attractive tourist destination – Page 168 – The Real Jerusalem Streets

Israel Under Fire – Keep Calm & Carry On

November 16, 2012rjstreets

What a week this has been!

I’m not sure where to begin, but let’s start with the

view from the Tayelet, one of the most impressive in the world.

On Wednesday it was the scene of the annual Ethiopian Sigd celebration.

At the end of the day, many of the young people were hanging around,

some texting on cellphones, too many were smoking,

some had been drinking, their style of hair and clothing was something else.

But there was also a Bnei Akiva youth group marching with flags

and this young man with a traditional instrument, a mesinko.

The Sigd Festival showed some of the best

and worst aspects of Israeli society.

From the Tayelet, I hurried back to

The Van Leer Institute, which is located next to Beit Hanasi,

the Israeli President’s official residence. It cannot be seen from the street,

but this beautiful campus is behind a high stone fence.

Many international seminars and conventions are held here;

this week was the EVA/MINERVA conference which focused on digitization.

Frank Thinnes (right) of EUROPEANA came from Luxembourg

to speak on “The Virtual Tourist”, and though I really enjoyed his talk,

it was his “KEEP CALM & CARRY ON” bag

that caught my eye and got him on to this blog.

The 1939 British poster slogan has also been on Facebook this week.

Southern Israel is being pounded with rockets

and there were even sirens in Tel Aviv,

yet life went on normally on the Jerusalem, Israel streets.

4,000,000 Israelis are now living under fire from Gaza rockets,

but Arab women and children went to the mall as usual.

While they feel safe to move around freely, as they should,

my relatives in the South are sleeping on mattresses

on the dining room floor, in bomb shelters and secured rooms.

That is, if they are able to sleep between red alert sirens.

“Keep Calm and Carry On”

and pray for

a Shabbat Shalom.

Sunday Update:

Friday night rockets were aimed at Jerusalem

and there has been a constant barrage from Gaza at Israeli cities.

If Hamas stops aiming at Israeli civilians, there would be a cease fire.

Nachlaot Finding Past and Future

November 6, 2012rjstreets

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.

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.

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.

In Nachlaot, you can see interesting street art

painted on the walls,

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

Old stone streets

and beautiful new homes,

combine to make walking the Nachlaot streets a real adventure.

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

October 31, 2012rjstreets

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

where a large map of the Christian Quarter route is displayed

and musicians entertain.

Smart families got a map with the 17 station locations,

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

Last week I went early,

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

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

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

near the real Knights’ Palace.

One lane was dark,

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

Actors were ready for the shows to begin.

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

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

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.

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.

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

the lane was dark and quiet for festival visitors.

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

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.

Back near Jaffa Gate, large crowds were watching gladiators fight

and dancing-girls.

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,

but I think this family had the best view.

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

the Jerusalem streets fill with traffic in all directions.

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.