Food, Food, Camel, Food

After the long day with JNF we were exhausted.  We had originally planned for our friendly taxi driver to pick us up and take us on a 1 hour tour before dropping us off in the Jewish Quarter.  Instead, we called him the night before and asked for an extra hour of much needed sleep.  No problem!  So we slept in a little and then enjoyed some goodies for breakfast.  I had something similar to a cheese danish.
 DSC09729
Then the driver picked us up for some final sight seeing.  We started up on Mt. Scopus, which is one of the 4 hills here in Jerusalem.  I wish I could remember all of the names of them, but I can remember this because we went there.  Hebrew University is located up here and it makes me want to go back to college just so I can go to school on a campus that has these amazing views. 
DSC09731 DSC09732 
On side of the mountain overlooks Jerusalem.
DSC09734 
There is even a synagogue up here.
DSC09735 
DSC09737 
Here is a view of the city.  The Dome of the Rock, which is a Mosque, really stands out.  It has the golden domed roof off in the distance.
DSC09738 
Here I am with my grandpa and my aunt.
DSC09740 
The view on the other side of the mountain is of the Judean desert, which is where we were the other day for the Dead Sea.
DSC09742 
The next stop was to Mt. of Olives, which is another of the big hills.  Again, we have a nice view of the city.
DSC09743
The difference over here is that this is a big Jewish cemetery.
DSC09745 DSC09746 DSC09748 
Here we have a view of the Mosque again.
DSC09750 
Here is where the real fun begins.  This guy stands around with his camel, which is a total tourist thing right here, but I haven't been on once since I was 16, so I really wanted to get some pictures with him.
DSC09753 
My grandpa gave the OK and I was on on the camel.
DSC09754
Look at me go!  Those things are funny moving on the way up and down.  It seems like it would be uncomfortable for them.
 DSC09755 
Then it was my grandpa's turn.  I love these pictures!  Go Grandpa!
DSC09757 
DSC09759 
DSC09762 
My Aunt stuck to just posing.
DSC09764 
Then we had a family picture with the camel.
DSC09767
Here are some more of the graves that I took pictures of as we were leaving this area.
 DSC09771 
On the way back we were able to see the Russian Church.
DSC09773 
In front of that is also another church, but I can't remember what kind.
DSC09774 
Then the driver dropped us off for the afternoon in the Jewish Quarter.  We picked a good day.  They do Bar Mitzvahs on Mondays and Thursdays, so we hit the jackpot for party time.
DSC09775 DSC09779 
Welcome to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City!
DSC09780
I took a lot of pictures just walking around.

DSC09781 
I also took a lot of pictures every time we saw food.  Obviously, being a dietitian, I was fixated on seeing how people eat there locally, although some you could tell was touristy and Americanized (like Burger King and McDonald's).  I loved all the bakeries, and there were a ton of those.  There were tons of American tour groups there, with kids (mostly those known as Birthright Tours), and those were fun to watch too, as I remember when I was on the same kind of tour.
DSC09782 
DSC09785 DSC09786 DSC09787 DSC09788 
More partying in the square.  My grandpa joined in the singing and dancing.
DSC09791 DSC09793 
They had a group there selling packages to be sent to Israeli soldiers, so I bought 2 and so did my grandpa and aunt.  This sends them things that they need while in the desert, like sunscreen and socks.  I got a cool t-shirt there and enjoying talking with the people fundraising.
DSC09796 
As we were walking around I smelled pizza and instantly was craving it.  Because it was kosher and dairy, I knew there was no chance meat would wind up on my pizza, and that was a good thing.  I got the olive pizza.  It was fantastic.
DSC09797 
We walked around and did a little shopping.
DSC09800 
Leave it to me to find a wine store.  They even had these fun liquors.
DSC09801 DSC09802 
On the way in the area my grandma spotted this bakery and we knew this was where we would eat dessert.
DSC09809
Their food looked good too, but we had already eaten pizza.
DSC09803 DSC09804 DSC09805 
Many of those bakery pictures above were taken here.  We grabbed a few items and then tried a little of each.
DSC09808  
After that we took my grandma back to the condo to rest a little after all that walking around, and the taxi driver too us to the big market in Israel, known as Mahaneh Yehuda Market.  These pictures are amazingly insane.  Just take a look...you will want to go to Jerusalem just for this.

We obviously thought this was very funny.  A kippa, if you don't know, is the head covering that a Jewish male wears.  I think my grandpa bought like 6-7 of them while we were there.
DSC09811 
Lots of spices!  Actually, we were there on a Thursday, which is usually busy because people are making preparations for Shabbat.
DSC09812 DSC09813 DSC09814 
I am not sure what these are, either of them for that matter, so if you recognize them, let me know.
DSC09815 
DSC09816 DSC09817 
They even had lovely flowers.
DSC09819 
DSC09820
Here they are again.  Any thoughts?
DSC09821 
Fresh Pasta
DSC09823 
Olives
DSC09824 
Cookies
DSC09825 
You can get an idea of how big this place was.
DSC09826 
Giant loaf of bread
DSC09827 
The cheese shop!  I loved it here.  I got many sampled before deciding on something to take back to the condo to enjoy with our wine.
DSC09828 DSC09829 DSC09830 
Tea
DSC09831 
Challah!
DSC09832 
DSC09833 
DSC09835 
Halavah, which is a sweetened sesame dessert.
DSC09836 DSC09837 
DSC09838 
DSC09840 
DSC09841 
DSC09846 
Pita anyone?
DSC09848 
More olives
DSC09849 
More cheese
DSC09850 
DSC09855 
DSC09856 
This was a cute cafe as we were exiting the market.  I could have spent an entire day there and bought something from each vendor.
DSC09857 
As the sun started to set, we headed over to the mall for some dinner.  The mall was directly across the street and contained many popular dining choices.
DSC09861 DSC09862
The mall is an open air style mall, and I loved the lights that decorated the walkways.
DSC09863 
Dinner was at a place called The Spaghettis
DSC09867 
Here we are, out to our last dinner in Israel.
DSC09868 
My grandparents started with a nice salad, topped with sweet potato chips.
DSC09871 
I could not resist ordering the hot mushroom salad.  It was super yummy!
DSC09872 
My aunt took the salad that came with the meal.
DSC09875 
We also had an appetizer, which was a flat bread with some tomato salsa spread and a tapenade.
DSC09877 
For dinner we ordered 2 entrees and split them.  This is sea bream, which I think I mentioned the other day.  Notice that it came looking, well, like a fish, and um this was a little much for everyone (as right it should be when you are not used to it), so we sent them back to be cleaned a little, but they could only take off the head.  I took care of the bones in our fish and I think my grandpa managed just fine with theirs.
DSC09878 DSC09879
It was a delicious ending meal.  Can you believe that there is only one more day in Israel for me to post on?  I hope you enjoyed reading all of my posts on this trip.

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever ridden a camel?  Any other different animal?  Do you have a food market near you where you can do your grocery shopping?  Have you ever heard of a Kippa?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Totally rode a camel and have a box of wedding kippas in my basement :)

Gina; The Candid RD said...

I have actually ridden a camel, at the zoo, but how much cooler would it be to do it in Jerusalem?!! I love it! And the pictures are classic, what a great grandpa/granddaughter moment :)

I've had halavah. Love it.

Special K said...

No way...you are super cute on that baby. But what I really love is the fact that you found a wine store. That is a story that tops the cake.

Post a Comment