last day in jerusalem
{before you scroll through the masses of pictures in this post (i know, i need to get better at narrowing down!!) check out gojanegive – the awesomest new platform for doing good in this wild world. gojanegive makes it easy for anyone to raise money to support fantastic charities by doing something they love and/or do already as part of their everyday life. my friend meg is using gojanegive to sell homemade, organic baby food and all proceeds go to refugee aid – check out her gojanegive page and order some! i’m scheming up my own gojanegive project and am so excited to share it in the coming weeks!} aaaaaand…back to jerusalem…
we had three must-dos for our last day in jerusalem:
1. go on top of the temple mount and see the dome of the rock
2. visit mahane yehuda market in west jerusalem
3. spend at least a couple of hours wandering around the old city
we accomplished all three, and had some adventures/misadventures along the way. the weather was crazy this day and we got caught in a downpour. (i just realized that i included some pictures from churches we visited in the rain on my post about saturday when really that happened on monday, our last day! on saturday we actually took a loooong walk through east jerusalem to try to visit lazurus’s tomb in bethany and we were thwarted by the separation wall. that was a sobering experience.) we were pretty sad that it was our last day in this place that had become so very beloved to both of us. i kind of thought that i’d return to jerusalem and realize that i was just a really dramatic, rosey-glassed twenty-year-old when i lived there – it couldn’t possibly be as amazing as i’d remembered. but truly, that place is every bit as spectacular as my younger self made it out to be – probably even more so. the boy agrees that it’s the best, and now genuinely shares my passion for jerusalem.
click through to see pictures from our last day in the holy city!
^^ poppies spotted as we waited in line to go up to the dome of the rock. i love them. ^^
^^ western wall view from the ramp that leads to the top of the temple mount. we queued up to visit the dome of the rock at 7am, and were the first ones in line! so when we got on top, we were the only tourists there, which was pretty neat. ^^
now, prepare yourself for a lot of pictures of the dome of the rock and other views from the top of the temple mount. it was all just so beautiful and picturesque that peaceful morning! the dome was gleaming in the sun, the colours on the tiles were mesmerizing, and the patterns and symmetry and ambiance were just fantastic.
^^ me on the temple mount and the jerusalem center on the hill behind me! ^^
^^ paintings like this are all over different walls around the muslim quarter of the old city. i snapped this as we exited the temple mount and headed back over to west jerusalem. ^^
now, prepare yourself for a lot of pictures of the food stalls at mahane yehuda market. i love, love, love this place! we had gotten soaked in a downpour of rain on our walk there, so we were especially excited to arrive and see all the beautiful arrays of edibles on display under a roof :) the market is in a nice part of west jerusalem and is just stuffed with delights.
^^ isn’t this just some type of fantastic art?! all the colours and textures and juxtapositions of the displays – love it. and it was fun to sample some things! ^^
^^ the boy’s favourite part. ^^
^^ ^^ jerusalem artichokes! ^^ ^^
^^ wet, frizzy, with child, happy. ^^
like i mentioned, before we headed to the market, it was raining super hard so we were tried to choose an activity that we could do indoors. we headed to the tower of david museum, not realizing that a lot of the exhibitions and reasons to visit were outdoors! we decided the panoramic view from the top of the tower is the best view we’d seen over the city yet. but the wind was whipping the rain all around and it was kind of hard to enjoy the vista! so after our market exploring, and after the sun had come out!, we went back to the tower. here’s the same scene in two very different weather conditions:
and the boy backgrounded by the outdoor bits of the exhibitions: (both the indoor and outdoor bits were really well curated and we appreciated what we learned)
we spent the rest of the day wandering the old city, trying to get to as many crooks and corners as we could before we had to leave jerusalem. we bought a few souvenirs (usually we limit any shopping on trips to one magnet, but we figured our favourite place deserved a couple more mementos) and had some delicious food and enjoyed chatting with different shopkeepers. we also took a quick detour outside damascus gate to visit the garden tomb one more time, because we love it there. when we returned to our aribnb that night, we felt saturated with the good of this marvelous city and excited for our upcoming adventures in the south of israel and into jordan, but still quite sad to leave jerusalem!
