Jerusalem Biblical Zoo

We decided to spend our last day in Jerusalem at the Biblical Zoo (aka Tisch Family Zoological Gardens). Normally, I have very conflicting feelings about visiting zoos. I really want to see cute little monkeys and cute big elephants, but also don't want to support the whole idea of caged animals.

This is especially true if the first definition of the zoo is Kaunas Zoo during the early post-Soviet times - if you ever get your hands on a space-time-machine, this should be the last place you want to visit.

But this time it was different. The Zoo got the best recommendation in my eyes it could get. My friend has high standards about the way animals should be treated AND spent a couple of years working in Jerusalem Zoo AND didn't get disappointed AND actually enjoyed her time there. So here you go - now our consciousness clear enough (obviously, still not 100%, if I wrote 3 paragraphs explaining myself to begin this post) and we pack our picnic equipment and take the bus to the Zoo.

Eating Jerusalem

Let's jump into the food straight away. For my Lithuanian taste the food in Jerusalem was as amazing as it was expensive. Which is very.

On the day of arrival the first thing we visited was Mahane Yehuda, the main food market in Jerusalem. It was actually surprising to find "the market", and not many local markets, which I somehow was expecting. But it was good to have it all there in one place.

Jerusalem sightseeing

So, Jerusalem. The idea of going to Israel was in the air for a very long time - since my friend moved there some 6 years ago. So we considered and considered, but were a bit afraid because of "there is war there" and "in the airport they look through all your things, and then undress you and look into your vagina". And then my friend was getting married and this argument was stronger than the previous two (and we hoped they were not THAT correct anyway). We are coming.

Via Valeriana

...the Roman army used it to move quickly up and down to and from Germany...

(to quote our host)

We discovered Via Valeriana quite randomly, to be honest with you. I'm happy we did though, because it turned out to be a highlight of the trip. While hiking I actually had an idea (again again) to start this travel blog, and that's why I decided to write the first post about it.

I feel that this hike (together with Lago d'Iseo in general) is not getting enough publicity. At least while planning our trip I didn't see Via Valeriana mentioned much, and even if mentioned, most of the information was in Italian. I found this brochure to be the most informative (although not very user-friendly, especially on the mobile), and now I also used it for some distances and names. But I don't feel it markets it the right way, so I'll do this route a favour by documenting it here.

So, facts first.

Length: 24.3 km (that doesn't seem scary - yet)

Start: Pilzone d'Iseo
Finish: Pisogne

Drop (what you will have to climb up and down): +1135 and -1145. For not experienced hikers this is quite a handful, but still doable, and does not require any specific equipment, except for good shoes, clothing in layers and determination.

Time: This is the tricky one. See, it tells you 9 hours in all the official sources, but I would strongly disagree, unless you are a cyborg or a camel. You might try walking it in 9 hours straight, but this would mean no eating, no peeing and no pizza nor cappuccino on the way. And let's agree, this is not what you came to Italy for. Another issue is the length of the day: in November it gets dark at 5pm.

As the trail goes along the Eastern side of the lake Iseo, so does the train, covering the distance between Pilzone and Pisogne and stopping in between in the towns of Sulzano, Sale Marasino, Marone and Pisogne. The trail will go away from the train and up to the mountains rather far (or rather vertically up) around Zone (name of a small town), but you also have a bus from Marone up to Zone, bringing you to the Via Valeriana.

So the good news is that you can actually go at your own pace, and when you feel that it was enough for the day, you come down to the closest station, take a train back to where you are staying and enjoy your well deserved apero. And the next morning take the train back to the point where you have finished and just continue from there. This way you can combine challenging hiking with a relaxing cappuccino in the morning and a nice dinner in the evening. Because that's Italy, and let's admit it, you came here to eat.

More about the hike with pictures below

How we decided to go to Lago d'Iseo

1. My husband and I decide we need to go somewhere in November, as it is the absolutely THE MOST MISERABLE month in Lithuania (yes, like this in caps lock). It's dark and grey and rainy like March, but differently from March there is no hope for a change for a better weather coming soon.

2. I check the cheapest tickets on Ryanair. This time the cheapest (but also in the direction South) are the following: Madrid, Bergamo, Malta and Cyprus. Bergamo is cheapest of them all. So we get it, and for 2 weeks vaguely talk about going to Lake Garda.

3. I start checking Booking.com, everything with the budget under 400 euro for 2 people for a week around Lake Garda. I discover amazing thing: there are hotels and apartments, and while the latter are cheaper (under 300 euro), in the small print they have additional conditions. For example, cleaning fee of 40 euro, electricity fee of 15 euro per night and so on. It looks far far above our budget already.

4. I switch to Airbnb just in case there is something, and randomly find a beautiful picture of something called Casa del Nespolo, Lake view in a town called Pilzone. Have a look yourself here.

And then discover it's lake Iseo, not Garda.

5. After 2 minutes googling ("lake Iseo is mostly favored by Italians, less by tourists") we decide that what is good for Italians is good for us and book the room. In the description it suggest us to walk Via Valeriana ("ancient Roman path, which starts from Pilzone"), visit Monte Isola, cities Iseo, Edolo.

And this is exactly what we did.