OLD CITY 4

The fabulous Shabbat of a Lifetime dinner meant that we got back to our hotel late - after midnight and very full of the great dinner. This did not bode well for a good night's sleep. Nonetheless, bright and early, or actually bleary and early, Hank headed down the street to bring us coffee to have with the pastries we had prepared on Friday - knowing that most places in the area would be closed for Shabbat. I sat on our balcony, enjoying breakfast and the peace of the quiet streets. Then we headed back to the Old City. Walking a different route, we entered the City via a flight of stairs in the same gold stone as the walls.

Our first stop was the City of David Museum to see the archaeological  excavations and the art  in the ancient citadel.  This visit involved endless stairs, but the walls made for great views of Jerusalem all around - a fascinating mix of the ancient and the modern world.

My next discovery, before heading back into the Souk (the covered market), is how delicious a combination of fresh squeezed orange and pomegranate juice can be when you are hot and thirsty. It was good that we refreshed ourselves, because on this Saturday, the souk was teeming with people.

One of the things that makes Jerusalem so intriguing is the mix of cultures,  religions, beliefs and costumes. On this day, a full spectrum was to be found. On the Via Dolorosa, (The Way of the Cross) where Christ is believed to have walked to the crucifixion, a large community of Christians were walking and kneeling the stations of the cross on one side of the narrow passage, while surging crowds of tourists, explored the shops on each side, and men and women in Arab garb bought vegetables and bread from the carts that barged through all. Overall, drums and music throbbed, people yelled, the sound, the heat and the intensity were hard to bear. Nonetheless, on our way out I managed to explore a few of the incredible variety of shops and goods to be had. 

We left the Old City through the Damascus Gate, which put us in the Arab Quarter in East Jerusalem - an authentic market lined with stalls of spices, coffee, bakeries, produce and lots more. From here, we walked up a long hill, back to our hotel - stopping for lunch - a gigantic, delicious and utterly fresh salad served with excellent bread. Then a nap.

At dinner time, as Shabbat was drawing to a close, we walked around our "neighborhood," Jaffa Square, through new and ancient streets and buildings. Dinner was at a Georgian Restaurant - Russian influences, in an old garden off the street. We ate a kind of dumpling - filled with meat and broth, and were informed that we ate them incorrectly - with knife and fork, instead on out of hands. Tourists!

We went back to the Old City on Monday - which turns out to be a Bar Mitzvah day. As we stood on the wall looking down, we heard music- loud, shofars blowing, drumming - and one after another joyful groups - each carrying canopies, under which the 13 year old boy was surrounded by loving and cheering family. The energy was palpable - what a way to become a man.

We then wandered the city through the Armenian Quarter and back to the Jewish Quarter where we talked with a young rabbinical student from New Jersey, studying in one of the Orthodox yeshivas here. It was wonderful to speak English and learn more about all that we were seeing. Then, back up the hill. We needed to make plans and reservations for the next part of our trip.


In my next post I will write about the Israel Museum …. stand by