Kibbutz living...

This, we could get used to!

We got to our kibbutz around 5:30, after a long day on the bus, during which the driver showed his skills down narrow streets in the Artist's Colony, and came within millimetres of a major incident with another driver! They just will NOT back down around here!

The guide asked if anyone needed a bathroom stop after our close call with so many ancient walls.

One of our fellow travellers had stated that he could not go for communal living.

His mind was changed in just a few hours!

We were pleasantly surprised by a party on the lawn last night, which is apparently a regular occurence. Children with hoola hoops, giant bubbles, juggling...it was all happening at the kibbutz until about 10pm, when, presumably, the children went off to bed.

Actually, they hit the internet to play games, which was extremely annoying. No amount of Nur glaring daggers at them would move the little darlings.

For those who happen to be reading the blog -- that is why there was no installment last night.

Well, that and the fact that only one of the computers is set up for English.

Hebrew computers. Who knew... all of the hotels and hostels have everything in English.

The Hebrew keyboards and set-up brought back the fact that this is a different country, no matter how familiar and comfortable it has become!

The kibbutz has a hotel, which we're staying in, an indoor pool, outdoor pool, two dining rooms, and the cutest houses, which presumably the locals live in.

One dining room seems to be for visitors, the other for residents. The food is delicious, in fact so delicious that Nur was dreaming about hommus balls last night.

How one would make them, we don't know, but apparently in dreamland they are divine!

Time to go for breakfast now, before Mr M gets there and eats all the good stuff first!

He was a good boy yesterday and didn't get lost once! We were all very impressed!!

Hope everyone is having fun back home in the Australian winter while we walk, swim and lounge around in 30-40 degree temperatures...

Those who wander are not always lost
-- maybe they fell asleep!

Today was a day of mosaic after mosaic.

It's strangely fitting in a city like Jerusalem. Small pieces fitting together to make an amazing picture sort of reflects the city's inhabitants and cultures, coming together from all over the world to make the city you see today.

We started off early. Up at six, comiserating over the state of our suit cases, and having breakfast downstairs.

Breakfast Israeli style means lots of salads. And they're good. We loaded up on veggies, because half the time if you're doing 'fast food' there's not much available but carbs.

The hotel buffet has an overwhelming choice of everything from Greek salad to coleslaw, omelettes to porridge, and everything in between. Including what would traditionally be seen as desserts!

The one thing they don't seem to go for here? Tea. They have teabags on the table, but what to put them in?? Nur figured the hot pot on the table was a good bet. No. It was coffee. She then spent about five minutes fussing around with the locals, trying to find a cup of boiling water!

8.30 and we were on the bus. First stop, the Old City. The two of us know our way around pretty well, but it was good to see it with people who'd never had that experience before. After navigating our way around the winding, rabbit-warren streets, we'd become used to the city. Seeing it with new people was like seeing it with new eyes.

We started our tour at the Dome of the Rock. Despite being warned that we MUST be covered, some people had chosen to wear either shorts (the men) or relatively low-cut, sleeveless tops (the women). This is  huge no-no for the Dome of the Rock.

A beautiful but skinny cat decided to wait for us while we were in the line for the rock, possibly checking out our suitability to go inside. He stayed with us the whole time, begging for attention, as many of the strays do here. When we moved, he moved. If we stopped, he purred and put his paw out to get our attention.

On entering the compound, we were all given a going-over by the locals, and a few of our group ended up being herded off to a room together. We waited while they were all fitted with 50 shekel scarves to make them sufficiently modest. (amusingly enough, they hand out scarves at the Western Wall... no charge to borrow them) The women were fine. No problem. The men? They walked out to a round of cheers, laughs and claps as they appeared in scarves worn as skirts. Hilarious.

Once we'd all finished taking photos of the amazing ceramic tiles on the Dome of the Rock, we headed out to walk the stations of the cross. We deviated, though, heading to the Western Wall, where those who chose to, wrote a note and put it in the wall.

We then continued the remaining stations of the cross until we ended up at the Holy Sepulchre. Cue more photos of more amazing mosaics and architecture. The Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian and Ethiopian churches are all part of the Holy Sepulchre, each part a huge contrast to the next. The Greek section is more elaborate, the Armenian more artistic... Bottom line, we spent a lot of time in churches today. It's a wonder the ancient walls didn't crumble from our presence!

