Horowitz Travel- Israel-Jerusalem-Machaneh
Yehudah - January 22, 2017
No fair! The temperature in Akron is warmer than here.
There were jets flying overhead this morning. I hope it's only practice manuevers . No one seemed alarmed. I told David when we first got to the apartment, that if it came with gas masks, I was heading back to Akron. No gas masks.
Machaneh Yehudah is enough past the Old City (and everything is uphill) that we decided to take a bus. We bundled up (I have a down jacket, gloves, scarf & earmuffs) and went in search of Bus 18. It's a whole new bus stop & route! The bus was crowded, I was loopy from a head cold, & the buses move at quite a clip. I literally fell into a seat. Most people do. The goal is not to land on a person, package, or arm rest.
Machaneh Yehudah is a typical farmers’ market. We've been to many & each one has its own flavor. The produce was alluringly fresh, the dried fruit displays were hard to resist. There were spice stalls, & places to buy any lentil or legume your heart desired. There were more varieties of halvah than I knew existed. Housewares, hardware, clothing, you name it. David told me it was very aromatic in a good way (I can't smell). But at this market they also sold kepot (yarmulkes, head coverings) & mezzuzot. It wasn't a tourist mall. The customers were seriously shopping locals.
We wanted to find a Turkish-Kurdish restaurant, Azura, & asked directions many times. We got conflicting instructions in Hebrew, but fortunately, like most Mediterranean people, Israelis speak with gestures. We followed the "rights & lefts," but were vague on how many turns. After five tries, we found it. I was disappointed in that things I wanted were "finished" for the day. My first choice was stuffed eggplant, then goulash. I got a plate of beef with potatoes called beef Sofrito.
No fair! The temperature in Akron is warmer than here.
There were jets flying overhead this morning. I hope it's only practice manuevers . No one seemed alarmed. I told David when we first got to the apartment, that if it came with gas masks, I was heading back to Akron. No gas masks.
Machaneh Yehudah is enough past the Old City (and everything is uphill) that we decided to take a bus. We bundled up (I have a down jacket, gloves, scarf & earmuffs) and went in search of Bus 18. It's a whole new bus stop & route! The bus was crowded, I was loopy from a head cold, & the buses move at quite a clip. I literally fell into a seat. Most people do. The goal is not to land on a person, package, or arm rest.
Machaneh Yehudah is a typical farmers’ market. We've been to many & each one has its own flavor. The produce was alluringly fresh, the dried fruit displays were hard to resist. There were spice stalls, & places to buy any lentil or legume your heart desired. There were more varieties of halvah than I knew existed. Housewares, hardware, clothing, you name it. David told me it was very aromatic in a good way (I can't smell). But at this market they also sold kepot (yarmulkes, head coverings) & mezzuzot. It wasn't a tourist mall. The customers were seriously shopping locals.
We wanted to find a Turkish-Kurdish restaurant, Azura, & asked directions many times. We got conflicting instructions in Hebrew, but fortunately, like most Mediterranean people, Israelis speak with gestures. We followed the "rights & lefts," but were vague on how many turns. After five tries, we found it. I was disappointed in that things I wanted were "finished" for the day. My first choice was stuffed eggplant, then goulash. I got a plate of beef with potatoes called beef Sofrito.
David loved his huge meatball with rice & thin crispy noodles topped with lentil soup. I was relieved they had bathrooms. The one I used had a urinal outside the tiny room with the toilet. David had to tell me when it was safe to come out, although nobody really cared.
About this time, I asked David if he knew where the bus back to the apartment was. No clue, including the street where we were dropped off. Deciding to compound our "lostnes," we headed for Na'alot, supposedly an artistic area across from the souk "market." The streets looked empty & ominous. I hesitated until I saw a group of three young folks head down a side alley. Our courage increased as we followed them, & we eventually relaxed enough to wander on our own. We didn't find much. What we saw was residential or closed.
Luckily, David knows the bus routes, & I can find my way out of most maze-like streets. The street where the buses ran was where I thought it would be, & we headed back. We wanted some coffee at Ben Ami, near our place, but got waylaid at a shop we'd patronized before. We bought several items (I can't tell or it won't be a surprise to our kids). We chatted with the owner's mother in her broken English & our more limited Hebrew. She told us of a woman who bought items she later returned because her daughter who taught at a U.S. university said she couldn't wear anything with Hebrew on it. Sounds extreme. We told her about our Iranian friend who joins us for Seder, & our synagogue that meets monthly with members for our local mosque. She was fascinated. She advised me on how to treat my cold (tea & honey), then she invited us to her house for dinner on Thursday or Sat. We can't go Thursday., but she gave us her phone number for Saturday. Who's knows?
We stopped for milk & David bailed out a couple who were having trouble understanding what they were buying. It was cheese yogurt & they didn't understand "cheese" in Hebrew. The man was Irish, the woman was from Finland, the baby was a Sabra (born in Israel), they spoke English, they weren't Jewish, & they'd been working in Ramallah for three years. They said their Arabic was quite passable.
We did make it for coffee & a succulent chocolate & cheese brownie. Dinner will be leftover Shabbat food & late.
Toby
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| Synagogue in Na'alot |
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