Day 7 -- 06/16/18
Woke up today feeling fairly sick (hmm...possibly a result of less than four hours of sleep??), but I had to make it to my free tour of the Old City scheduled for the morning! Because today was Shabbat, all the public transport is shut down, so I had to walk over and the tour itself, unfortunately, wasn't that great -- not sure if it was the illness, the heat, the fairly boring tour guide, or the fact that I had seen most of this yesterday -- but I left early to go explore on my own. I did, however, meet Lona, a wonderful woman from Peru (now living in Spain), so I got to practice some Spanish and hear about all the things I should do while I'm abroad there in the Spring!
Now on my own, I walked around for a little bit, before buying some bread-type thing from a street vendor that I had been seeing all around the Muslim Quarter. I went to the near-by park to eat this and my free peach from yesterday, before heading back to the Old City for the Ramparts Walk. This takes you around the Old City on top of the wall, with really cool views into smaller neighborhoods you probably wouldn't find normally. My fear of heights definitely kicked in with this one, as the stones are worn down so much that it was very easy to slip and slide around! Of course, there was a huge railing/fence to prevent you from actually falling off, but they don't call fears irrational for nothing!
This walk took me over to the far East side of the Old City, from where I walked over to the Mount of Olives. On my way, I saw a huge section of grass (right outside of the Old City and a huge archological region) just completely on fire (I probably should have done something, but having no idea what to do, and given the fact that it was in a very populated area where so many other people must have seen it already, I just stared at it for awhile!). I stopped in the Church of Nations, then began a huge hike up to the top of the Mount of Olives, stopping in several other small churches along the way. It was a long, very uphill walk, but the views of the entire city of Jerusalem were well worth it! Next time, though, I might take a bus.
I still had some time to kill (Shabbat doesn't end until sunrise, and the buses start up an hour later, so I until around 9 before I had a way home), so I decided to keep walking around the Old City. This time, I actually just wandered, taking any street that seemed interesting, and back-tracking a ton as maybe about a third of the paths I took were dead ends. I finally arrived (on accident) back at the Jaffa Gate (where I started my day), and found a little place to eat dinner in a beautiful little alley with views of the comings and goings through the main gate. I sat here for awhile, reading and writing, and eating wonderful baklava, until it seemed like a time when the buses would probably have started up again!
Now on my own, I walked around for a little bit, before buying some bread-type thing from a street vendor that I had been seeing all around the Muslim Quarter. I went to the near-by park to eat this and my free peach from yesterday, before heading back to the Old City for the Ramparts Walk. This takes you around the Old City on top of the wall, with really cool views into smaller neighborhoods you probably wouldn't find normally. My fear of heights definitely kicked in with this one, as the stones are worn down so much that it was very easy to slip and slide around! Of course, there was a huge railing/fence to prevent you from actually falling off, but they don't call fears irrational for nothing!
This walk took me over to the far East side of the Old City, from where I walked over to the Mount of Olives. On my way, I saw a huge section of grass (right outside of the Old City and a huge archological region) just completely on fire (I probably should have done something, but having no idea what to do, and given the fact that it was in a very populated area where so many other people must have seen it already, I just stared at it for awhile!). I stopped in the Church of Nations, then began a huge hike up to the top of the Mount of Olives, stopping in several other small churches along the way. It was a long, very uphill walk, but the views of the entire city of Jerusalem were well worth it! Next time, though, I might take a bus.
I still had some time to kill (Shabbat doesn't end until sunrise, and the buses start up an hour later, so I until around 9 before I had a way home), so I decided to keep walking around the Old City. This time, I actually just wandered, taking any street that seemed interesting, and back-tracking a ton as maybe about a third of the paths I took were dead ends. I finally arrived (on accident) back at the Jaffa Gate (where I started my day), and found a little place to eat dinner in a beautiful little alley with views of the comings and goings through the main gate. I sat here for awhile, reading and writing, and eating wonderful baklava, until it seemed like a time when the buses would probably have started up again!
Love rwarding this all, but please get some sleep!!
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