Essential Jerusalem: Six must-see stops in the Holy City
If you have the good fortune to be in Jerusalem, with some time to spare, you’ll surely visit the Old City. And once there, you’ll undoubtedly wind your way down to the Western Wall, where in a single glance you can see the holiest site in Judaism, as well as one of most sacred shrines in Islam, the golden Dome of the Rock.
These landmarks are iconic Israel, they’re so famous they scarcely need to be mentioned. More locally, the same may be said for Zion Square nearby. The piazza in the centre of town with its converging cobblestone streets – under canopies of umbrellas and sombreros – have become guidebook staples, and deservedly so.
However, if you really want to experience Jerusalem in all of its gritty, eccentric and distinct glory, there a few more sights you should really squeeze into your schedule. The list that follows offers only a fraction of the options, and of course is highly subjective, but after multiple visits, much reading, and lots of local suggestions… here are my top six picks for getting to the heart of the Holy City. (In no particular order)
St. Anne’s Church, Muslim Quarter
From its alleyway entrance near Lion’s Gate, on the eastern edges of the Old City, the initial impression isn’t especially enticing. Yes, the fortress-like church is almost 900 years old, is believed to be the birthplace of the Virgin Mary, and is next door to where Jesus is said to have famously healed a crippled man. However, it takes more history than that for a religious site here to really stand out.
In truth, what really makes St. Anne’s worth the visit is the incredible sense of stillness that awaits as soon as you enter the compound. Left behind are the swarms of school kids, soldiers, pilgrims and peddlers competing for space along the Muslim Quarter’s packed streets. (And not just any street in this instance. St Anne’s marks the beginning of the ‘Via Dolorosa’, the path Jesus is said to have taken to his crucifixion.)
Appropriately enough, my hour or so in the church was spent in near silence, the only sound coming from the shuffling steps of an elderly nun who was very solemnly preparing the alter for an upcoming service. She hurried back and forth, pausing each time to genuflect in front of the altar, a sign of devotion that seemed both rote and suffused with meaning. Had the light been a bit brighter and the pews slightly softer, I could easily have spent all morning quietly reading in the corner. Eventually though, it was time to move on. The mass would soon start and the sanctuary filled. Yet for a moment of peace in crowded place, St. Anne’s almost miraculous.
Mea Shearim
I should note that the residents of Mea Shearim, the ultra-orthodox enclave in downtown Jerusalem, would be quick to exempt themselves from this list. They’d undoubtedly insist that their neighbourhood is definitely not a tourist attraction, and indeed, they have posted a number of very prominent signs imploring groups not to parade through and bother them. (The same billboards also go into some detail about the desired length and fit of women’s clothing.)
Okay, so it’s not the most welcoming section of the city. However, it’s certainly amongst the most interesting. Mea Shearim is like a Chagall painting come to life, with men marching briskly along the sidewalks, cloaked in heavy dark coats, weighty black hats and long, thick beards, while the women cover their hair with wigs and wear long dark shirts with stockings. Every accessory – save for the cellphones, which seems the most mandatory item of all – pays strict homage to the shtetls of 19th century Europe. There, prayer was prioritized and life adhered to Judaic law.
If that all seems a little severe and forbidding, it should be noted that the neighbourhood is mightily leavened by the presence of young children, who are literally everywhere, prancing down sidewalks and squealing in schoolyards. Indeed if Mea Shearim has an official vehicle, it’s a pram.
Still, it should go without saying that respect and discretion needs to be shown when visiting here. That’s partly because things can turn ugly when it isn’t – rocks being hurled at offending parties isn’t entirely uncommon – but more importantly, because this community offers an incredible window into a world that was very nearly wiped out. Thankfully it now thrives, separate and distinct, and is filled with its own mysticisms.
The Mahane Yehuda Market
Jerusalem’s main fruit and vegetable market occupies that very slim middle ground between ‘absolutely mandatory’ to visit, and ‘you’re going regret it if you don’t’. On a guided tour, it’s never going to take precedence over the Western Wall or the Garden of Gethsemane, yet for sheer one-of-a-kind wow factor it’s an awfully tough place to top. Search ‘Mahane Yehuda’ on Instagram if you have any doubts. The photos will showcase an excessive bacchanalia of olives, dates, figs, walnuts, apricots, halva, baklava…. and on and on, row after row, aisle after aisle.
