Israel

We arrived in Tel Aviv around 6pm and were surprised by how dark it was. We thought it would still be light. But mornings are lovely with full sun by 6:30. After we checked into our Little House in Bakah, we headed out to find dinner. There are an amazing number of Italian restaurants. Who knew? We ended up at one and had a fabulous starter called wild eggplant. It was a roasted eggplant, skin but not stem removed, chopped tomatoes garlic and yogurt. Yum. The next day we asked our guide about wild eggplant he laughed and said probably a mistranslation. Oh well, I liked the idea anyway.

Our guide, Smuel Browns, met us at the hotel at 9 the next morning. We walked to the promenade, a lovely walk/park that runs up the valley to a hill that overlooks the old city and Mt. Scopus. 

He gave us some history and pointed out the areas of the city; old city, Jewish areas, Arab areas, etc. Then we caught a taxi to the Damascus Gate. There are I think 8 gates in jerusalem and we went through about 6 of them in the course of the day. One of them has been blocked for many millennium. As you enter Damascus gate you must immediately turn left - supposedly slowed down the enemy.

Smuel pointed out the main road, the Cardo, through Jerusalem. when the Romans conquered, here, as everywhere else, they built roads, viaducts, city walls and temples. Now the car do, which was so side, has been divided into 4 lanes, if you will, separated by arches that define shop space. Certainly there was a lot tourist crap, but lots of necessaries for locals too. We walked through the old city and were fortunate to arrive near the Temple Mount during the 1 hour time allowed for visitors not of the Moslem faith. This huge platform is the largest manmade one in the world and was built by King Herod about 30 BCE. Neither the temple mount or the mosque is open at any time to non-Moslems. I had a slightly scooped long sleeved shirt and was asked to cover my neck basically, with a scarf. We wandered around the area.  Men were in sitting in groups and seemed to be studying.  I took photos of the Mosque and Dome of the Rock, which is gorgeous.  The tile work on the building is beautiful.

We went out through the lions gate and down into a valley near the city of David, which is just excavation at this point. We hoped to get into the church of all nations, but it was closed for prayer.  You could only go in if you were part of a tour group with reservations.

We walked up through an ancient jewish graveyard where many centuries of neglect, wars, earthquakes, etc have left pretty much a field of rubble. Ironically, order is being restored by the Arab workers who work for Jewish contractors. It's not an archeological restoration, but stones that have engravings are put atop cement bases. We also saw very old Jewish tombs carved out of rock.

We walked back through the Dung Gate (didn't get the name history on this one)' and on to security to get to the Western Wall, one of the most important places in this city of religious landmarks, at least for Jews.

After much walking, we were ready for food and had a most delightful meal in the Arab quarter: falafel, chopped salad, hummus, tahini, Harissa, fresh pita bread, olives, roasted eggplant and fresh pomegranate juice, in season now.

We followed this with a visit to the church of the holy sepulcher and st. Anne's, ending with the end of the Cardo path through the old city. We caught a taxi, biding thanks to our guide, and off to a dinner with a cousin and her family.