Journey to Jerusalem

Today, I figured, was going to include some hassels. We had reservations at the Petra Hostel in Jerusalem, so after breakfast at the great Dan Panorama we loaded up our rental car for a return drive on Rte. 90 to Jerusalem. Basically, there are two ways to go: head toward Tel Aviv and then drive east, or drive north to intersect with Rte. 1 which connects the Allenby Bridge with Jerusalem to the west.

My first goal was to get directions to the King David Hotel, where Budget had its office, and where we had to drop off our car. As we were staying in the old city, I decided the best approach was to drop the car and then take a cab to the hotel. In any case, I found the Budget office at Eilat and went in to ask the guy for directions to the Budget drop off in Jerusalem. "I cannot give you directions," he told me. "There are no directions in Jerusalem. You just have to go to the city center and find it."


Hours later, stuck in traffic and completely lost, I realized he was right -- there was no way to give someone directions around Jerusalem. Street signs were not too consistent and when they were there they were transliterated Hebrew, so the words didn't always make sense. I kept asking pedestrians for King David Street, and everyone said they never heard of it. I realized later people didn't understand the English for the word 'king' for example. So I used the cell phone, calling the Budget office and reporting my location. Finally, after an hour or so, we found our goal. But doing so was quite a major ordeal.

We turned in the car, found a cab, and were on our way to the Jaffa Gate. We arrived, found the hotel entrance, and were immediately besieged by a rug shop owner who 'volunteered' to carry our bags to our room. Next thing, he has our room key and is bringing our bags to the room. I am seeing things get out of control. All I had to do was 'have tea' with him in his little shop at the hotel entrance. An hour later 'Mr. Richard' and 'Lilien' ended up with a rug and a 'hookah' for $158. When the jewelery came out, we made a dash for the street.

But the view from our balcony was fantastic, and I felt very much tied to history in the Petra Hostel, the oldest continually-operating hotel in Jerusalem.... And, as Lily put it, 'it looks as if no one's made any improvements since Mark Twain checked out.'


PHOTOS: From top down -- Rte. 1 climbing into the Judean hills and Jerusalem. A police vehicle is in front of us ... Welcome to Jerusalem ... The Tower of David taken from our balcony.