We left the hotel after breakfast. It was 9.40am and we headed along Mamilla Avenue, as we had done the day before, in the direction of the Jaffa Gate. We proceeded east along David Street with its souk until we got to its end, then turned north on Khan Az-Zeit Street until we got to Via Dolorosa at 10.05am. We then headed east toward the Muslim Quarter and passed a group of Indians some of whom had on caps with “Sar-El” embroidered on the front.
The stations of the cross are signposted on walls with Roman numerals in this part of the old town and at one point around this time we were surrounded by a group of pilgrims who were all singing in reply to statements from their group leader. The words they used repeatedly in chorus were “Have mercy on us and on the whole world.” There was also a group of white people some of whom had caps with the word “Ader” embroidered on them. Then a group of Koreans passed us en-masse. They were singing the hymn ‘Jesus loves me, this I know’ in their native language.
At the corner of Al Wad Street were about six uniformed police standing behind some metal barriers that had been set up on the pavement. The heavily-armed men and women appeared to be very alert and ready for any eventuality. We turned east into the second half of Via Dolorosa at 10.25am and soon after entered the grounds of the Sanctuaries of the Flagellation and the Condemnation. Inside were a number of buildings including what was labelled as the Terra Sancta Museum. There was also a chapel with pews and signs in English instructing visitors to be silent. To the other side was the Church of the Flagellation with, on the floor in a mosaic, the words “Custodia Francescana terrasanta AD MCMXXIX”, indicating that the place had been at least partly constructed in 1929.
We exited the compound and again headed east, arriving at the corner of Herod’s Gate Street and Lion’s Gate Street at 10.40am. At some point in our journey along Lion’s Gate Street my phone gave a sound and I noticed that I had changed roaming service provider to one located in Palestine. We turned around when we came to some men cleaning out a garbage truck, and a little further west the phone announced that I had again picked up the Israeli service provider’s signal. At 10.50am we ventured into Notre Dame de Sion, a small church with a glassed-off nave and an altar at the end. Here, also, was a sign asking visitors to be silent, which was more evidence that these institutions are operating as they have done for a long time, some longer than others.
We turned south on Al Wad Street and after a while asked two uniformed police who were standing there how to get to the Western Wall. A female officer with very dark skin told me to continue south and so we did, arriving at a security installation with a metal detector and a conveyor belt for hand luggage. I had to empty my pockets to satisfy the scanner of my honesty but we were soon through this barrier and in a tunnel that led to an open plaza. At its eastern end was the famous wall with its big rocks and green growth sprouting out of the masonry.
The mall is separated into two sections, one for men and one for women. The former section takes up about two-thirds of the wall and the latter the final third. A flock of swallows was flying in circles around the square near the wall. Some men called out to us as we made our way down the slope, telling my travelling companion to go to the women’s section to see the wall. I waited by a water fountain where people came to wash their hands. It was very hot in the sun and I sat down on a step to rest and wait for my friend to return to our agreed rendezvous point.
We met up again and at 11.35am, deciding not to go and visit the Al Aqsa Mosque, left the compound, heading north up El Wad Street until we came to Al-Khalidiyya Street, where we turned west. We navigated our way through some predictably narrow streets in one of which a boy aged about 12 told us in a loud voice that the street we were heading along was blocked. Another boy, who had been skylarking with the first boy, revealed that what he said was a lie and we went on until we got back to David Street. Here we bought a sesame and nut bar (10ILS) and a cup of watermelon juice (20ILS) and sat down on a couple of stools in the juice shop to rest before heading off west again toward the Jaffa Gate, which had been our point of arrival. Outside the gate on the bridge that spans a major road below a busker was playing the famous tune from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ on an acoustic guitar.
On Mamilla Avenue at 12.30pm we entered a restaurant called Fresh Coffee and Kitchen and ordered some food. It was an Indian curry, which came with rice, in the Japanese style, in a mound separate from the cooked veges (potato, zucchini, whole garlic cloves, onion), and what was called a “Tricolor funghi mozzarella”, which was twisty-shaped pasta with a mushroom sauce and pieces of mozzarella cheese. In addition we ordered a Tuborg beer and a cappuccino.
Before the meals arrived I went down four flights of stairs to use the restroom. I saw a control panel with numbered buttons on it that had been installed next to the men’s room door and I didn’t know what to do until it opened and a man emerged into the hallway where I stood. I went inside the room and used the facilities, then washed and dried my hands, and when I got to the door nothing happened when I turned the handle. To the left of the door, at about eye level, was a flat panel with a button marked on it and I pressed that, and the door opened and allowed me to get back upstairs.
