Jerusalem (Israel)

...do about the city. Jerusalem is a mosaic built over time by an extraordinary diversity of peoples and cultures. Perhaps most of all, it is a city that for millennia has been at the center of conflict--and that looks ever hopefully for a way to achieve peace. Since King David seized "Salem" from the Jebusites around 1000 B.C.E., it has been destroyed, occupied, and rebuilt many times over. Imperial dominance has been exerted over Jerusalem by the ...
...barriers built to protect ancient Jerusalem against would-be conquerors--unless, of course, you count the barbed wire that divided the city between 1948 and 1967. The Israeli military cemetery on Mount Herzl and pre-1967 Jordanian implacements on Ammunition Hill bring the city's saga of defense and conquest right down to the present. Jerusalemites often maintain firmly that, particularly for Jerusalem, the past lives in the present. Clearly, on ...

BawBaw 07.02.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

...and then moved on to Jerusalem for six days, it takes 50 minutes to get there by car. The heat wave we had encountered on our arrival was still going strong but it was much better to endure in Jerusalem whose hills are 800m above sea level, humidity is only about 40% there, sometimes even less. We set out in the afternoon to get a first glimpse of the Old City, the historical and religious heart of Jerusalem. Our hotel was near the Damascus Gate, ...
...the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple by the Romans (70 BC). The place in front of the wall serves as a synagogue, it has been accessible for Jews only after Israel captured the Old City in 1967, at times tens of thousands of people gather there for prayer, men and women prey separately, a fence divides them. When we were there it was just an ordinary day with not too many people. We sat there for a long time taking in the atmosphere, watching ...

MALU 21.06.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

...city ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For us, Jerusalem is our capital, even if the economic center is Tel-Aviv. But only 3 embassies recognize it, all the others are in Tel-Aviv. I know less the new city and it is anyway less interestigng so I will speak to you about the places I visited... - Downtown, all turns around the street Ben-Yehuda, with all its shops and tourists, of religious souvenirs not even casher, its shops of clothing, ...
...we spent the day in Jerusalem and it made me discover a place which I did not know yet: the garden of the Roses, not far from the Knesset. It is a very pretty garden whose characteristic is to be planted only of rose trees which were offered by various leaders of all the countries of the world. Pretty and resting... We also walked in the forest of Jerusalem, still on the Herzl Mount; it appears that one can see hinds and fawns there, ... fine, ...

sheli 12.09.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

...brainpower. All buildings in Jerusalem are made from Jerusalem stone, the same type of stone as the Western Wall, the last remnant of the 2nd Jewish Temple destroyed in 70AD by the Romans, but behind each apartment or complex you’ll find a melting pot worth of history, within each family a rich diversity of Religion, politics and family life. I expected to go to find a city on the edge because of the ‘walking animals’ that blow themselves up and ...
...and make an effort. Jerusalem is built on a mountain, so the weather is beautiful in spring, hot in the summer 80F+, gorgeous in autumn and pretty nippy in winter with rain or snow. The whole of Israel is likened to a deer skin. Just like a deer skin once skinned, you wonder how such a small hide could’ve covered such a large animal, you wonder how Israel (the size of Wales) houses it’s 5+1/2 million inhabitants and growing at the rate of 50k+ a ...

gideon 29.04.2003 (09.05.2003) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

Jerusalem is the kind of city it is impossible to visit 'blind'. Everyone knows her glancingly. Her name invokes impressions, differing impressions, in people across the globe, and her role in Western Civilisations cannot be underplayed. I was fortunate enough, and I do use 'fortunate' guardedly, to have spent a few months working in Jerusalem a few years back. The city I often now see on my television screen isn't always the happy, hearty, lively ...
...sometimes it is exactly the Jerusalem I remember, the fear, the hate and the entrenched beliefs. Jerusalem is a divided city. Jerusalem has been a divided city for hundreds of years, centuries even. Palestinian East Jerusalem as distinct from Israeli West Jerusalem, The Old City as distinct from the New City, and within the Old City herself, she is, even in this tiny area (for the Old City itself is a fraction of the size of the city as a whole, ...

womble 19.09.2001 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

I was in Jerusalem for three weeks in July whilst teaching English to children as a volunteer. I didn't really know what to expect although I made sure I read some of the history before I went. The city is basically split into two parts, the Old City and the New City. In the Old City are most of the famous religious buildings, such as the Wailing Wall, The Dome of the Rock, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Via Delarosa. It takes a good day ...
...(mostly centred around Zion Square). Jerusalem has plenty of places to stay from nice hotels to the dirtiest cheapest hostels you can imagine. For a truly outstanding experience you can sleep on the roof of a hostel in the Old City for about 1 pound 50. Most decent hostel rooms are around 3-4 pounds. There are many other things to see in the area, Yad Vashem the holocaust museum is good but left me feeling a bit depressed, the Knessett (parliament ...

RebelMC 17.09.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

...really Tel Aviv, whose opera and ballet are well worth a look. Please now see my reviews of Jerusalem in general (‘The Incredible Melting Pot’), Israel in general (‘A Little Something for Everyone’) and Bethlehem, Haifa, the Dead Sea, Eilat, Gaza, Masada, Nazareth, Tel Aviv and the Galilee. ...

Matoqah 31.07.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

...I actually felt homesick for Jerusalem when I left. It is the strangest place I have I have ever visited, and I as soon as I left, I wanted to be back there. I stayed in a public hostel while I was there and I was amazed at the number of people who seemed to have visited Jerusalem and just stayed. It would seem that it is a place to which people gravitate and it is certainly not just religious people who go there either; it is a haven for aging-hippies ...
...He said that people in Jerusalem accept violence as a price to pay to live in the most beautiful city in the world. He told me that when a bomb goes off in Jerusalem, people will be back out the streets half an hour later. There was a real tension about the city, but I actually really liked that. I'm not religious, but am very interested in history and it was fascinating to see so many different kinds of people and cultures mixing. The sights were ...

Noggsy 09.07.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

If you are a foreigner in Jerusalem, whether a permanent resident or just passing through, you have certain special privileges. You will see the cool, cosmopolitan Israeli youth culture in the many bars and clubs (check out the Russian Compound area - usually neglected by the tourist crowds, and very trendy), the 4000 year old way of life of the bedouin, and the daily struggles of the Palestinian and Israeli Arab people in the city. You will have ...
...richest archaeological sites in the world, that you have heard about since your early childhood, as well as the many world class museums and exhibits (don't leave without seeing the Israel Museum in the SW area). As an outside observer, you can learn an incredible amount, very safely, about this cultural melting pot. ...

Matoqah 31.07.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

Jerusalem is fascinating, but which Jerusalem? Do you mean the Old City? That is the site of all the New Testament references to Jerusalem, where Jesus spent the final period of his life. But there is also the fascinating City of David, a short way from the Old City. There you can walk through Hezekiah’s tunnel, with water up to your knees, for about 30-40 minutes. You have to carry a candle (on sale there) or a torch. There is also East Jerusalem, ...
...if you’re interesting in archeology, history or the Bible. Yad Vashem is a holocaust Museum in Jerusalem and it is also worth seeing. Lots of information about the Nazi policy towards Jews, the Warsaw Ghetto, etc. It’s horrifying but it’s the truth. Go and see it. ...

johnpaul1968 16.08.2000 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Jerusalem (Israel)