Living in Israel, I’ve come to realize that election day is more than just voting. To get people to the polls, everyone is given a vacation day, and those who still need to work (doctors, some retail employees, emergency workers, etc) are paid double, and still need to be given a break to go vote. I saw an article recently that even those in quarentine for the Coronavirus are still able to vote, by makeshift sterilized voting stations in their homes. Special voting stations are set up in various locations (prisons, hospitals, shelters, army bases, abroad) to allow anyone eligible to vote to opportunity to do so. Still, not everyone votes, but as of writing this the voter turnout for the 23rd Knesset (Israeli parliament) was the highest since 1999. I won’t bore you all attempting to explain the whole reason why we’re on our third election within 12 months since this is a travel blog and I don’t want to get too political, but I’m happy to link some videos to those that are interested.
Now, on to our regularly scheduled programming.
Another perk of election day is that public transportation in between cities is free of charge. Tons of people take advantage of this and take day trips throughout the country. Last year, during the 21st Knesset, a friend and I traveled to Tel Aviv and spent the day there. Not wanting to waste a free transportation day, we got up early to vote, and then jumped on a bus to Jerusalem.
It took us a bit less than 2 hours to arrive, and once we got there you could tangibly feel that you were in Jerusalem. The city is packed with tourists, and being from a not-so-Anglo city, hearing all the English, even from locals, was very strange. Compared to Haifa, Jerusalem is very crowded, and since it was election day it was even more so from people all over the country coming to visit for the day. Still, we managed to do as much as we could and make the most out of the day.
After lunch, we decided to jump in on a free walking tour, but left halfway through since it was a bit slow for us and the information wasn’t anything we hadn’t heard before. The tour did however take us into the Armenian Quarter, which I’d never been to before. It was so different that the other parts of the Old City, so much quieter and we saw some local Armenian children coming home from school dressed up in costumes which was really cute.
Once we left the tour, we headed straight to the Western Wall, where the two of us took a few quiet moments to ourselves and said a short prayer. Afterwards I wrote a short note and stuck it in the wall, like I usually do. It’s important to stop and really think about what’s important to you and to be thankful for the good things you have in your life, even if you’re not particularly religious.
We spent a majority of the day getting lost in the Old City, which is not that hard to do. The streets are well marked, but everything looks the same and you swear that you already passed the same carpet guy three times. I love walking around the shuks (markets) in Israel. It really captures the essence of the city, and it’s certainly never boring. I didn’t expect to buy anything, since most of the time the sellers will rip you off if you don’t haggle and I’ve never been good at it. Well, my Israeli skin was finally thick enough to be able to bargain with these shopkeepers. The art of walking away is truly something to master in this country, and if you do it right you can really get a good price. I came out of the shuk with 2 cashmere scarves, 3 bracelets, and a small Turkish lamp all for a grand total of 40 shekels. The last time I tried bargaining in the Jerusalem shuk I ended up paying 40 shekels for just one scarf!
Continuing our way into Muslim Quarter of the Old City, I really wanted to go to this rooftop viewpoint at the Austrian Hospice that I’d been to years prior. Back then, it was just on top of a hotel and no one knew about it. Even now, it was still practically empty when we went. It does cost 5 shekels to go up to the roof, but it was really worth it. The gorgeous pastel sunset alone was reason enough to go up there. You could see the entire Old City from above, and since we were there at sunset we were able to see the whole city light up.
Our last stop before heading home was in Machane Yehude, although most of the shops were already closing up for the night. Once the shops close, the area becomes a hotspot for bars and restaurants. I looked up places to eat nearby, and decided on a Georgian restuarant called HaChapuria. Wow! I’ve seen Georgian food before and always wanted to try it, and I’m so glad I finally have. I ordered a Khachapuri, which is a boat-shaped bread bowl filled with salty Georgian cheese, spinach, a sunny-side-up egg, and a hearty dollop of butter on top. Traditionally, you eat it by ripping the bread off the sides and scooping the filling out. I’m salivating just thinking about it.
As the day came to a close, and we were about ready to pass out, we boarded the train (for free!) back to Haifa. I’d never been to the new train station in Jerusalem, since they’ve been building it since before I moved to Israel. The last time I took the train to Jerusalem it was 2011 and it took 5 hours to arrive. Never again, I said. The express bus between Haifa and Jerusalem was only about 2 hours, and direct so I didn’t need to switch in Tel Aviv. This new train we still have to switch, but it only took about 2.5 hours to get home, which wasn’t terrible. Plus we ended up getting a car to ourselves for a portion of the journey which was very much needed after being surrounded by so many people all day. I will recommend chewing gum while on the train after it leaves the Jerusalem station. It’s so far underground and makes such a fast incline your ears will pop every few seconds and it gets uncomfortable quick. All of us in the car laughed about it though, and it did make for a good end of the trip story.
Psalm 137:5-6
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