J-Town

We only spent about 48 hours in Jerusalem but as you can see we got a lot done.

Welcome to the holiest city on Earth, where God is always watching

Holy to Jews..

Muslims...

Christians...

And parrots...

But also a city like any other where people go about their daily lives.

We took a tour of the old city with our guide Methuselah and saw the following

The Western Wall, being the only remaining wall of the Second Temple of the Jews, destroyed by the Romans in the year 70.

The Dome of the Rock, the spot from which Muhammad ascended to heaven. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The site where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. 

Outside the church there was a caravan of pilgrims, or maybe a gaggle of pilgrims

The Citadel of King David

Everything in the Old City is religious, like this graffiti which symbolises the artist's successful pilgrimage to Mecca

like whatever is going on through this door

and like this beggar. He is religious too

Some other photos taken around the Old City

The market in the Old City during the day

And during the night

Of course, we did also leave the city walls

Machane Yehuda Market

We met the Chalva King. ("Chalva" is a sweet sesame seed desert, a "King" is a male monarch who rules a state with power inherited from birth)

 At night we went out for cocktails, nargileh and popcorn

We also had an awesome Israeli breakfast

On our final day we took a walk along the walls of the Old City

Since Annouska left us after this, this may be the last photo of us together for a while.

 Finally, a picture of East Jerusalem

And the making of "A Picture of East Jerusalem"

The Nation Demands Social Justice

At the Carmel market in Tel Aviv you can buy 5 fresh bagels for 10 shekels. But at Rabin square that evening the same 10 shekels would only buy you two stale bagels. This is because at the protest only one vendor was selling bagels, hence they had a monopoly. The bagel seller is not the only one taking advantage of a lack of competition.

In June, Israelis began a boycott of cottage cheese because the three producers of the staple were charging unreasonable prices. The boycott worked, but protests against the high prices of retail goods, unaffordable rent costs, government corruption and lack of social justice continue.

While protests are common in Israel, these have been different. The movement is far more peaceful than usual with an alliance between religious and secular, Jew and Arab. The majority of demonstrators are the employed middle-class who cannot afford to live in Tel Aviv even with a decent wage. The protests are related to others seen around Europe and some have even suggested inspired by the Arab Spring.

The photo below was taken during the day and shows the posters advertising the rally. It starts with the "slogan" of the movement being Ha-Am Doresh Tzedek Chevrati - The Nation Demands Social Justice.

There were supposedly 20,000 people the night we were there, which is impressive but well short of the 400,000 strong crowd at the peak in September.

This Israeli flag hangs at the end of Rothschild Boulevard, which during the summer housed tens of thousands in tents.

Two Days in Tel Aviv-Yaffo

Nachlat Binyamin Craft Markets

Shuk HaCarmel (ie Carmel Market)

Some children in Rabin Square found a dead pigeon interesting. I found them interesting. Do you find me interesting?

Eyal (Yasmin's brother) took us around Tel Aviv for the day

A graffito in Yaffo

The view of Tel Aviv from Yaffo

An Ethiopian wedding

We saw something very Israeli, a road accident. The risk of being killed in a road accident in Israel is nearly four times higher than the risk of being killed from terrorism. As far as we know, this motorcyclist survived (or at least that's what he is tweeting in this photo).

 Fun and games in the middle of Rothschild St.