We did have a cranky priest at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the tomb of Jesus we were herded in to a small room like sheep, and our eyes had barely adjusted to the light before there was a loud slapping on the side of the wall and a shout of "Finish! Finish! Get out!!!!!'" Priest got up on the wrong side of the bed or something. Or maybe he was hanging out for lunch. He was not a happy man. We all moved through very quickly, afraid that the hand would slap us "accidentally"' instead of slapping the wall!

The biggest drama of the day followed a visit to King David's Tomb.

Let this be a warning: if the tour guide says she'll leave without you, she'll leave without you (or at least the grumpy bus driver will!)

We had been told many times by our tour guide Leah that if we don't make it to the bus we can "go to the hotel, or go back to where you came from" (meaning your country of origin!)

Well, Mr M, our new friend from Canada (a nice, older man who's apparently closing in on 75!) is the straggler of our group. He wanders off and we have all at various times threatened to put a harness on him. Mr M needs to have his iPad surgically removed! He sees nothing while he's looking at it, filming and taking photos.

After our visit to King David's Tomb, we headed for the bus.

We got on and Leah did a head-count.

Then it was "Mrs M, where's Mr M???"

After that? "When did we last see him??"

Eventually one of the other guys (I think he's Jamaican) ran off to find Mr M.

He came back empty handed.

The bus driver was all "Stuff this! We're leaving!!!"and off we went for lunch at a nearby Kibbutz.

The food was great. Mr M? Not so great! He turned up at his hotel a few hours later and decided that rather than rejoin us, he'd have a nap. We got a detailed account of his adventure, wandering between the Zion Gate and the Jaffa Gate before he gave up and got a taxi back to the comfort of his room.

After lunch, it was off to the Israeli Museum, where it was Nur's turn to almost get left behind by the group. Leah yelled out "Where's Nur?"to the answer "She could be a while. She's trying to read the Hebrew manuscripts!"

This led to an intervention, during which Nur and two other young Australians were virtually dragged to the bus, kicking and screaming!

The trauma didn't last long, though, due to the promise of a nice swim and an icecream in the new section of the city.

The pool water was nothing like Tel Aviv. It was freezing! We chatted with an interesting Canadian woman who's been here four times before, and over the years has celebrated two birthdays in this city.

Post swim, we headed down to the lobby to show the Ms the town. Mr M promised not to wander, but we still kept a close eye on him, and have threatened to tie a scarf around his neck to keep him in line tomorrow. Methinks after being left behind today, he may be the first on the bus tomorrow!

Anyway, we headed down to Jaffa Road for gelati and to show the Ms the nightlife in the newer part of the city. They had lots of fun, and we heard over and over again about the long trek Mr M had between the Jaffa Gate and the Zion Gate before he finally had to throw himself to the mercy of a cab driver (for 50 shekels) and get the hell out of the city, back to the peace and quiet of his hotel room.

He told us that he'd just sat down for a minute after the visit to King David's Tomb and then we were all gone.

Mrs M thinks he fell asleep.... We tend to agree that that is a possibility, but we will never truly know.

It is another one of Jerusalem's mysteries.

I'm sure we'll be hearing much more about it tomorrow morning, when we all check out of our hotels, get on the bus and head to our next stop -- a kibbutz!

Tourists turned tour guides...

Four days in Jerusalem before the tour started was a very good thing.

Because of this, we have a much better idea than our tour-buddies about what to expect/what's a good price/what's worth doing.

We've bonded with some fellow Aussies and a couple of British-Canadians (they've been in Canada more than 40 years, but still sound like Brits to us!) The Aussies weren't too hard to spot. The thongs gave it away. Only we would traipse through the Middle East in Havaianas.

Today we shared stories about our trips, and compared notes about the tour experience. Some are ending their tour with our group, some started with our group, others will most likely join us tomorrow. It's a never-ending change of faces on the bus. Though it's the same ones who always get lost or forget to get on the bus.

Our bus driver was not impressed with the late-comers during our exit from Bethlehem. One woman had been ambushed by street vendors outside the tourist shop we'd been dropped off at.

They draped necklaces over her arm. About 10 of them. Had it been us, we would have put them on the ground and walked away. But she is more polite (or perhaps not as experienced at fending off unwanted sales!) than us, and ended up buying them, just so she could get away and get on the bus before the driver took off without her!

Tonight we were desperate for a swim in the hotel pool, but for the second night in a row, our swim session was thwarted. Our tour bus dropped us off at the hotel at 5:40, when the pool closes at 6! Very inconvenient.

We made up for the lack of swimming by taking the British Canadians on a tour of the old city, showing them where we get our 6 shekel falafels (which are divine. Have we mentioned they're divine before?) They were very impressed with their new-found snack, though Mr British Canadian keeps calling them Waffles. No amount of correcting him will make a difference. They are WAFFLES!!!

We wandered to the observation point for the Western Wall, and were surprised to see paper bags filled with sand and candles. A red carpet was also there, and a table with wine, two glasses and a cake (well, it was in a cake box, so presumably it was a cake!) We assume there was a wedding planned for that spot later in the night, overlooking the Western Wall.

The full moon looked incredible, and the Dome was glowing all gold in the dusk sky.

The temperature was perfect. Warm but not hot. Just a nice breeze blowing through.

Our tourists were very impressed that we could get them all over the city with our various shortcuts, and without being hassled by vendors. They basically just let us go past and if we stop, we stop. If we don't, well that's okay.

On the way out of our expedition into the Old City, we saw our little friend the fruit vendor, packing up his stall after a hard day's work. He was yelling out to others around him, and we've got to the point where we recognise his voice, from walking past the stall all the time.

The hotel is busy at almost 10:30. It's frustrating to wait for the internet when children are sitting there, ignoring the 20 minute limit, playing games. Enough already! Go read a book!!!!!

We're heading into the Old City with our tour group tomorrow. If you're there, you'll know us. We'll be the two NOT wearing our tour caps!!!!

Frugal is as frugal does...

It was back to our new reality today -- after a much needed detour to Masada and the Dead Sea.

We were up and about early, trying to dry the clothes we'd decided MUST be washed the night before. Picture this: Nur spending all night fretting over her clothes and giving them a going over with a hairdryer while watching a Bollywood movie. There was much muttering and complaining from her adjoining room.

At 7:45, with still-wet clothes packed in our suitcases, we hit the road with our new tour group. Hmmm. Things didn't start out well since there were only four of us. Four soon became 16, and tomorrow it will double in size.

The 16 of us today drove through the Negev Desert to Masada, where it was stiflingly hot and they had closed the snake path to the top. We didn't have to worry about that. Despite our stair climbing expertise, the tour guide insisted we MUST take the cable car.

Once at the top, we stepped out into what felt like a furnace! There were a few older members of our group who had trouble keeping up, and we were concerned that one of them might keel over in the desert, falling down a cliff never to be seen again! A fitting end considering the location.

Finally even the tour guide seemed to have had enough of the weather, and told us it was time to get back to the bus. She didn't seem too thrilled when a select few decided they had to go through the gift shop. Those of us not inclined to pick up souvenirs at special tourist rates waited with the guide, Leah, while the rest shopped 'til their last shekel dropped.

Lunch. There's a really interesting contrast here. Our lunch was at one of those typical tourist bus stops. Nur's lunch (chicken, rice and beans that had been boiled within an inch of their lives) was 47 shekels. My vegetarian spaghetti was 23 shekels.

This is much, much more than we spent between us in the entire four days we were in Jerusalem!

Nur was so shocked it's lucky lunch-man didn't have the tasty morsels thrown back in his face!

Lunch over, we all piled back on the bus (the two of us enchanting the English/Canadian couple behind us with tales of our thriftiness and magical 5 shekel 1.25 litre bottles of water), for the trip to the Dead Sea.

We love the Dead Sea! Actually, we love what it did to our skin. Baby's butts, anyone? Smooth. Seriously smooth. Salt + mud = heaven. Though at one point, baking in the sun while covered in mud and salt, Nur felt distinctly like a well seasoned pot roast!

The water wasn't as thick and salty as we expected, and yet Nur still had issues with finding her feet. She knew they were there somewhere, they just wouldn't get with the program and hit the ground when she wanted to quit floating! On the upside, we're convinced that being covered in black mud made us look slimmer (or maybe the mirror beside the mud buckets was a little deceiving..)

An attempt was made to have us spend a fortune on Dead Sea products. Um.. yeah. No. There were two people who were sucked in, but we figured we were either too clever or too cheap. Probably the latter.

Anyway, after that -- back home! Well to our temporary home, Jerusalem. We know this city. We like this city.

We're staying in a much flashier place this time around. Three nights in a hotel with a pianist in the lobby. Ooooh La La. This is how the other half lives.`And yet we still insisted on walking all the way Old City, and our local shopping haunt to schlep back up the hill with 10 litres of water, two kilos of grapes, bananas and biscuits.  All for the bargain price of 42 shekels. We outdid ourselves with the water purchase. Our previous record was 6 bottles for 30 shekels. Tonight? Our favourite water man handed over 8 1.25 litre bottles for just 20 shekels. He then told us to make sure our bags were zipped up before we wandered back into the rest of the market.

We also outdid ourselves with the latest falafel purchase. 40 shekels per falafel in the hotel. Are you serious? We can do better than that. We took it as a personal challenge and managed to find the most delicious falafels for just 6 shekels each! Where? In the old city of course!

On another note, it seems kids will be kids no matter what their lot in life.

We noticed that the children in Tel Aviv seem like children, while so many of the young children we met in Jerusalem's markets were like mini adults.

Not so tonight!

One youngster, who was maybe 11 or so, took exception to a man (who was rather under the weather) standing by his fruit stall. He yelled at him to move away, told him he'd give him a couple of slaps if he didn't move, and then started throwing apricots at him.

Boy has a business to run! Can't have unsavoury sorts (and he was unsavoury!) scaring off his customers!

Anyway, tomorrow is another day, and we're off to Bethlehem, Mt Scopus and the Mt of Olives.

Hopefully there will be more walking involved! This bus travel is tiring!

Modesty is everthing. Until you get to Tel Aviv...

After the Old City of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv was a culture shock! We had got used to wandering down winding laneways, battling locals for space (including cars and trucks at times! How they do that, we'll never know!) and taking in the sights and sounds of markets that seem to come from another era (until you see the shopkeeper on his iPad...)

Tel Aviv. A little piece of Melbourne in the Middle East. Except cleaner.

We had an early start this morning, knowing it was our day to switch cities.

Up at 6, out of the hotel in Old Jerusalem at 7, and off to the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall.

Our tour is taking us to the Wall, so we bypassed it, and went to the Dome.

Amazing.

Being non-Muslims, we were not allowed in (we got turned away three times in three days from different entry points), but it's well worth the effort to go to the compound to have a look. The ceramic tiles that cover the building, along with the golden dome, have to be seen to be believed.

We battled off a few locals who were trying to sell themselves as tour guides. We have developed quite a skill for navigating the old city and may give our tour-mates some tips when we hit that area in a few days. We were also unwilling to part with any more shekels, since we had to pay a big taxi bill to get to Tel Aviv.

Trip to the Dome over, we headed back to the hotel, picking up some fresh bread and bottled water on the way.

Then it was one last trip to the roof to see the incredible view, and lugging our many bags (much heavier than just days before) down the stairs to the lobby.

Our taxi driver arrived to escort us to his cab. Word of advice -- you will be ripped off if you book one between cities. We paid 350 shekels, which adds up to about $75. It's cheap by Melbourne standards, but by local standards, it seems a bit steep.

Anyway -- hotel? Fabulous!

We were upgraded to adjoining rooms, each with its own ensuite and large flat screen tv and tea service!

After squeeing over our rooms, we hit the beach.

The water here is warm -- so much warmer than at home!

And modesty? What's that? While you rarely saw anyone in Old Jerusalem even in a t-shirt (except the young Muslim men and the children) people of all shapes and sizes are getting around in bikinis and budgie smugglers here! Even in the hotel lobby. Our friends in our last hotel would have died of shock at the sight of that!

Once we'd wrinkled our toes enough, padding in the water, we decided to hunt for food.

We are now Teletubbies in Tel Aviv. We are so full we can't walk. We've been waddling!

The reason? We wandered past a cafe and stopped for a bit of a look. The owner came out and asked if we wanted falafel (apparently that's all the tourists eat...  and our backpacks gave us away!)

So in we went, for an amazing falafel and bottles of coke.

The saying 'it's a small world' has never been more appropriate than today. Chatting to the owner, it turns out he's related to the people who own the hotel we stayed in in Old Jerusalem. What does that mean? Bring on the free food! He insisted we try the falafel balls free of charge. Then he brought out the most incredible hummus and pita bread. You have no idea...  the hummus was like velvet... divine... We ate so much free food that we could hardly move!! He even asked us if we wanted to come back tonight, and if we did, dinner would be on him. We told him that wouldn't be possible (to be honest, we couldn't face another meal today!) We did however promise to visit on our next trip to Tel Aviv in a few days, and took him a sweet, chocolatey challah as a thank you.

Wandering through one of the more upmarket cafe strips, we found 90 shekels lying on the ground. It's probably small change to the person who dropped it, but having been in Old Jerusalem where so many have so little, we thought it was a significant amount of cash.

Being big believes in the theory that what goes around comes around, we took it in to the nearest cafe, where the waitress seemed surprised and thanked us for our honesty.

Deciding we'd had enough of feeling hot and gross, it was time to get back to the hotel for a swim in the pool.

We. Have. A. Pool.  (Complete with cute lifeguard - Nur)

And we love it.

A bunch of people just arrived in the lobby and we're thinking they may be our tour group. Hmm. We're hearing American and South African accents, while classical music plays in the background.

We meet them officially at 7.45 tomorrow, then it's off to Masada and the Dead Sea. Those blisters are due for a Dead Sea beating... which will NOT be fun!

For now, we're taking our tired, sore, walked-to-the-bone feet to the beach to soak while we eat figs for dinner....

Asking for directions will cost you money...

Asking for help getting around Jerusalem goes a bit like this:

You look lost, while trying to find your way on a very small map in the guidebook (which Nur kept leaving behind in stores, only to be chased by locals giving it back to her!)

A local stall owner approaches, asking where you want to go.

You hand him a business card of another stall owner, and while he is  quite happy to give you directions, he would like you to look at his shop, too.

This, friends, is how you end up parting with your much needed shekels.

Today, we asked for quite a few directions, if you know what we mean...

Our suitcases will be overflowing with physical memories of our time in Jerusalem.

But before we get into today -- last night was a real show of different cultures in the Old City.

After our dinner (challah with tomato, cucumber and our 32 shekel tiny, tiny pizza) on our hotel rooftop, we decided to go for a walk. The hotel manager told us it was safe to go out, and that was all we needed to hear.

We walked towards the Damascus Gate (yes, the same gate we staggered through with all our luggage at 10pm just days before) and saw a never-ending stream of ultra Orthodox Jews, walking with purpose to the point where they were almost running.

They were dressed in their Shabbat best, and curiosity got the better of us.

We decided to follow them and find out where they were going.

We ended up at the Western Wall. Why didn't we realise that's where they were going? It seems so obvious now!

The street, Via Dolorosa, was very busy, with the local Muslims, the ultra Orthodox, a few tourists and many, many armed soldiers.

We were surprised that nobody batted an eyelid. This is obviously routine for the locals. A mix of Muslim and ultra Orthodox, all running around the same busy street. Only we tourists looked at it like it was something out of the ordinary.

The strange thing is that our street, which runs parallel to the Via Dolorosa, has no military presence. We have been wondering why, but will probably never find out the reason.

Every Israeli soldier or police officer we've asked for help or directions has been very nice and helpful.

Anyway. We digress... Once we figured out where the Orthodox were going, we stood around for a few minutes, deciding where to go next. We ended up heading back where we came from, when we were distracted by loud drums, cheering and singing.

There was a large crowd, and we thought it was a festival. On closer inspection, there were flags being waved, and we were worried it might have been a protest. A local girl (probably about 10!) and a shopkeeper assured us it was nothing to be concerned about... it was a wedding!

Despite that, we decided to leave them to it, and went back up through the Damascus Gate, where there were still stalls set up. A group of local teenagers sat out the front flying a kite so high it almost looked like it had escaped them. However they were hanging onto the string very tightly. The sight of a huge kite over the old city was very pretty!

Today was an early start, but not as early as our mornings have been.

First stop? An ATM! Cash runs out quickly in the Old City where there's so much to buy, despite your best attempts to resist! The new city was deserted, since we were up and about before the shops opened. It will  most likely still be quiet because of the Sabbath.

Observation of the day: at the traffic lights, there are no buttons to push to get the lights to change. Presumably this is to do with the Sabbath laws.

After the ATM stop, we shopped 'til we dropped. We visited Majd in the Armenian quarter -- the boy we bought from yesterday. He remembered us, and we picked up a few other items of Armenian pottery.

Nur gave him a little stuffed koala to remember us by!

We then spent ages trying to find another Armenian pottery stall we had been to before, and got caught up buying other things we didn't need because we asked for directions to find it!

They all seem surprised when we come back after saying we will, and tell us that Australians are better than Americans (they probably tell the Americans they're better than the Australians!!! Anything that will help a sale!)

Anyway, the man at our second Armenian pottery shopfest remembered us. He asked us how our hotel was, talked to us about Australia, and helped us part with our hard earned shekels.

He also gave us more directions after we'd finished financing his holiday by buying up half of his stock!

We came  home (funny how the hotel feels like home after just a few days), and got stuck in a crowd of South African tourists, all wearing blue caps so they couldn't lose each other. Nur vowed that we would NOT wear humiliating tour caps in our group, and we would probably be leading the tour through Old Jerusalem, since we're quite the experts after just two and a half days (with a little help from our friends!)

We dropped our goodies off, and went out in search of food to eat on the rooftop. Falafel with chips and a couple of cans of Coke hit the spot, and we were up on the roof just in time for prayer time.

A fellow tourist from Indiana was on the roof too, and was telling us about the area. He had lived here four times over the years teaching at a university and said that the view from our hotel's rooftop was one of the best around.

After we finished our lunch, we chatted with him for a while, before the daughter and niece of one of the hotel staff asked us if we wanted anything from their cafe. So. Cute. These girls made chocolate balls, chocolate chip cookies, sesame biscuits and various drinks to sell  in their little cafe. Very inventive! Australian children could learn a thing or two about running a business from these girls, who couldn't have been much more than 10 or 12. We knew something was going on, because when we'd arrived back, we noticed a sign on the front door advertising their little bakery.

Which leads us to this moment.

We are checking our emails, writing our blog, recovering from the heat and waiting to double check with our tour group about where to meet up tomorrow in Tel Aviv.

It's sad that part one of our Jerusalem adventure finishes tomorrow morning.

It's been amazing.

It will be good to be back with the tour group, but will no doubt be a very different experience to navigating the maze of stalls, churches, synagogues and mosques on our own.

The contrast from one quarter to the next is so interesting and the people all over the city have been really nice, friendly and helpful.

PS. we both have sunburn, despite popular belief that those with 'olive skin' don't burn! However it's nowhere near as painful as Aussie sunburn!

Foraging for food in preparation for Friday...

You know how in Australia on a Friday around 4pm, everyone at work sort of downs tools and knocks off for the weekend?

Well, in Israel, they take that one step further.

Friday is dead in parts of Old Jerusalem. The new city's not much better!

We have worked out a cunning plan to keep up our walking fuel -- Friday is the Muslim holy day, so that day we can shop in the Jewish quarter. Saturday is the Jewish holy day, so we can shop in the Christian quarter. Sunday is the Christian sabbath, so we can shop anywhere we want but the Christian quarter on Sunday.

Yesterday afternoon we managed to get completely lost in an Arab residential area, and a nice Jewish guard took pity on the directionless Aussies and took us back to the Muslim quarter's market area.

We met two nice Australians from Malvern near the Wailing Wall. They were on a tour. Basically, during our great adventure in the Arab residential unknown, we were looking for ways to get back the main gates. How do you do that? Spot the tourist groups. There was much excitement when we spotted a bunch of people wearing very un-Israeli hats and carrying cameras. They were our salvation and led us to the safety of the main business district.

