To Jerusalem I made it

Most of us have cities on our bucket lists, for different reasons, this can be historical, sentimental or any other reason. One of the cities that was on my list is definitely the city of Jerusalem in Israel.

So, recently I made it to this interesting city where different religions live side by side, albeit not in the greatest of harmony. I say that, because I have been several times to Israel, but never managed to make it to

Jerusalem, due to often critical situations where tourists were advised not to visit that city. 

I arrived towards late afternoon and after checking in at a hotel, I decided to go to the old city, a heavily guarded fortress, in the heart of a modern city.

I entered through one of the gates and headed towards the tourist office that was still open. A kind woman handed out a leaflet and a map showing me all the interesting sites and areas of interest to visit.

As I was planning on doing a full tour the day after, I opted for visiting some shops to buy herbs and spices, specific to that part of the world. These are the type of aromas I grew up with and I could not leave without buying some.

Along the road, I met a shop owner who was insisting that I should enter his shop and look at the jewellery that was made by his family. These were not made from gold, however, the stones used were semi-precious, and there were also thousands of beads all around piled up in containers. There was also a thick layer of dust almost everywhere, this made me ask him why are they not cleaning the shop? 

With a desperate tone, the man said, “Look at this market do you see many tourists? I do not even have enthusiasm to clean all these jewellery and souvenir items. Our shop has been closed for two years and we are hoping that soon we will recover from that horrible period of stoppage caused by the pandemic.”

Even before I met other people in the city, I found out that the Arabs were of different backgrounds. The man I talked to was a Sufi Muslim, his neighbour was a Christian Arab and many of the young soldiers belong to the

Druze ethnic group with their own beliefs and traditions. 

The next day, the tour guide drove me to Masada. This ancient fortress, originally built by Herod the Great, is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is located near the Dead Sea which means it is the lowest point on Earth.

Masada became historic when it fell in the hands of Romans and before its fall, the Judean community took their own life not to become Roman slaves. 

To be continued...