^^ tiny baby boy in jru. ^^
^^ a shopkeeper offered to take a photo of both of us! ^^
^^ glorious fruit! and lemonade with mint, which is available at every restaurant in the old city. it’s so fresh and yummy! ^^
^^ these leather sandals are all over in the old city, and we each bought a pair! ^^
^^ love the smile of our new friend at the spice shop with the spice pyramid (which looked exactly the same nine years ago!) ^^
sharing my favourite place with my favourite person was such a joy.
on to the dead sea and then the red sea!
we had three must-dos for our last day in jerusalem:
1. go on top of the temple mount and see the dome of the rock
2. visit mahane yehuda market in west jerusalem
3. spend at least a couple of hours wandering around the old city
we accomplished all three, and had some adventures/misadventures along the way. the weather was crazy this day and we got caught in a downpour. (i just realized that i included some pictures from churches we visited in the rain on my post about saturday when really that happened on monday, our last day! on saturday we actually took a loooong walk through east jerusalem to try to visit lazurus’s tomb in bethany and we were thwarted by the separation wall. that was a sobering experience.) we were pretty sad that it was our last day in this place that had become so very beloved to both of us. i kind of thought that i’d return to jerusalem and realize that i was just a really dramatic, rosey-glassed twenty-year-old when i lived there – it couldn’t possibly be as amazing as i’d remembered. but truly, that place is every bit as spectacular as my younger self made it out to be – probably even more so. the boy agrees that it’s the best, and now genuinely shares my passion for jerusalem.
click through to see pictures from our last day in the holy city!
^^ poppies spotted as we waited in line to go up to the dome of the rock. i love them. ^^
^^ western wall view from the ramp that leads to the top of the temple mount. we queued up to visit the dome of the rock at 7am, and were the first ones in line! so when we got on top, we were the only tourists there, which was pretty neat. ^^
now, prepare yourself for a lot of pictures of the dome of the rock and other views from the top of the temple mount. it was all just so beautiful and picturesque that peaceful morning! the dome was gleaming in the sun, the colours on the tiles were mesmerizing, and the patterns and symmetry and ambiance were just fantastic.
^^ me on the temple mount and the jerusalem center on the hill behind me! ^^
^^ paintings like this are all over different walls around the muslim quarter of the old city. i snapped this as we exited the temple mount and headed back over to west jerusalem. ^^
now, prepare yourself for a lot of pictures of the food stalls at mahane yehuda market. i love, love, love this place! we had gotten soaked in a downpour of rain on our walk there, so we were especially excited to arrive and see all the beautiful arrays of edibles on display under a roof :) the market is in a nice part of west jerusalem and is just stuffed with delights.
^^ isn’t this just some type of fantastic art?! all the colours and textures and juxtapositions of the displays – love it. and it was fun to sample some things! ^^
^^ the boy’s favourite part. ^^
^^ ^^ jerusalem artichokes! ^^ ^^
^^ wet, frizzy, with child, happy. ^^
like i mentioned, before we headed to the market, it was raining super hard so we were tried to choose an activity that we could do indoors. we headed to the tower of david museum, not realizing that a lot of the exhibitions and reasons to visit were outdoors! we decided the panoramic view from the top of the tower is the best view we’d seen over the city yet. but the wind was whipping the rain all around and it was kind of hard to enjoy the vista! so after our market exploring, and after the sun had come out!, we went back to the tower. here’s the same scene in two very different weather conditions:
and the boy backgrounded by the outdoor bits of the exhibitions: (both the indoor and outdoor bits were really well curated and we appreciated what we learned)
we spent the rest of the day wandering the old city, trying to get to as many crooks and corners as we could before we had to leave jerusalem. we bought a few souvenirs (usually we limit any shopping on trips to one magnet, but we figured our favourite place deserved a couple more mementos) and had some delicious food and enjoyed chatting with different shopkeepers. we also took a quick detour outside damascus gate to visit the garden tomb one more time, because we love it there. when we returned to our aribnb that night, we felt saturated with the good of this marvelous city and excited for our upcoming adventures in the south of israel and into jordan, but still quite sad to leave jerusalem!
^^ tiny baby boy in jru. ^^
^^ a shopkeeper offered to take a photo of both of us! ^^
^^ glorious fruit! and lemonade with mint, which is available at every restaurant in the old city. it’s so fresh and yummy! ^^
^^ these leather sandals are all over in the old city, and we each bought a pair! ^^
^^ love the smile of our new friend at the spice shop with the spice pyramid (which looked exactly the same nine years ago!) ^^
sharing my favourite place with my favourite person was such a joy.
on to the dead sea and then the red sea!
You're right - soooooo many photos...but I'm happy you included them all! Amazing tile work, so beautiful, and I could look at photos from the markets for hours. You really do have a talent for photography. :)
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for sharing your amazing adventure, Charity! And thank you for your enthusiastic support of Go Jane Give. We can't wait for your project! We agree, Meg's is awesome. Congratulations on your bun in the oven!
ReplyDeleteWow! Seeing the pictures from your trip makes me wish I had applied to the semester abroad program like I had considered. Maybe some day I'll make it over there!
ReplyDelete