Have you ever been to Jerusalem?

Hi! We were there in 1994 and went on the Via Dolorosa in teh old city. The streets were very narrow, about one donkey wide and lined with kiosks selling all kinds of stuff. Sun glasses, tapes of wailing Arabic music which blared from boom boxes (remember this was the '90s) clothes, herbs, flowers, open air meat stalls with the heads still on teh animals so you could see what you were buying, sheep or goat; the guys dressed completely Western but sometimes had a khaffiya scarf on their shoulders. Women wore trench coats adn scarves. Adorable children.

Hardly any wood used in construction. All brick, concrete or stone. Even utility poles made of metal and new construction all stone and concrete.

We were there during some days with temps in teh 40s. While we wore windbreakers the Arab workers wore Carhartts and looked miserable -- just as we would if we were there in days of 120 degrees.

Almost all the cars were white or light gray with tinted windows. All had red adn white striped reflector tape on teh bumpers. Why, I don't know.

wall-to-wall people; kids selling candy, trinkets and film; bakers' assistants carrying piles of gorgeous breads in head-pans; teh street department gunning through with a rider mower and wagon and running over one guys' foot; we bought some trinkets from a boy and asked him about his name and age and family while we bargained with him.

in one shop, since DH and I were obviously the youngest, poorest members on the tour -- as we talked about picking out mother-of-pearl pins for our moms, the shop keeper threw in extras. I guess because he overheard us talking about our mothers. Another shop keeper offered coffee but then felt he had to warn us it was very *strong* coffee and made like a weight-lifters' gesture and grinned.

Sorry, I don't have much sense of smell so nothing stands out

What tickled me was seeing men greet each other not just with a nod, smile and hand-shake but hugs and kisses and slaps on teh back.

In rural areas, people often had orange and lemon trees in their yards like we would have apple trees.

In Bethlehem we waited on a shepherd to to get his sheep across the road and saw a boy leading a donkey with Jerry cans of kerosene on it, going home for Mom's stove and-or refrigerator. Gorgeous oriental carpets rolled up leaning against a wall. Tree tops showing over garden walls.

I have never seen a more deep blue sky.

I wrote a prayer on a scrap of paper and tucked it into a crack of the Western wall. On the men's side a bar-mitzvah was going on and the many of the men wore prayer shawls and phylacteries (bindings on the foreheads and hands holding Scripture) I got chills up on the Temple Mount thinking this was where Jesus walked, teh glory of God came down and filled Solomon's temple.

Very meaningful trip. Would love to go back with the kids.

Ann

Hello, one site I have found helpful is this one:

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/

Each city has "guides" that you can email directly. Some seem very helpful. The site also has pictures of each destination, which I have found useful when creating stories myself. Good luck.

sanssouci said:

I'm writing a short story that takes place in Old Jerusalem and I've never been there. I have done quite a bit of research on it and looked at lots of pictures and travelblogs but something's missing...

Can anyone who has been there describe the little thing that stood out about the place. Smells, sounds, the shops, the mood during the day, the mood at night, the tourists, the residents. Basically anything at all that stood out to you or the overall feeling of the places you visited while you were there.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hi. I spent a summer in Old Jerusalem in 1976. We lived and studied at the American Institute of Biblical Studies. The place was alive with a sense of history, to me at least, anyway. I remember the way the sunrise made the Golden Gates look truly golden from the Mt. of Olives. (I remember taking a camel ride up there, too!) I remember the smells and sounds walking through the Old City each day. Lots of soldiers barely past teenagehood (girls and guys) with machine guns...the perpetual smell of raw meat (they hung the meat out in open air in the markets--goat heads, etc.)...the sights of old men in keffiyehs sitting on barrels in the market next to the shops playing chess...the sounds of murmurings at the Western (Wailing) Wall and the sight of orthodox Jews sticking rolled up slips of paper with prayer requests in the cracks of the wall...the street vendors selling falafels (kind of like pita bread sandwiches)...I remember the incredibly steep and narrow stone stairway up to the girls' dorm room at the Institute...

Does that help?

Jerusalem's Old City

I live in Israel (though admittedly, not in the Old City in Jerusalem), so maybe I can help. The Old City is divided into four distinct quarters - the Jewish Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter and the Armenian Quarter. For the most part, each one has its own distinctive characteristics, so what may be true of one quarter is not necessarily true of another quarter.

All four quarters have the narrow, twisting roads and alleyways. A few weeks ago, we entered through the Jaffa Gate, where there's always a flurry of activity, whether it be policemen on horseback, people with carts, lots of taxis, lots of tourists, etc. There was a young Arab boy with a small cart just inside the gate, selling what's known locally as "bageleh" (and I have no idea how you'd spell that in English), which is a large, sesame seed-coated roll, round, with a big hole (almost like a small hoop).

We skirted the Arab Quarter and the entrance to the market, and just before the entrance to the Armenian Quarter, took a left into the Jewish Quarter. The road was so narrow that there was no room to walk two abreast when cars were going past, and most of the roads in the Old City are like that. Some of the roads are so narrow that you can't imagine how people even get their cars in and out.

In the Jewish Quarter, one hears lots of American English, as there are many young American students living and studying there, as well as many American Jews living there.

There are lots of tourists everywhere, and there are always a lot of people around, so there's a great deal of hustle and bustle. The shops seem to be overwhelmingly geared towards tourists.

The Arab market is usually full of people, and you are constantly being jostled, or forced to jump out of the way because someone is coming through with a cart. Items for sale (lots of scarves, bags, clothing, etc) are hanging all around you as you walk through the alleys, with shopkeepers beckoning you to enter and view their wares. I love the jewelry that's sold in many of the shops - lots of silver, with a Middle Eastern look. The food-related shops are amazing - the spices are colorful and pungent, and the Middle Eastern desserts (like Baklava and Knafeh) are sweet and enticing.

Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with. I'd also recommend checking out the English-language Israeli blogosphere, maybe contacting some of the Jerusalem-based bloggers. The link for the aggregator is: http://english.webster.co.il/.

Hope this helps.

Our tour group got a deal on lunches -- soup, bread, drink and a bit of dessert. A lot of our fellow tourists complained about the size of the meals (judging by our size, we shouldn't have ) but DH and I were ecstatic because lunch came with dessert (unusual in the states) and it was BAKLAVA! 56g of carbs per serving. Definitely our kind of food!

Thanks for the memories!

Just went In April. It was so sad to see feral cats everywhere. I mean everywhere. People did leave food for them but they had been so downtrodden that they ah almost become bred as wild and almost deformed looking. It was very sad to me.

On the positive, the markets on Friday morning are so much fun. Fresh veggies and fruit, and people everywhere getting ready for Shabot.