Interspersed among this smorgasbord are cafés, bars and little eateries, spilling over with college students, gun-toting soldiers and tourists. Yet lest you get the wrong impression, this isn’t simply some hipster hangout. Mahane Yehuda is a working market in the most proletarian sense of the term. The bathrooms are extremely ‘rustic’, there’s little central heating and debris of all kinds dots the passageways. (Admittedly, it didn’t help that much of the city was buried beneath a garbage strike when I was there).
Yet still, I couldn’t quit this place. On my latest trip, I returned every day, either for dinner at an utterly charming falafel joint, or just to enjoy a coffee and watch the world go by. Both were occasions of perfect happiness. Even if much of the mix seems standard market fare – the barrel-chested butchers, the fishmongers, the produce guys – there’s something so manifestly Israeli, so abundantly communal here. The grizzled Arab merchants next to the gorgeous Jewish baristas, wedged in beside each other, while people of all stripes stream past, pondering their options.
The Israel Museum
What’s the role of an esteemed national gallery? Is it to inspire and inform, to stir your passions or spark your imagination? Perhaps it’s all of that plus more. If so, the Israel Museum warrants the highest of praise, especially when it comes to ‘more’. It is an endless supply of that. Indeed, the strongest emotions the place aroused in me was exasperation tinged with exhaustion. There was no room I could easily skip, no exhibit I could just walk past. In short, this isn’t suited for anyone on a tight schedule, or who tires fast.
Part of the problem is that it isn’t simply a museum in the traditional sense. Not only does it house a trove of cultural treasures and valued artifacts, it also features a world-class art collection, including major paintings by Matisse, Gauguin, Renoir and Cezanne. Some of the works have Jewish themes or obvious ties to Israel, but many are simply important pieces that now belong to the museum.
On the day I visited, I saw an enthralling series of depictions of Christ. There were 150 pieces by 40 Jewish artists. The most striking, in my opinion, was a photo of 14 Israeli soldiers, arranged like the Last Supper. In the background is a wall studded with bullet holes, in the centre a pensive young man alone in the group. As the accompanying description made clear, the men’s lives hung in the balance, their mission uncertain, and their faith in a higher power a perilous risk.
I could have spent all evening seeing nothing but that exhibit. And to that end, if I have one piece of wisdom for a first-time visitor here, it would simply be to pick your spots and make peace with the process. Think one or two sections, maximum. Maybe it’s the Dead Sea Scrolls or the archeology wing. Or it’s the synagogue gallery, where the interiors of vastly distinct temples from Suriname, Germany, India and Italy have been painstakingly reassembled and displayed. Whatever the choice, it won’t be wrong.
The Children’s Memorial, Yad Vashem
If grasping the full meaning and scale of the Israel Museum is challenging, it’s all but impossible at Yad Vashem, the country’s memorial to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. The complex consists of some 20 buildings and monuments; many dedicated to contemporary research, though all devoted in one way or another to preserving the memory of all the lives lost.
Trying to assess which of the memorials does this best is a bit of misguided task, and indeed none are intended to stand on their own. However, one of the 20 does hit especially hard, weighted by the poignancy of its message and power of its design.
Set in an underground cavern and eclipsed in darkness, the Children’s Memorial features hundreds of candles reflected in countless mirrors to create the aura of stars shining across the universe. As you soak in the tiny, flickering lights, the names of the 1.5 million murdered children, their nationalities and where they died, are read aloud on a recorded tape.
The memorial, designed by Montreal’s Moshe Safdie, was sponsored by Abe and Edita Spiegel, a Ukrainian couple whose two-year-old son Uziel was killed at Auschwitz.
None of this, of course, is to suggest that visitors should skip Yad Vashem’s main exhibits or skimp on time here. In fact, my feeling is the opposite. The centre warrants multiple visits, and even then the horror of the images and information eludes your grasp. Yet no matter if you go once, or multiple times, ensure the Children’s Memorial is part of your experience.
Bonus Pick: The Bookshop in the American Colony Hotel
I can’t say for sure that this is the best bookstore in the country, or even in the city for that matter, but it’s certainly the most astounding one. It’s as if you went to Amazon.com, selected every book ever written on the Middle East, fiction and non-fiction, and then squeezed it into two tiny rooms.
This shop doesn’t simply have every notable author on the region in stock; it has every book they’ve ever written. The choices would actually be overwhelming, were it not for the fact that Mahmoud Muna, the store’s manager, seems to have read everything in the store. He’s like a human algorithm. Name a book you enjoyed, and Muna will offer five similar options, and then provide a synopsis of each. The place he has created nothing less than astonishing.