Avoid If

• If you don't like heights, don't take a tour of then Jerusalem City walls (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/on-walls.html ). For a short walk that is not as high as some other places you can slimb up to the walk in the Davidson Archaeology Park (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/more-for-kids.html ).
• If you want fruit juice in State of Israel, don't order "mitz," even though the phrase book or dictionary mwy say that mitz means juice. It actually means uncarbonated fruit-flavored drink. Juice is "mitz sakhoot" (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/juice.html ). The many juice stands and bars will make any combination of seasonal fruits you point at.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Off-beat Jerusalem Food

• The shouk (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/abundance.html ) is the best place for fruits, vegetables, nuts, olives, baked goods, salads, and more.
• More includes prepared foods for "take-out." Many restaurants will also pack their food to go.
• In a Parisian farmers’ market each pile of pile of produce is so aesthetically arranged it demands some term other than pile. Even string beans are lined up in perfect emerald rows. Customers are forbidden to touch. With practiced precision the stall keeper removes the requested amount of peaches or strawberries, then rearranges the rest. Each table says, "I am an artwork."
• At the shouk, each table says "abundance." Customers pick up sweet carrots to put in a plastic sack (called a "nylon"), weigh the merits of individual cucumbers (small is tastier), choose the pears as if they could tell which will be most flavorful. Abundance has its own beauty, and color is not lacking.
• One of the tiny shouk restaurants offers Indian vegetarian food.I could tell you the exact location, but where's the fun in that? Its sign is in English.
• A p'tilia is like a largish camping stove, except that it runs on kerosene instead of gas. Cooks who know how to use them get exquisite results. On Agrippas Street and in the shouk itself the tastiest food awaits you in pots set on p'tiliot. Coming into Mahaneh Yehuda from Agrippas, you'll see (to your left) the pots of an Iraqi restaurant. Ask what's in each.
• On the next to last cross-street on your right you'll find the tempting kettles of a tiny Persian restaurant. Both have signs in Hebrew only, but you cannot miss them. Don't.
• The shuk is the best place in Jerusalem for seasonal fruits and vegetables. The quality is high, the prices low.
• In the early spring, fo for shesek. You may come across a Jerusalem Post article claiming that a shesek is a "cumquat." Wrong. Shesek, though the same size and shape as kumquats, are not citrus fruits. Shesek have smooth skins that, when ripe, are yellow and imperfect. Their seeds are about the size of small apricot pits, but shesek seeds are smooth, slightly concave, and solid as far as I can tell. The fruit is smooth and sweet.
  I have heard people claim that shesek are medlars. Actually they are loquats, so they would have to be "Japanese medlars," which, authoritative sources assure me, are not medlars at all. Loquats are delicious. In season, they are very cheap. They do not always make it to the supermarket, possibly because markings on their skin make them look imperfect to people used to industrial fruit.
• By July figs abound, and variety follows variety through summer and fall.
• Lychees in season, peaches (the small ones are best), cucumbers year round (likewise), fresh unripe dates followed by fresh ripe one followed by freshly dried -- abundance.
• Several stores specialize in excellent cheese from Israel and around the world. A friend familiar with cheese shops in France and in New York found Bashar's impressive. The staff is very friendly. They press enticing samples on customers.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Walking Past Windmills

