The difference between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is enormous: while Tel-Aviv is a relatively new city (the city celebrated its centenary in 2009) on the seashore of the Mediterranean Sea, a supposedly "Jewish" city (if one excludes Jaffa, which is part of Tel-Aviv municipality), with western flair, Jerusalem, in contrast, is a historical site, which has been existing for more than 2000 years, 800 m. above sea level, in the middle of the Judean Hills. Tel-Aviv is a relatively rich city, a cultural metropolis, with dozens of splendid, genuine Bauhaus-buildings:
While in Tel-Aviv, the atmosphere in the heart of the city is vibrant, full of life and interesting, Jerusalem looks somewhat austere, with its sand stone houses:
Typically, Israelis from the seashore, who have never been living in the Holy City, dislike Jerusalem; I've often heard Israelis say: "I don't understand how people can live in Jerusalem, I could not imagine myself living there!"; they seem to believe that there is not much one can do in Jerusalem. The fact that people living in Jerusalem often "go down" to Tel Aviv "to have some fun" only strengthens most people's belief that Jerusalem is not a place to "have fun".
Personally I love both cities - and I feel privileged to be able to "understand" either one. My partner, a born seashore dweller (originally from Netanya and from Herzliya), definitely had this opinion about Jerusalem - the "what could one do in Jerusalem?"-attitude. I had since long attempted to convince him that there is more to it than that, with little success so far.
Now we had a social obligation of sorts: this Friday morning was our last opportunity to see an art exhibition of a friend of ours.
Having parked the car at the Binyaney Ha-ummah parking at the entrance of the city, we prepared ourselves to hike a lot through Jerusalem. We walked through Agrippas st. up until Makhane Yehuda market, then we walked through the old neighborhoods with their typical central yards and walked to Bezalel st., to the old Bezalel Art Academy, which is now a museum. I would recommend anybody who visits Jerusalem to walk though these areas!
After we visited the art exhibition, we walked back to the Makhane Yehuda market with our friends and strolled through the market streets - a real feast to the eye. Our friends took us to the new french bakery on Agrippas st., with baguettes and french farmer's bread like in France. Around the corner we discovered yet another fine bakery - even newer than the previous one. Next to it was a larger restaurant which looked very inviting - a rustique place for the rich.
We decided instead to go to a small oriental restaurant inside the market, on a side street;after queing for a while, we were invited to sit down at a simple formica table, on a roofed veranda. We were place next to the kitchen window, so that we could watch every movement.
What makes this restaurant so special is that it uses traditional kerozene stoves for each cooking pot - as was tradition about 50 years ago in the area. The menu included hummus, bean soup and kubbeh soup, oriental vegetable salad and moussaka. The restaurant seems to be a very popular place, at least on Fridays; it connects you with old Jerusalem tradition.
After lunch we separated form our friends and continued our walking through the Jerusalem streets. When you are used to the standard of Tel Aviv cafes, it becomes difficult to find a caf that meets those standards - not that the do not exist in Jerusalem - but those cafes who do offer quality are so full that we did no hope to find a free table.
Eventually we drove out of Jerusalem and made a halt in Abu Gosh to eat some oriental bakery and sip a turkish coffee with cardamome. A real pleasure!
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