East Jerusalem... A Walk on the Not so Wild Side

Paul and I were on our own today as Noa wanted to stay home and do three months worth of science homework… I don’t know if we were great parents or she just didn’t want to walk another 12 miles today.  I always want to head off in a new direction.  We heard the American Colony Hotel was an amazing place so off we went.  It is located in East Jerusalem (the Palestinian side).   As in the olden days all roads pass through Jerusalem (ok, so I think I made that up).
We needed to go through the old city again, this time we finally made it to Via Dolorosa, one of the most important places (streets) in Christianity.  Several Stations of the Cross are on the Via Doloroso.  The picture above shows the 5^th Station.

We needed to get to the Damascus Gate to find Nablus Road. The scene was active, chaotic, colorful and noisy.  We were outside the old city and in East Jerusalem. One of the first signs I saw was for Che Guevara Rich Life Market and Souvenirs.  Other than the dozens of young male Israeli soldiers (didn’t see any young female soldiers in East Jerusalem) , all walking with their  uzis for effect, Paul and I were a rare commodity, dressed head to toe in Nike…perhaps I should have thought twice about wearing the yoga pants:-)  Less than 3 blocks from the chaos of activity at the Damascus Gate, we were in a ring of large hotels with Western  guests and American flags flying.

 Paul and I looked at each other and realized it was QUIET!  Nobody was on the street.  Other than the security personnel at the front of each hotel we saw nobody. One thing Jerusalem has too little of is quiet, and we found it. We walked another few blocks to the American Colony Hotel and it was like an oasis.  Even with backpacks on, the security just waved us by… do we really look that American?  We walked through the gardens and fountains and I helped myself to handfuls of kumquats, there were also oranges and lemons, I couldn’t get Paul to let me stand on his shoulders to help myself (food is VERY expensive here)!

We sat in the lobby regrouping with our map, and decided we were hungry.  I went up to the front desk and asked for an authentic local restaurant.  He gave me the name Abu Ali (yes we thought of Aladdin too).  In one block were back into the chaos of life.  A few hundred meters and a left turn put us in front of Abu Ali  (look down the stairs in the photo above). It was like going into a basement.  The restaurant was almost full and I was the only female. In a matter of minutes there were 4 patrons left.  I did keep my flowered sunhat on the entire time.  The food was awesome and was way too much to eat.  We figured it would cost 30 to 40 NIS ($9-11) for both for one falafel plate, one lamb plate and two cokes.  No receipt, the guy said 50 NIS.  $13 and knew we were getting ripped off, it was still the cheapest meal we had, and probably the best.

We walked back to the Damascus Gate in a new direction and saw more of life in East Jerusalem. My favorite photo of the day is the woman selling vegetables while blowing her nose…