• Afodi Street runs one block from MiTudela straight to Alfasi Street (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/lanes.html ). A little way along, on my right, above a hidden garden, I saw a miniature windmill, on a tower somewhat taller than an NBA player. Its vanes turned. I could not tell if they were catching a breeze or making one.
• At the top of Afodi, I turned right on Alfasi and followed it as it curved up and around to crintersect with ben Maimon. On the other side, the street name changes to ibn Ezra (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/IbnEzra.html ) Street.
• Shaded benches line the walkway in ben Maimon’s boulevard strip. Where the strip ends, I turned left on Arlosorof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haim_Arlosoroff ), then right on Ramban where Arlosorof becomes ibn Gavirol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_ibn_Gabirol ). Just before the (Prima) Kings Hotel, on the left, is another windmill, the size of a small house, its vanes ever stationary (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/rehavia-windmill.html ). The Greek Orthodox Curch built this windmill and for many years ran it, until bankruptcy after the First World War caused the Patriarchate to sell the property. (The Patriarchate spent millions supporting church members who were displaced and impoverished by theat war.)
• The Windmill Hotel (a quiet, friendly place now known as the Prima Royale) on Mendele Street is three blocks from the nearest windmill, but its name is in the spirit of the neighborhood. The closest windmill to the Prima Royale is the most famous of Jerusalem's windmill's, "Montefiori's," near the King David Hotel. http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/montefiores-windmill.html is about that windmill, which most tourists associate with Jerusalem. Rumors that it never worked are false.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

More on Foot

• If you’re walking from Derekh Aza along Binyamin MiTudela (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_of_Tudela) and you want to get to Kikar Magnes (Magnes Square), you can climb the steep slope of Shirion Street, or you can continue to Saadia Gaon(http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/SaadiaGaon.html) and turn right.
• But about halfway between, are steps that lead to a footpath that seems to end at a wrought-iron gate. Maps don't show the footpath. It looks like the walk to a building's gate.
• Climb the steps, continue along the path between shrubs that mask the buildings and the view, turn left sharply when the lane does, and you walk out suddenly intoMagnes square. Like Grammercy Park, and London squares surrounded by Regency mansions, the center area is fenced, but this gate has no lock, only a catch to slow down adventurous toddlers.The playground has a water fountain (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/fountains.html ). At least two of the houses on this square are single-family dwellings, modestly masquerading as apartment buildings.
• Opposite the park two sculptured doves decorate a memorial bench. The larger streets from Kikar Magnes are Rashba (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Adret.html) leading to Ramban and and Alfasi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Alfasi), a shaded, very quiet street, home to university professors for more than half a century. Looking left, you will soon see a broad, paved lane with a handrail painted municipal lavender. This footpath leads to Ben Maimon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambam) .
• Turn right at the top of this path and walk a short distance while watching for steps to a park on the right. Down the steps is a welcoming and shady seating area. Continuing past that, you skirt a building-sized rock tomb from the time of the Macabees. Old-timers refer to it a Jason's tomb. To the right is a comfortable bench where you may see a student catching up on reading.
• Out the gate and you are back on Alfasi. Turning right on Alfasi (past a small arbor with inviting benches) takes you to Afodi which goes steeply down to Benyamin MiTudela, past a vaguely oriental private garden behind the wall on your left (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/windmills.html ) .
• Cross the street and turn to the right -- in your original direction on MiTudela, away from Aza. To the left a very narrow footpath (shown on maps) leads from MiTudella down to a branch of Aza, opposite a small park where the Neighborhood Watch is headquartered in an old bomb shelter (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/09/on-down.html ).
• map.co.il/eng_index.asp (give it plenty of time to come up).
• Two long stairways lead from Rav Berlin to Harlap, and a third (not on my maps) from Aza to Harlap. Used to these shortcuts, I have trouble providing good directions to drivers.
  Maps show a footpath from Binyamin Mitudela to Alfasi, opposite Ben Labrat (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Labrat.html) Street. I have not yet found that path.
• Exploring pedestrian paths and staircases is one of the joys of walking around Jerusalem. Most, but not all, of these ways are on the Carta Street Map or on http://www.e-

