Israel - Monday - Jerusalem, Petah Tikva

Monday morning after a really great breakfast at Moty and Dorit Morag's (Israeli salat, different cheeses, breads, capucchino, avatiach, yum!), and fetching our wash from the line, we said goodbye to Dorit, and drove with Moty back to Jerusalem for a drive around Mt Scopus - Har Hatzofim - and Hebrew University, a walk through the Arab Souk, and on the ramparts of the City of David:

The City of David (Hebrew: עיר דוד, Ir David; Arabic: مدينة داوود) is the oldest settled neighborhood of Jerusalem and a major archaeological site due to recognition as biblical Jerusalem. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BCE, making Jerusalem one of the oldest cities in the world.


We walked through the museum at the Migdal David מגדל דוד (Tower of David) and the Citadel, going back through 5000 years of history.

At Moty and Dorit's house in Mevasserat Zion

Mini Old City

Mosaic from a synagogue in Beit Shean - at the Israel Museum

On the ramparts with Moty

Ramparts walk

Damascus Gate

The Muslim Quarter

City of David

New Jerusalem light rail

After walking on the ramparts of the citadel in the City of David, we walked through the Arab souk with Moty Morag, on our last day in Israel.  Found some interesting gifts in the souk, but I already own an olive wood Sheshbesh (Backgammon) set and tambourine!

At 3pm, we returned to Mevasseret to get our bags packed.  Shlomo came from a Keren Keyemet meeting in Jerusalem to take us back to Petah Tikva for the long wait until our flight at 12:45am.   Nira set out hummus, felafel, chicken, salat, avatiach, uga (cake); their son Moni (and his two kids) came over to talk with Richard about Apple;  Tomer brought his son Itamar.  I spent some time showing Nira how to get connected to Geni to do shorashim (geneology), and how her dad, Shimon can fit into the Bichkov tree.   She was excited about it, but Chanan now says he thinks there is something better than Geni.  I need to look into Ancestry.com.

Shimon and Leah Gurlanik, Nira's parents

I'm not pregnant, just an unfortunate phone angle...

?, Mony, ? Tomer, Itamar, Shlomo, Nira, Richard 

Shlomo Elnatan's parents in Bukhara (Uzbekistan)