We bolted from Tel Aviv and headed to Jerusalem for a 9:00 am walking tour. The tour was a three-hour walk through the four quarters of the Old City- the Armenian, Jewish, Christian and Muslim. What a strange contrast to walk in a 1 square kilometer area and see such vastly different cultures, environments, and people.
The Wailing Wall:
Armenian Church
Photo courtesy of Flickr
Via de la Rosa
Coptic Orthodox Patriarche
Church of the Holy Sepulchre the place of Christ's crucifixion. The Church dates back to 330 A.D. and contains a number of chapels and shrines controlled by different Christian faiths. Violence has broken up so many times among them, that from 1192 to this day a Muslim family is entrusted with the keys to that front door, and a family member comes twice every day, to open it early in the morning and lock it at night
We had a falafel sandwich in the Christian Quarter- for $1.00 and had our first sense that maybe we could survive for a while in this city (although, a steady diet of falafel sandwiches sounded pretty bleak).
With a new sense of fiscal conservatism, we headed for the short-term rental agency after our tour and found an apartment available for the month of August for $1000 (about $33/day vs. the $103 we were paying for our hotel).
Feeling a bit better about our extended stay in Israel, we headed for “happy hour” at Tzaddik’s Old City Deli. Beer was only 10 shekels and we got to meet a Jewish man from New York who settled in Jerusalem with a great location in the Old City. He offered genuine NY deli style sandwiches and “the only hamburger made with freshly ground beef”. Unfortunately, a group of tourists had wiped him out of corned beef, so we settled for a burger with fries and talked to Buddy, the proprietor. As we were talking, a group of 20-year-olds arrived at the other tables- the group wearing jeans and a number of them sporting M-16’s. Buddy explained that they were Israeli military-in civilian clothes.
A drive back to Tel Aviv and a chance to watch CNN and luckily an episode of “The Crusaders” on the Discovery Channel.
With a new sense of fiscal conservatism, we headed for the short-term rental agency after our tour and found an apartment available for the month of August for $1000 (about $33/day vs. the $103 we were paying for our hotel).
Feeling a bit better about our extended stay in Israel, we headed for “happy hour” at Tzaddik’s Old City Deli. Beer was only 10 shekels and we got to meet a Jewish man from New York who settled in Jerusalem with a great location in the Old City. He offered genuine NY deli style sandwiches and “the only hamburger made with freshly ground beef”. Unfortunately, a group of tourists had wiped him out of corned beef, so we settled for a burger with fries and talked to Buddy, the proprietor. As we were talking, a group of 20-year-olds arrived at the other tables- the group wearing jeans and a number of them sporting M-16’s. Buddy explained that they were Israeli military-in civilian clothes.
A drive back to Tel Aviv and a chance to watch CNN and luckily an episode of “The Crusaders” on the Discovery Channel.
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