Pleasures & Pastimes

Pleasures & Pastimes

Antiquities

If you thrill to the thought of standing where the ancients once stood, you'll be in your element in this city of memories. From Old Testament walls and water systems to Second Temple streets and stones, the past calls to the attentive soul like a siren to a sailor. Scale models and outstanding local museums help give depth and perspective to the intense experience of exploring Jerusalem's past.

Arts & Crafts

Handicrafts in Israel are worth seeking out, with jewelry and Judaica exceptional standouts in design and workmanship. Jerusalem offers good selections of these, as well as fine works in other specialties: paper cutting, ceramics, weaving, and harp making.

Holy Places

Central to two faiths and holy to a third, Jerusalem is an almost bewildering collage of religious traditions and the shrines that have sanctified them. Pilgrims of one faith still tend to make time to view the shrines of the others. Sites such as the Western Wall, Calvary, Gethsemane, and the Haram esh-Sharif bring the thrill of recognition to ancient history. The devout cannot fail to be moved by the holy city, and its special, if sometimes dissonant, moods and modes of devotion tend to fascinate the nonbeliever as well.

Scenic Views

Jerusalem is a city of hills -- hard going for cyclists, but marvelous for the photographer and the romantic. Quite different views of the Old City unfold from Mt. Scopus and the Mount of Olives (you're facing west, so it's best to go in the morning) and the Haas Promenade, to the south. Mt. Scopus also looks east, to the Judean Desert and the Dead Sea; Mt. Herzl looks west; and Nebi Samwil, in the northwest, gives a commanding view in all directions.