Jerusalem

I'm in the Old City, writing from an internet cafe (since the WiFi connection in my hotel is slow, albeit with a "very good" strength signal). The Sherut (mini-bus taxi) ride from Tel Aviv cost a mere 23 Shekels and got me here within an hour. There was a bit of a hold up because of a road accident along the highway, although thankfully no-one appeared to be seriously hurt.

My hotel has the most fabulous view over the city, and its famous Dome of the Rock. I'll go there tomorrow morning, probably, before it gets too hot. Oh, although Jerusalem is about as hot as Tel Aviv, the humidity is far lower... making it all the more bearable. Already this afternoon I have explored a little and been through two of the seven accessible Old City gates (Damascus and Herod's). I went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchure this evening.

Finally, I ate the hummus and falafel I'd been looking forward to. I sat outide a cafe on the corner of Via Dolorosa, eating and watching the crowds go by. This is a very crowded quarter (the Moslem quarter), and it feels very familiar, having been in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan a good few years ago now.

My air-con works very well. Rather a contrast to the Tel Aviv hotel's air-con. I worked out that I was not suffering from power cuts the other day. In fact, there is a motion detector in the room. If no human motion is detected, the power switches off. That meant that I would wake up from time to time during the night and wave my arm or leg about. Unfortunately, the air-con unit had no remote, so I also had to get up and flick a switch on the wall to get it going again each time. Hmm.