Nachlaot Finding Past and Future

Sir Moses Montefiore, a great benefactor to Israel in the 19th century,

is perhaps best known for the Montefiore Windmill.

However, in 1882 he was also involved in building

the Nachlaot section of Jerusalem.

This cluster of small Jewish neighborhoods was one of the first

Jerusalem homesteads outside the walls of the over-crowded Old City.

Stone walls surrounded Nachlaot to protect its residents.

Sir Moses Montefiore

Today one of the openings still displays a testimonial to Montefiore 

and the Mazkeret Moshe neighborhood is named for him.

 Nachlaot is across from the Machane Yehuda Market, the shuk.

Nahlaot street, Jerusalem Street, J Street

After getting lost too many times on the narrow twisting streets,

I made it a habit to walk around Nachlaot

and not through it on my way to the shuk.

So when the Jerusalem Scavenger Hunts offered a hunt to Nachlaot, 

I made sure to be one of the first bloggers to sign up for the special event.

mayaan fogel art, street art, Nahaot

In Nachlaot, you can see interesting street art

street art, J Street, Nahlaot

painted on the walls,

street art, J Street, scavenger hunt

but you never know what you will  find hanging out on its streets.

Old stone street, J Street, Jerusalem old street

Old stone streets

Nahlaot house, J Street, new Jerusalem building

and beautiful new homes,

street art, J Street, Nachlaot art

combine to make walking the Nachlaot streets a real adventure.

Nahlaot, J Street, Jerusalem street photos

From ancient stones on the left to modern cable receivers on the right,

it can all be found in Nachlaot.

We followed our map, and not only did we not get lost,

but our team won!

And thanks to the Village Green Restaurant on Rachel Imenu Street,

we enjoyed fresh bread with a cup of soup at the end of the hunt.

There are many tours to Nachlaot, 

but this scavenger hunt is fun and educational for all ages.

 We found it as good an experience as the hunt last year

in the Old City.

To find more photos of Nachlaot and our winning team see:

The Real Jerusalem Streets Facebook Page.

Jerusalem Knights and Dragons Festival

A priority for City Hall has been to encourage

 visitors to come at night to the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel.

  And the current ‘Festival of Knights in the Old City’ has done the job.

Jaffa Gate at night

Jaffa Gate is the starting point for the ‘Knights and Dragons’ theme,

Map Old City Christian Quarter

where a large map of the Christian Quarter route is displayed

 Jafffa Gate

and musicians entertain.

Jaffa Gate

Smart families got a map with the 17 station locations,

Dragon, Jaffa Gate

but does not include the many moving ‘photo ops’.

Last week I went early,

crowd at Jaffa Gate

as good photographs are hard to get at these crowded events. 

Dragon head

Near the beginning of the route was this colorful dragon head.

Castle

A cardboard castle and its defending knight were ready for photo action,

Knights Inn

near the real Knights’ Palace.

alley way

One lane was dark,

Dragon, Knight Festival Old City

but most were well-lit and many costumes added color.

actors in costume

 Actors were ready for the shows to begin.

Barber shop Old city

A barber shop was open under one of the red festival signs,

actors in costumes

which pointed to the actors getting ready in Muristan Square.

As I said, smart people took a map.

This was not the first time I got confused at Muristan Square

street Old City

and headed in the wrong direction, 

but this was the first night of Eid Al-Adha, the Muslim ‘Feast of Sacrifice’.

It was so crowded on the narrow paths

that I did not get a photo of the smelly animal being pushed in a cart.

His sad eyes seemed to know he was going to be the feast.

Arab woman and man, nijab

Following closely to an English-speaking tourist group,

I got only this one picture of a candy store.  

Finally,

spotting a sign to the Via Dolorosa, I headed out of the Muslim Quarter.

men smoking water pipes

Retracing some of my route, I noticed these smokers were gone,

 the lane was dark and quiet for festival visitors.

actors in Muristan Square

The actors were in Muristan Square and so was the “EXIT” sign.

signs Knights Jerusalem, Old City shuk

I do not know if the free Jerusalem Knights Festival

brought paying customers to shops, but many more were open

than for the first night of the Festival in October 2010.

gladiators, Old City , Jaffa Gate

Back near Jaffa Gate, large crowds were watching gladiators fight

girls dancing

and dancing-girls.

kids at Jerusalem festival, Jaffa Gate

Hundreds of families, many with young children,

seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Many children were on their parents’ shoulders,

as it was very hard to see the performers.

I found a bench to stand on, 

picture children on balcony

but I think this family had the best view.

Picture Jerusalem at night

And as usual, when tens of thousands of people come,

 the Jerusalem streets fill with traffic in all directions.

photo Jerusalem festival knights

There are still two more Thursday nights in November to enjoy the festival.

If you cannot come and want to see more:

 additional photos on The Real Jerusalem Streets Facebook page.

Jerusalem as August Ends

Did you hear a loud noise on Monday morning?

It was the collective sighs of relief filling the streets –

 the long summer holiday was over

and over 2 million Israeli children went back to school.

water play

Trips to museums for water play were replaced with starting Kita alef,

 which in Israel is a more exciting event than many university graduations.

The school children living in the southern Israel town of Sderot

Kassam rocket

had another rocket fired at them from Gaza as they started to go to class.

More than 440 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza

since the year began, averaging around two a day!

Last week Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, 

Shakespeare in park

was performed in English in Jerusalem, Israel’s Bloomfield Park.

The shows were free and open to the public.

Shakespeare, widely agreed to be perhaps the most clever writer ever,

 could he have imagined what is happening now?

Arab families were seated on the grass to watch.

Arab girls

A few meters away on the plaza, Muslim women sat on a bench 

Jerusalem

and then followed to see the photos of a beautiful bride in white,

Jerusalem scene

as a Jewish couple were preparing to get married.

While hundreds are killed each day in Syria,

Jerusalem park

this was the scene in the Jerusalem park.

School has started, however university does not begin until October.

Jerusalem park

Arab girls in Israel will be attending classes,

not banned from an education like in Iran. 

Arab woman driving

And of course, they can drive themselves to the park or to school,

not like the women living in Saudi Arabia.

arab girls

 Kikar Zion, Zion Square, is still a safe place to walk during the day.

It was a long hot summer,

but the evenings are now cool for the late night summer music programs.

Jerusalem theater

Last week the music and lights were at the Jerusalem Theater,

J street sign,

and this week Gan Sacher, Sacher Park, will showcase Reggae Music 

and Safra Square will host the last August free public concert. 

First there was the Wine Festival, then Beer Festival,

ice cream

and now this week for the first time an Ice Cream Festival.

Always something happening on the Jerusalem streets.