After eating and paying for the meal (186ILS) we headed back west along the pedestrian mall and near to where a security guard with a pistol at his hip stood I looked up bookshops in Jerusalem. I found one not far away and used Google Maps to navigate across Shlomo ha-Malaekh Street at the traffic lights. We then headed up Ben Shira Street and Queen Shlomziyon Street until we arrived at the International Bookshop Ludwig Mayer. Inside there was a woman aged in her 50s who had an American accent and who helped us to find books in English about Judaism. The same series of books she showed us to browse had been on sale in a tourist shop near the Jaffa Gate. Now, we were able to buy something that would explain the history of her people. The six books came to a total of 320ILS and I was able to pay by credit card. We got back to the hotel at 2.25pm and on the way inside I bought two Goldstar beers (44ILS).
At about 5.15pm I went to the ATM at the petrol station and got more cash. We would be moving to a new hotel the next day and I wasn’t sure where the most suitable machine would be once we shifted residence. On a narrow footpath on the way back to the hotel I came across an old man walking toward me who moved to my left, and I had to take his prompt to move to my right to make way for him on the pavement. It is hard to change old habits. As I was approaching the hotel’s front door I passed through a group of 20 or so girls aged about 16 years on the forecourt who were dancing using choreographed steps and gestures. I had heard the tune of George Harrison’s 1970 anthem ‘My Sweet Lord’ from my hotel room earlier and after I got back to my room again I heard it playing outside once again.
Later we went out to find some dinner and headed down the hill toward the old town. There was a sign for a restaurant I had seen on Google Maps called Te’enim and we headed through a park that had flowering trees in it until we reached a building set off to the side. Inside we took a table at 7pm and ordered labane (a type of yoghurt dip) with sundried tomatoes, which came with brown bread, cold zucchini and yoghurt soup, steamed greens that came with a date sauce called celane and pieces of goat’s cheese, and a mushroom stew that came with cracked wheat and pumpkin. I had two beers and the meal was way too big for two people. It came to 231ILS. After eating we went for a short stroll along Mamilla Avenue and into the old town and got back to the hotel by about 8.40pm.
The stations of the cross are signposted on walls with Roman numerals in this part of the old town and at one point around this time we were surrounded by a group of pilgrims who were all singing in reply to statements from their group leader. The words they used repeatedly in chorus were “Have mercy on us and on the whole world.” There was also a group of white people some of whom had caps with the word “Ader” embroidered on them. Then a group of Koreans passed us en-masse. They were singing the hymn ‘Jesus loves me, this I know’ in their native language.
At the corner of Al Wad Street were about six uniformed police standing behind some metal barriers that had been set up on the pavement. The heavily-armed men and women appeared to be very alert and ready for any eventuality. We turned east into the second half of Via Dolorosa at 10.25am and soon after entered the grounds of the Sanctuaries of the Flagellation and the Condemnation. Inside were a number of buildings including what was labelled as the Terra Sancta Museum. There was also a chapel with pews and signs in English instructing visitors to be silent. To the other side was the Church of the Flagellation with, on the floor in a mosaic, the words “Custodia Francescana terrasanta AD MCMXXIX”, indicating that the place had been at least partly constructed in 1929.
We exited the compound and again headed east, arriving at the corner of Herod’s Gate Street and Lion’s Gate Street at 10.40am. At some point in our journey along Lion’s Gate Street my phone gave a sound and I noticed that I had changed roaming service provider to one located in Palestine. We turned around when we came to some men cleaning out a garbage truck, and a little further west the phone announced that I had again picked up the Israeli service provider’s signal. At 10.50am we ventured into Notre Dame de Sion, a small church with a glassed-off nave and an altar at the end. Here, also, was a sign asking visitors to be silent, which was more evidence that these institutions are operating as they have done for a long time, some longer than others.
We turned south on Al Wad Street and after a while asked two uniformed police who were standing there how to get to the Western Wall. A female officer with very dark skin told me to continue south and so we did, arriving at a security installation with a metal detector and a conveyor belt for hand luggage. I had to empty my pockets to satisfy the scanner of my honesty but we were soon through this barrier and in a tunnel that led to an open plaza. At its eastern end was the famous wall with its big rocks and green growth sprouting out of the masonry.
