Tuesday my mission was to make it to beautiful Jerusalem. I had talked to a few different people and the consensus was that train was beautiful but a few extra Shekels (totalling maybe $1USD) so I opted for that route. I didn't have a train schedule and just managed to miss an 11:40 train and had to wait for a 1:00. The trains are apparently the main mode of transportation for the military. There was an interesting air that they owned the stations, hopping in front of me when I was trying to purchase something for lunch. I decided it was best not to argue given the line breaker was unusually well armed sporting an assault rifle, pistol, knife, baton, second smaller knife and an unseen weapon or two I'm sure. It's still strange to experience people younger than I am armed to the teeth.
Once out of Tel-Aviv the train ride was as beautiful as promised. The trip started rolling the orchard after orchard of all manners of fruit. On the farms where people were working it looked as though they were maintained largely by hand with little room between the rows of trees, and certainly nothing a tractor or any other major machinery could roll through.
The farms gave way to rolling mountains eventually, we were in a valley along a riverbed and looking up towards the top of the cliffs that were on either side sparked memories of traveling to Zion national park. Occasionally settlements would spring up among the rocky barren looking hills and mountains but the area seemed currently largely deserted. The settlements that were there employed tiered gardening techniques adding to their somewhat ancient and old world feel.
About halfway along the trip a younger Jewish couple boarded our train brining kids along with them. One of the kids was at the constantly crying stage in his life and the other was at the too much energy for his own good stage. The older of the two turned the table and two spare seats into a personal jungle gym while the other balled his head off. In no time at all we were the only ones in the cab. Two stops after they arrived they departed and I was left with the cab to myself other than the one, young, gun strapped guard pacing the cabin nodding at me with each pass.
Upon arrival to Jerusalem I found I had managed to loose my ticket somewhere during the trip but thankfully I believe being a tourist grabbed my some pity and I was allowed through the handicapped gate. I caught a taxi from the station to the Jaffa Gate and found that the insane driving was far from limited to Tel-Aviv. The cab driver spoke just enough English to get by so most of the trip I spent staring out the window in amazement. The whole city seems to be a picture.
When I arrived at Jaffa Gate (one of the 5 ways to get into old city Jerusalem) I stepped out pulled out my map and took a minute to began orienting myself. My attempts to find a real map at the visitor center were thwarted as apparently the are only open for two hours, 11:30 to 1:30. I wish I had thought to snap a picture as the size of the thing is insane for a two hour a day operation.
I, being a tourist was unaware that the Jaffa Gate is targeting ground for shop owners attempting to sell you something. I naively asked a young man standing outside a stop if he knew of somewhere I could get a map, and was quickly ushered inside his shop where I was promised he had a map he could provide me with. Immediately I was handed off to an older man who asked me if I had a girlfriend... "no." I was then told that these earrings would look great on my mother. And they were a steal at 200 shekel. Yeap, I was in trouble. "Look, I'm a college student, I'm traveling here on a budget, I really don't want to be spending money on (gaudy) jewelry. " Then they became a real deal at only 100 shekel. "No thank you." The one who had earlier offered to help me with the map now offered tea or coffee, to which he wouldn't take no for an answer too. Things were degrading quickly with the shop owner as well. The price was now 50 shekel for the earrings (25% of what he had started at?) which were already being placed into a jewelry box. I almost debated spending the roughly $10 just to get out of the place but I found some resolve said no and darted from the store and enraged owner who was shouting at me for wasting his time. Still no map other than the Google map I had printed.
I still wasn't quite oriented at this point but had no real time constraints so just began wandering. I was a bit confused at first trying to find the other "streets" which I could find on the map but not from anywhere else. I soon found that the "streets" (with road names) were pedestrian walk ways. As I'm writing this it seems second nature now but at first it was extremely disorienting. Secondly Google had an odd method of naming streets. Some were the direct Hebrew translations and others were the English translations of Hebrew words. The street signs are marked with Hebrew, Islamic and direct Hebrew translation so I would often find myself searching for chain street when in fact there was no road sign with that on it. Again, now that I'm aware, I can plan accordingly but at first this made life a pain.
Given that I couldn't find my way I opted to get intentionally lost and got off the market streets. After some rather jarring first experiences in Jerusalem this was a much welcomed break. Brandishing my camera I went to shooting this beautiful city. The entire city is set with pavers, some dating back to as old as the 3rd and 4th century A.D. The whole city feels like a well maintained museum, but somewhat surprisingly once off the beaten path in Old City Jerusalem I was stumbling around houses, schools and churches all built into this ancient city. This is a second somewhat astonishing discovery to me, the whole city feels contiguous. It feels like it is one giant building with streets run between them. the uniform look of giant block stone used to construct the buildings and the roofs which you can walk across in several places directly over the bustling market below just lead to the city having an incredible feel to it.
Eventually I decided I needed to check in and began asking around. Thankfully the hostel I was looking for is well known and I was pointed in the right direction. Braving the incredibly crowded streets with my pack on (god to I feel terrible for the people I see coming in to this place with real luggage, there is no way to get here except by foot and it's a good quarter to half a mile from the gate) and my camera strapped on it didn't take too long to find my way to the Hashimi Hotel and Hostel. For $19.70 a night I have a bed, shower and sink and this hotel is beautiful. There are shots on my flickr from the roof of the Hashimi. Surprisingly, for once, the pictures shown on the web didn't lie.
After checking out my room I hit the streets again. Through 9 o'clock this place hums and then it seems to die all at once. There's limited night life to speak of here in Jerusalem. I walked Via Dolorosa in the dark, a beautiful sight. After successfully loosing myself once again in the less touristy portion of the old city I found my camera a conversation starter, apparently the areas I had worked my way into don't see much tourist traffic so many assumed I was shooting for more than my own personal collection. The language barrier proves tricky from time to time though, simply saying "good evening" as you pass someone can startle or deeply confuse them, I'm trying to suppress this habit as much as possible but it lead to a few confused looks and conversations last night. A few thought that I wanted pictures of them. I'm not opposed to taking pictures of locals, but 9:30 at night relying solely on the street lamps for lighting aren't the best conditions for portraiture.
I worked my way out of old city to grab something to eat and found a place selling shawarma for 12 shekel ($3). In some confusion I said "Yes" to toppings instead of specifying which ones and got a very interesting shawarma. After knocking a few things out of it it became edible.
After getting some food in me I called it an early evening and headed back to my hostel where I spent a few hours talking business and politics with my sole room mate from Australia. I think hostels lend themselves to some interesting people. In my experience up to this point everyone has been very well educated on world happenings and really seem to enjoy just discussing what's going on. Just a really neat atmosphere.
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