Passover in and out of Jerusalem

  Passover time in Jerusalem, Israel,

sees a population exchange.

Many locals rent (or try to rent) their homes

to holiday visitors for large sums,

and go away for the week.

Even more take day or overnight trips

view from park in Zichron

to one of Israel’s amazing nature spots

like this one near Zichron Yaakov in Ramat Hanadiv park.

Estimates were as high as 75,000 people

for Monday morning’s holiday annual

Birchat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing.

But huge crowds were at

Kotel on Pesach

the Kotel, the Western Wall all day the next day as well.

 Not only were prayer services held at the Kotel and at regular synagogues,

but impromptu minyanim for the afternoon prayers

mincha minyin

sprung up just about everywhere.

people at Tachna

It was good to see First Station busy again,

Luna Park to be built in First Station

but this was the only sign of the new Luna Park.

parking lot Tachanah

The free shuttle bus service was finally being used,

with a full size buse to accommodate the crowds,

in addition to the special vans.

The route was different and it went to a different Old City Gate.

While walking to Kotel, you could see

Silwan

people on top of the Walls looking down at Silwan below.

Street blocked in Old City

Streets were closed and blocked to cars,

 while some places were even blocked to pedestrians.

police block way in Old City

I was not allowed to walk up this alley,

but the guy in white shirt was allowed to smoke.

The closings caused a lot of extra walking for people.

Pesach 5775

This little girl is watching a man from an Arabic tour,

who is taking a video of the hasid, religious Jewish man,

while I was taking photos of the Arabic writing on the back of his vest.

Warm, clear weather was perfect for

crowd Passover Jerusalem

 the large and diverse crowds,

Jaffa Gate plaza view of Tower of DAvid

and for photos in Jerusalem on Passover.

Maimilla Mall on Passover

Mamilla Mall had extra balloon people

and we hear they did a great business.

And of course, there was food.

Parks were filled with picnics and BBQ grills,

and the sky filled with smoke.

Many food places were closed for the holiday.

The ones that were open did just about anything with potatoes.

Peasch Potato Pizza

 However,

this pizza did not seem to be too popular

with one young family.

But, always popular

is the holiday greeting on Jerusalem buses,

Happy and Kosher passover

Happy and Kosher Passover.

0 thoughts on “Passover in and out of Jerusalem

  • April 8, 2015 at 3:44 pm
    Permalink

    great pics as always , we can feel the chag thru your pics, even if we are not in jerusalem.

    Reply
  • April 12, 2015 at 6:40 pm
    Permalink

    Great blog! Felt like I was there. Especially liked the photo of the Arab taking pix of Chasid while girl watched.

    You wrote: “The free shuttle bus service was finally being used,” Not familiar with what this is. Can you comment on it? Where does it leave from? Why does it exist? Anything to do with Luna Park, the photo above it? שבוע טוב

    Reply
    • April 12, 2015 at 7:27 pm
      Permalink

      Thank you, I learned later that the Arab taking video of Hasid was with a tour of Coptic Christians from Egypt, really wondered what they were all thinking. Check this blog post about shuttle service. http://rjstreets.com/2014/09/23/new-free-shuttle-bus-in-jerusalem/

      The First Station parking lot is where bus to Old City shuttle leaves from. It is an experiment to keep cars out of Old City and to develop more traffic at tourist location First Station. They tried a beach in the clear space last summer, now a Luna Park is to be constructed. Weekly events are also planned, Friday night singing, musical groups, etc.

      Reply

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