Jerusalem Knights Back in Saddle for Old City Festival

The Jerusalem Knights Festival is back again in the Old City.

Since attending the Jerusalem Knights first night,

I have tried to return each year to see what is new and different.

image Jerusalem Knights, photo people blowing horns, oto

These trumpets and trumpeters greeted visitors

as they approached the Walls of the Old City at the Jaffa Gate.

image inside Jaffa GAte

Upon entering  Jaffa Gate

image dancing girls, Jerusalem knights festival

the plaza was filled with dancing-girls and spectators.

image actor in medivial costume

Many actors were positioned along the route,

image actor in costume, photo old costume and cell phone. man using cell phone picture

but this gladiator with his cell phone has to be my favorite photo.

spider costume photo, image man dressed in costume.

Some costumes were unusual, 

image knights festival. photo stage

and others like these Medieval fashion show costumes

were hard to see, as crowds blocked the view of the stage.

Young children on shoulders have a distinct advantage at this event.

image walls Old City , photo fire, picture Old City walls night

However, this man with a lit torch on top of the walls was easy to see,

 everyone who looked up could see the fire show.

image clown, photo clown, picture jester in costume

Many performances, like this clown act and jugglers,

entertained the thousands of young children who attended.

image sign in Old City, picture Jerusalem signs, photo Jerusalem Knights

The route this year was both through and around the Armenian Quarter, 

sparing the residents of the Christian and Jewish Quarters

the noise of four consecutive Thursday nights,

with thousands of people outside their windows late into the night.

image people posing for picturs

These photo-ops were not just for the kids.

image old instruments, picture old musical intstruments

Medieval musical instruments

image old intstruments., picture medical musical instruments, photo old musical instrument

were featured at more than one site.

Old City walls, image festival, photo Jerusalem knights

Movies screened on the walls of the Old City in Gan Habonim

could never have been predicted by Medieval seers.

iamge old city, photo knights, picture Jerusalem

There were live shows with plenty of tacky costumes,

image man on horse, photo knight

but beautiful real horses.

two men on horses, knights on horses photo, picture real horses

There were also knights in not-so shining armor jousting,

image Old City, photo out side walls old city

colorful lights, the Gravita aerial-acrobats,

and a Knights’ Pub with a bar with real wine.

Though there are those who oppose the idea,

 once again thousands and thousands of people

were out on the Jerusalem, Israel, streets, enjoying the experience.

The last night of Knights, is Thursday night, November 21.

8 Things to See Now on Jerusalem Streets

Israeli Apartheid? 

 got the most views in one day for a RJS post. 

But, 15 Real Photos of Arab Girls is still going strong 

and will soon go over 100,000 views. 

Too bad all my numbers are not that impressive.

So what is there to see in Jerusalem, Israel, now that the holidays

and municipal elections are over,

picture announcements, image colorful posters

and the campaign signs are slowly coming down?

image street art, grafiti, Jerusalem street art

1. Street art can be found in parking lots

man walking on Jaffa STreet

and lines so many streets,

 but contemporary art in Jerusalem has a new home.

2. The Jerusalem Biennale, which runs from September 15-October 31,

Cultural event Jerusalem Israel art & artists

 had its opening in the galleries of the renovated Templar houses on Emek Refaim Street.

3. For the week of October 17-24,

sign Manofim

there was Manofim, multiple exhibitions of contemporary art in Jerusalem.

image man at podium, picture lecture

Art critic and art history expert, Gideon Efrat,

gave a talk at Mishkenot Sha’ananim as part of the annual Manofim events.

image woman drawing, picture sektcthing

One woman was sketching during the program,

which was great to see at an art lecture.

manofim image, Jerusalem bird sanctuary

Manofim took place in many neighborhoods around Jerusalem,

but I was surprised to find this sign left at the Jerusalem Bird Sanctuary.

Art, art and more art is not what you think of first in Jerusalem,

but I have written before about the galleries in the Jerusalem Theater.

Yithak Greenfield with artists

4.  Israeli artist Yitzhak Greenfield’s students opened a show at the theater.

image woman in art gallery, looking at paintings image.

People of all ages came to see their work.

photo of art display, gallery in Jerusalem Theater

 Displays are constantly changing and open to public at no charge.

But there is more than art.

Cinema City in Jerusalem

5. The Cinema City signs are up,

 now everyone can see where the new theaters are located.

sign for Oud Festival

6. See and hear, another Oud Festival starts soon.

sign Einstein on Azza

7. See and learn on Azza Street from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm,

Einstein on Azza is coming on November 1.

Professors from the Hebrew University will give free lectures, along with live performances.

There is so much more, but the last for today.

sign for Jerusalem Knights

8. The Jerusalem Knights Festival will be held

on four consecutive Thursday nights starting October 31.

I saw the very first Knight night and wrote

who could imagine that the Crusades could be so much fun?

You may hear in the news about protests,

but how about these other events that are happening now? 

There is a big problem though,

with so much to see and do,

how does one see a fraction of the things that are going on?

Now If I could just get people interested in seeing some of this good stuff 

and not just looking for Arab girls….

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.