Bus 99

• Egged's line 99 (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/private-guides.html ) provides a two-hour ride around Jerusalem in a double-decker bus.
• The views are wonderful. In places they are spectacular.
• The commentary is sketchy to nonexistent. Nevertheless, the tour is worth the charge (about 10USD) and the time. It is, for instance, the only way you can now see over the wall the Anglicans recently built around their school (http://www.aisj.co.il/ ).
• Take a map, and use the opportunity to get oriented -- difficult when you are going along twisty streets (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-jerusalem-neighborhood.html ), and easier if you can see over low buildings.
• The 99 starts opposite the huge clock on the outside of the blue and white central Bus Station. You can also pick it up at other stops -- for example, at the Sherover Promenade, across the street from the road into the Biblical Zoo, and at Yad VaShem. You can buy a ticket for one circuit, or pay more to get off the bus and get back on two hours later -- if it is not already the last bus.
• http://www.egged.co.il/Eng/main.asp?lngCategoryID=2773 has a little more information.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox