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| Dome of the Rock from atop the Old City ramparts |
Two years ago, we canceled our trip to Israel, Jordan and Egypt 10 days before we were to arrive in Jerusalem. Last year, we canceled our trip several weeks before our planned departure. Covid was in full force and destroying so many lives and plans.
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| towers along the ramparts |
Finally, 2 years late, we arrived in Jerusalem last night, after a blizzard of preparations to meet Israel's Covid restrictions--lots of PCR testing before our departure and upon arrival, forms to fill out, appointments to make, airline requirements to manage. Israel requires new arrivals to quarantine until you get your "on arrival" PCR test results or 24 hours, whichever is earlier, so we had planned to have dinner in our rooms last night and sleep off our quarantine.
The hotel staff, however, told us no one was paying any attention to the quarantine requirement anymore, so we happily walked to a local restaurant, the Sea Dolphin, for a large and excellent Mediterranean seafood dinner.
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| houses on hillside outside Old City |
Our negative test results landed in our inboxes just as we were headed out for a free day in Jerusalem's Old City. We decided to walk the Ramparts. There are 2 sections of the Old City wall that you can walk for a small fee, about 3 1/2 miles in all of wonderful views over the city, old and new, with lots of steep stairs to scramble up and down. You get a small look into people's lives as you peer into their back yards from above. It's surprising how unkempt the gardens and open spaces are, but there are also playgrounds and soccer fields created on top of houses below, in between the twists and turns of the walls. The North section of the Rampart Walk is longer than the South section with more interesting views of the Old City. From the South section, you can look out over the Judaean hills, now mostly covered with limestone houses. The ticket booth is just inside the Jaffa Gate, next to the tourist information office.
In one area, the wall had collapsed, been rebuilt, and collapsed again. Probably one reason some of the open spaces are tangled with weeds and scruffy trees. They may be quite unstable. The area in the photo was supported by large steel braces, but still falling down.
The Arab market was in full swing today, Sunday, but the Christian Quarter was absolutely quiet. We loved wandering through the narrow, mostly covered, alleys of the souk, filled with colorful goods, from clothes to candy, and the pungent smells of the spice shops. Lots of tiny restaurants invite you in, but, given Covid, we found an outside restaurant where we could have a lunch of pita, hummus, salad and shawarma. The owner and his "cousin" brought out their wares, from hats, to caftans to woven bags, ready to bargain hard in search of a sale.
Jerusalem is an invigorating mix of people and cultures. The Arab Quarter hums and bustles with business, tiny shops, men pushing loaded carts through the narrow alleys, families shopping, kids running full speed and occasionally crashing into people and goods. Children play soccer in the cobbled streets because there is no playground for them. You see Muslim women and Orthodox men, women from the settlements shopping in the ancient streets on their cell phones, young men and women in military uniforms, many with automatic weapons hanging off their shoulders, and tourists now returning to Israel for the first time in 2 years. Despite the apparent harmony of the moment, you know the next eruption of violence could happen at any time.
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| Arab woman |
For the next 2 days, we will tour Jerusalem with a guide, including Yad Vashem, Israel's moving and somber Holocaust Museum. From here, we will go to Masada, the high butte overlooking the Dead Sea where Jews held off the Romans for a year until the Romans built huge earthen ramps to the top. When the Romans reached the summit, there was no one left alive.
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| Orthodox man by wall |
