Tel-Aviv - Day 14

Everything is closed today. I was getting really nervous since I hadn't gotten much in terms of souvenirs and had only 1 day left. My uncle was off work and we could do something since he has a car, but it's a holiday (Pesach or Passover) so everything is closed. Therefore we decided to go to Jaffa since we didn't really see it as part of the tour. We only got to get off the bus for 5 minutes and take pictures - that was our only view of Jaffa.
But today, my uncle, his wife, his youngest child, and I went to Jaffa. The day was perfect - a very slight and pleasant breeze accompanied the warm sun. Because it was a holiday, there were hardly any cars out and very few people out and about. Mostly, I guess people just stayed at home. Which gave us the freedom to roam around without crowds. We ducked into nearly all the galleries that were open (and most of them were closed) and browsed to our hearts' content. The views of Tel-Aviv from here (which is north of Jaffa) were great. Waves, greenery, sunshine - it was a perfect spring day. I won't see this weather back home till mid-June probably.

Having walked all over the upper part of the town we made our way through the narrow and shadowed streets to the port. Until the port of Haifa was established as a major port, this one in Jaffa was the primary port of Israel. It's been a port since ancient times, and still works as a port.
Here, we took a little boat ride that lasted about a half hour or so, but gave panoramic views of Jaffa and Tel-Aviv. The wind wasn't too strong while we were on the water, but it was a little wobbly. I don't like roller-coasters and this wasn't as bad, but I definitely felt my stomach doing flips.
After the boat ride, it was time to head back home (it was close to 2 PM) and on the way we stopped for some shashliq. This time it was chicken and we took it to go. It was really delicious. Surprisingly so, since I'm a bit of purist in this regard and don't eat chicken shashliq. I guess I consider it chicken on a sqewer, but this one had all the right spices and such. To reiterate, it was delicious.

Jerusalem - Day 9

Today is our last day of the trip, except for those who are going to Eilat. We had the morning activities and then we were on our own until dinner.

The morning tour consisted of a walk to the Jaffa Gate (I think) and tour of David's Tower. The view from here was spectacular. Just fantastic. We also walked (rather quickly) through the museum that was in the tower. Nothing very interesting in the museum. By around 10 o'clock in the morning, we were on our own, until about 6 PM when we were supposed to board the bus for dinner.

So, I spent the day with the same CA couple with whom I went to dinner the other night. A very lovely couple. We decided to ask for a recommendation at the visitor information center and we visited an church in the Armenian quarter. It was quite a lovely church, and it had a lovely yard inside. They also have a guest house and people do stay there. It felt very quiet there, not like it was in the middle of such a noisy place as the Old City of Jerusalem.

In the same visitor center we asked for a recommendation for a good shish-kabob place. The woman told us not to eat in the city from the street vendors, but to go outside the city walls. So we left through the Damascus gate and went across the street passing many different street vendors selling fruit, veggies, and remote controls. Asking directions a few times, we found the hotel (Jerusalem Hotel) to which we were pointed.

The hotel itself was quite beautiful, with carvings and other decorations of middle-eastern flavor. The door in the picture is a good indicator of you'd see inside. The careful attention to detail, the carvings, the quiet grandeur... The hotel had the feel of a B&B because it was small, but looked immaculately clean. The court yard is where the restaurant was located and there were plenty of locals which made me more confident in the food.

Now about the food.

WOW! It was amazing. They had shashliq (that's how it was on the menu, and that's how we refer to it, but in English, it's referred to as "shish-kabob"). I ordered lamb and was quite surprised to find the little bit of fat added to the skewer just like we do. It was truly lip-smacking and finger-licking goodness. Though I was a bit surprised to find it served with a side of French fries. For an appetizer, we ordered a "small" sampler of stuff and it barely fit on our table. It all was great. The pitas, the salads, the humus, the lemonade (with mint) was absolutely delicious. The couple I was with really liked it and agreed that it was a good choice for lunch and thought the hotel would be a great place to stay if they come back on their own.

Then we walked back into the old city (through the Damascus Gate) and walked around a bit. I found breathtakingly beautiful silk rugs, but they were too small. Even if they weren't too small, there's no way I can pay $13,500.00 for a rug. But they were definitely stunning. All I could do was say "wow". By now, it was close to 3 in the afternoon and we were all ready to head back to the hotel. Oh, and I would have bought souvenirs in Jerusalem, except that this was our only free day and it happened to be Shabbat. All Jewish shops were closed. Drat! Oh well.

We walked to our hotel which wasn't far and said good by since the couple wasn't joining us for the "farewell dinner". I'm glad I met those folks.

After a few hours of rest and a shower, I was ready for the dinner. We went to Abu Gosh for a shish-kabob dinner. Apparently, "shish-kabob" here means ground meat that's been grilled on a skewer, and "shashliq" means non-ground meat (real meat) grilled on a sqewer. At this dinner, we had shish-kabob of lamb and chicken shashliq. I traded my chicken sqewer for a lamb one, but mainly filled up on the salads. They were great. All sorts of salads, served "tapas" style. It's about 10 different little plates and everyone tastes a little bit of this and a little bit of that. You fill up.

I had one more night in Jerusalem, but many from our group left that night after dinner.

Well, that's it for the "official" tour. More on the rest of the trip later.