Tip for the day -- always wear sunscreen and make sure you break up your big notes before heading to the markets. They will always complain that they don't have enough cash to give you. And the sunscreen? The reason for that will become apparent when you get back to our hotel looking like a beetroot. The sun here is different. It doesn't sting, therefore telling you that you're burning, the way it does in Australia.

Also, stock up on water when it's not a holy day!!! What was 1.5 litres for 4 shekels became 1.5 for 5 shekels on Thursday, and up to 8 shekels today. Highway robbery, but what can you do? A tourist has to hydrate!

We've been walking around as you would on a summer day in Melbourne, with our arms uncovered, though with long skirts, of course -- and the only people to take offence have been the ultra Orthodox Jews. The men avert their eyes as they walk past us, which is kind of amusing, since the most devout of Muslims doesn't bat an eyelid.

One Orthodox man asked us for donations for poor families for Shabbat dinner though, and there was no eye aversion.

Our day started at 3.37 on the dot, when we were woken by the prayer call. Lesson to anyone planning to stay in the Muslim quarter: invest in earplugs unless you want a true, Jerusalem experience. The prayer time went on for well over half an hour. We had a knock on our door just before it all started, which is most likely to do with the fact that often people knock on doors to remind people to get up for prayers. My Saudi friend knocks on every door in her house to make sure everyone wakes up for prayer time!

After our early wake-up call, we chatted, and eventually left the hotel at 8, after a breakfast of fruit and cashews.

First stop -- the newer part of Jerusalem, outside the walls of the old city. Dead. Nothing was going on. We bought challah to go with our outrageously expensive water, and sat down to have a mid-morning snack.

After that, we spotted an Italian Synagogue and the Italian Jewish area, complete with French music playing in the background -- just for something different.

After that, we headed back to the old city, to the Armenian quarter. We were confronted by a man who was very, very pushy, trying to sell us some Armenian pottery. He told us we could bring him good luck if we were his first sale of the day. We eventually got away, walked through the market and found a stall run by a young boy who was maybe 10 or 11. He also wanted to sell us something, but wasn't pushy. When we said no, we didn't want to buy anything, he still gave us directions to where we wanted to go.

The boy's stall was just on the edge of the Jewish quarter. We decided to go back and buy from him, because he was so helpful, even though we hadn't intended to pick up any souvenirs today.

He was very happy to see us! The first thing he said was "You said you'd come back!" And we had, about 20 minutes earlier. We'd told him we'd be back in a few days.

We spent 100 shekels in his shop, buying Armenian pottery and Israeli glasswear (this is so beautiful, it has to be seen to be believed!) He gave us a good deal. Other places were selling their pottery and glass for much more, but we noticed that he dusted every item before he gave it to us, because each one was covered in dust. His shop is not in the main tourist area, so presumably he doesn't get a lot of tourist traffic. It was nice to be able to give him some cash for his beautiful products!

We then walked (with instructions from our new friend the shop boy!) to the Jewish quarter, which is a complete contrast to the Armenian and Muslim quarters.

The Jewish quarter is spotless. It's organised. It's very well set out. We could live there.

The Muslim quarter is organised chaos! It's bright, colourful, hectic and full of spices and Arabic sweets. People shout to you to get your attention, so you'll buy their wares. People push their carts full of produce down the narrow street (if you could call it that!) and whistle for people to get out of the way.  It's wonderful, but tiring here!

The Armenian quarter seems sadder. It's not as busy with tourists, so the money doesn't seem to be going in there so much. In contrast, the Jewish quarter has expensive shopping with designer/artisan items. The Muslim quarter is full of amazing bargains. They are both full to the brim with tourists and people offering to be your guide.

We just had lunch on the roof of our hotel, which has the most amazing view of the golden Dome. The dome itself has illuded us for the the past few days. Try as we might, we can't find a way to it. Tonight's plan is to map out a fool-proof route. And if all else fails, to find that nice Iraeli security guy to give us directions again!

We're now off to explore the Christian quarter. We've skirted around it, but haven't actually gone into the area.

Our feet are still holding up -- but only just! So far today we have done 13,846 steps or 8.03 kilometres!

At this rate, we will need a holiday from our holiday!