53He needs, really, to cut off their supplies,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55their ability to move at ease,
0:52:55 > 0:52:58and so he targets the railway lines
0:52:58 > 0:53:03and he blows up substantial sections of the Hejaz Railway.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09Lawrence's guerrilla war tied down thousands of Turkish troops,
0:53:09 > 0:53:12enabling British forces under General Edmund Allenby
0:53:12 > 0:53:14to seize Gaza and Be'er Sheva.
0:53:16 > 0:53:21Be'er Shiva has been taken over, then they move on to Ramla
0:53:21 > 0:53:23and Lod, Lida as it was known then.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27They've captured those two towns. They then head off to Jerusalem.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31And in December of 1917, Allenby arrives in Jerusalem.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35Months before this decisive victory,
0:53:35 > 0:53:38Britain had made conflicting promises -
0:53:38 > 0:53:40to support both Arab self-rule
0:53:40 > 0:53:43and the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48That sets in motion a chain of events
0:53:48 > 0:53:53which still exists to this present day with this conflict
0:53:53 > 0:53:57which exists today between Israel and the Palestinians
0:53:57 > 0:54:00and in the past with its neighbours,
0:54:00 > 0:54:04Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, and Jordan, of course.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10Lawrence famously lived as a Bedouin,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13becoming embedded in the Arabic nomad culture.
0:54:14 > 0:54:16For the Edwardian traveller,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19the desert must have been a sight unlike any other.
0:54:31 > 0:54:32Desert makes up half the region
0:54:32 > 0:54:36and no visit to the Holy Land is complete without seeing it.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41- I'm Michael.- Nice to meet you.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43I'm meeting Bedouin leader Salman Sadan.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47We like to invite guests in the desert.
0:54:47 > 0:54:5070 years ago, 80 years ago, it was nothing here,
0:54:50 > 0:54:52just mountain, and wells, and springs.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56We live in a desert, so we help each other in a desert.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58No supermarket, no shop, no nothing.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02- You're famous for your hospitality. - Yes, Bedouin, yeah.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05What does your life in the desert consist of? You have animals?
0:55:05 > 0:55:08We have two kinds of animals in the desert - black goats and camels.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12The skin from the goats, we use it for to carry the water inside,
0:55:12 > 0:55:14and the meat, we eat it.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16We make a lot of kinds of cheese from the milk.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20The camels, we ride on the camels, we drink the camel milk.
0:55:20 > 0:55:23- You still lead quite a traditional Bedouin life, do you?- Yes.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25Look, we live in Israel now
0:55:25 > 0:55:28and Israel became the life of the peasants different
0:55:28 > 0:55:31because we're not allowed anymore to be nomads in the desert
0:55:31 > 0:55:33so we stay in one place.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34It's a bit different?
0:55:34 > 0:55:36Yeah, it became different.
0:55:36 > 0:55:38Then you stuck between modern life and old life.
0:55:38 > 0:55:39Do you love the desert?
0:55:39 > 0:55:41Of course. It's part of my heart.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45Bedouin may not be permitted to roam any longer
0:55:45 > 0:55:49but they maintain the traditions that they can.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52- You don't need an oven?- No. - You don't need a pan?
0:55:52 > 0:55:54You don't need a baking tin?
0:55:54 > 0:55:55Nothing, very easy.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58Put the bread inside the fire, and that's it.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02The flat bread is cooked in a fire pit and covered in charcoal,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04giving it a crisp crust.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08You know when you buy watermelon? How you know it's good or not good?
0:56:08 > 0:56:11- You touch the outside. - Tck, tck, tck, also the bread.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14- You hear whether it's crisp.- Yeah.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16- You hear the noise?- Yes. Hollow sound.- Yeah.
0:56:21 > 0:56:23I never saw anything like that.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25The crust is completely crunchy
0:56:25 > 0:56:27and the crumb is...
0:56:29 > 0:56:31..sort of sour and delicious.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33- That's great bread.- Thank you.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37There's one last experience before I leave the Holy Land.
0:56:37 > 0:56:38And this is kafir.
0:56:40 > 0:56:41After the camel, he'll see you
0:56:41 > 0:56:43and he'll say you are a Bedouin.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46It's a Bedouin in a pink shirt.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49- OK.- How do I look?
0:56:51 > 0:56:53And up we go.
0:56:54 > 0:56:58Wow. I feel a Lawrence of Arabia complex coming on.
0:56:58 > 0:57:00No railway will be safe.
0:57:27 > 0:57:31In just 100 years since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire,
0:57:31 > 0:57:36this region has been as turbulent and war-torn as any in the world.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39Immigration and the creation of a Jewish state
0:57:39 > 0:57:43has produced a map unrecognisable from my Bradshaw's.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46And as I toured the holy places
0:57:46 > 0:57:50whose significance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims
0:57:50 > 0:57:52is traced back over millennia,
0:57:52 > 0:57:55it struck me that a century in human history
0:57:55 > 0:57:57is but the blinking of an eye.
0:58:02 > 0:58:04Next time, I'm following in the tracks
0:58:04 > 0:58:05of Edwardian railway travellers
0:58:05 > 0:58:09to experience the thrills of early 20th-century France...
0:58:11 > 0:58:13Wow, off we go.
0:58:13 > 0:58:15..tracing the origins of the modern nation
0:58:15 > 0:58:18from its most famous sporting event...
0:58:18 > 0:58:20This would have been used in the first Tour de France in 1903.
0:58:20 > 0:58:21My goodness!
0:58:21 > 0:58:23..to its stirring national anthem.
0:58:23 > 0:58:28HE SINGS IN FRENCH
0:58:28 > 0:58:30Bravo, monsieur!