The mall is separated into two sections, one for men and one for women. The former section takes up about two-thirds of the wall and the latter the final third. A flock of swallows was flying in circles around the square near the wall. Some men called out to us as we made our way down the slope, telling my travelling companion to go to the women’s section to see the wall. I waited by a water fountain where people came to wash their hands. It was very hot in the sun and I sat down on a step to rest and wait for my friend to return to our agreed rendezvous point.
We met up again and at 11.35am, deciding not to go and visit the Al Aqsa Mosque, left the compound, heading north up El Wad Street until we came to Al-Khalidiyya Street, where we turned west. We navigated our way through some predictably narrow streets in one of which a boy aged about 12 told us in a loud voice that the street we were heading along was blocked. Another boy, who had been skylarking with the first boy, revealed that what he said was a lie and we went on until we got back to David Street. Here we bought a sesame and nut bar (10ILS) and a cup of watermelon juice (20ILS) and sat down on a couple of stools in the juice shop to rest before heading off west again toward the Jaffa Gate, which had been our point of arrival. Outside the gate on the bridge that spans a major road below a busker was playing the famous tune from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ on an acoustic guitar.
On Mamilla Avenue at 12.30pm we entered a restaurant called Fresh Coffee and Kitchen and ordered some food. It was an Indian curry, which came with rice, in the Japanese style, in a mound separate from the cooked veges (potato, zucchini, whole garlic cloves, onion), and what was called a “Tricolor funghi mozzarella”, which was twisty-shaped pasta with a mushroom sauce and pieces of mozzarella cheese. In addition we ordered a Tuborg beer and a cappuccino.
Before the meals arrived I went down four flights of stairs to use the restroom. I saw a control panel with numbered buttons on it that had been installed next to the men’s room door and I didn’t know what to do until it opened and a man emerged into the hallway where I stood. I went inside the room and used the facilities, then washed and dried my hands, and when I got to the door nothing happened when I turned the handle. To the left of the door, at about eye level, was a flat panel with a button marked on it and I pressed that, and the door opened and allowed me to get back upstairs.
After eating and paying for the meal (186ILS) we headed back west along the pedestrian mall and near to where a security guard with a pistol at his hip stood I looked up bookshops in Jerusalem. I found one not far away and used Google Maps to navigate across Shlomo ha-Malaekh Street at the traffic lights. We then headed up Ben Shira Street and Queen Shlomziyon Street until we arrived at the International Bookshop Ludwig Mayer. Inside there was a woman aged in her 50s who had an American accent and who helped us to find books in English about Judaism. The same series of books she showed us to browse had been on sale in a tourist shop near the Jaffa Gate. Now, we were able to buy something that would explain the history of her people. The six books came to a total of 320ILS and I was able to pay by credit card. We got back to the hotel at 2.25pm and on the way inside I bought two Goldstar beers (44ILS).
At about 5.15pm I went to the ATM at the petrol station and got more cash. We would be moving to a new hotel the next day and I wasn’t sure where the most suitable machine would be once we shifted residence. On a narrow footpath on the way back to the hotel I came across an old man walking toward me who moved to my left, and I had to take his prompt to move to my right to make way for him on the pavement. It is hard to change old habits. As I was approaching the hotel’s front door I passed through a group of 20 or so girls aged about 16 years on the forecourt who were dancing using choreographed steps and gestures. I had heard the tune of George Harrison’s 1970 anthem ‘My Sweet Lord’ from my hotel room earlier and after I got back to my room again I heard it playing outside once again.
Later we went out to find some dinner and headed down the hill toward the old town. There was a sign for a restaurant I had seen on Google Maps called Te’enim and we headed through a park that had flowering trees in it until we reached a building set off to the side. Inside we took a table at 7pm and ordered labane (a type of yoghurt dip) with sundried tomatoes, which came with brown bread, cold zucchini and yoghurt soup, steamed greens that came with a date sauce called celane and pieces of goat’s cheese, and a mushroom stew that came with cracked wheat and pumpkin. I had two beers and the meal was way too big for two people. It came to 231ILS. After eating we went for a short stroll along Mamilla Avenue and into the old town and got back to the hotel by about 8.40pm.
Above: The Church of the Flagellation on Via Dolorosa.
Above: Inside the Church of the Flagellation.
Above: The Western Wall on the east side of the old town in Jerusalem.
Above: The old town seen from the west.
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