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

A Day on Foot and By Bus

• Binyamin MiTudela Street curves around from Derekh Aza . Then Sa'adia Ga'on (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/SaadiaGaon.html ) sweeps down from Kikar Magnes and takes over. Saadia goes on to Ramban (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Nachmanides.html ) and becomes Diskin at an intersection that is difficult for vehicular traffic but not for pedestrians.
• One side of Sa'adia Ga'on is open to the Valley of the Cross (see http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-jerusalem-neighborhood.html ).
• Benches along the way offer a comfortable view. Two or three are always in the shade. The benches at "Ruth's Corner" are a good place to stop and take the long view. Across the street, a park, whose paths are popular with runners, covers the hillside the entire way down.
• In the valley, on the other side of Hazaz, the Monastery of the Cross flies the Greek flag. Beyond that, across the hilltop march white block after white block of the Israel Museum. To the right is the Knesset (parliament) building. Its design has always reminded me of an ancient Greek temple, but I don’t know whether the architect had that in mind. Walking and bike paths go through the valley and on the Gan (Park) Sahkehr.
• Binyamin (Benjamin) of Tudela was a 12th century CE Spanish Jew who traveled through Europe, Africa, and Asia and wrote about what he saw, about a hundred years before Marco Polo’s journeys.
• Saadia Gaon lived in Babylonia (Iraq) from 882-942 CE. By that time, a large Jewish community had already been in Iraq for over 1200 years – from the time the ancient Babylonians first brought Jews captive to Babylon. When the Persians allowed the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem (and to those of their kin who had managed to remain), many stayed in Babylon as part of a community that became the center of Jewish learning. Saadia was one of the scholars of that community.
• Today's scholars of the ancient world often use CE and BCE (Common Era) instead of AD and BC. This usage started long before Political Correctness.
• If you continue along Diskin (which changes its name again on maps but not on street signs), turn right to walk up the steps at the end, turn left at the first public path to go past "Noah's House" and the park benches and down the steps, cross the street, turn first right, take the first left, keep walking and go up the hill to Bezalel, cross the street (with the light, carefully) , go up the Shiloh steps, and continue along Shilo -- you reach Agripas, across which is the Mahaneh Yehudah market (see http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/unexpected-february-entertainment.html).
• On the way you'll have gotten a feel for Nahalaot.
• Instead of going along Diskin, you can cross the street and wind down through the park (until they turn it into a parhing garage) and go through the pedestiral tunnel at the bottom into the Valley of the Cross. The climb from the Valley of the Cross to the museum is not difficult, if the temperature is under 27 C (80 F). From the bus stop on the built-up side of Saadia Gaon, the 9, 17 and 17 alef (the alef looks like H; http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/gazelles.html ) go to the museum.
• Bus drivers make change.
• The 17s continue to the Malkah mall, while the 9 goes to the Hebrew University's science campus and not far from the Supreme Court building, which is worth touring. The Bible Lands Museum is across the street from the Israel Museum. The hands-on children's science and technology museum is a little beyond.
• Between the Knesset and the Supreme Courte is the Rose Garden (Gahn HaV'reedeem; http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/rose-gardens.html), a venue for many political demonstrations, particularly those to influence the budget.
  

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox

Street Signs

• Jerusalem street signs come in several varieties. I have not yet seen one from the Ottoman era, but some may exist.
• At the intersection of Yafo (Jaffa) and Strauss (which changes to King George V on the other side of Yafo http://jerusalmblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/street-of-prophets.html ) is a street sign from the British Mandate period(http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm ), on the building as is the European custom. English is the first language. Under it is Arabic. Hebrew is at the bottom. Be on the lookout for more of these.
• Throughout the city stree names appear on the building at the corder. They are in Hebrew, English, Arabic, and English. The English transliteration may not be what you expect.
• You can also see two types of signs on posts at corners. One is large, internally lit, and easy to see. The other sort is smaller and metal. (More recent ones may be plastic.) These are the most interesting if you read Hebrew, for in addition to the street name in three scripts, they display a brief explanation of the name.
• Recently thieves have been stealing the metal signs to sell to scrap dealers.
• In Jerusalem even street signs are political. On some the Arabic has been vandalized by ultra-nationalist Jews. On others the names have been vandalized by ultra-nationalist non-Jewish Arabs. In ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, vandals have crossed out the family names of secular Zionists.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox