You can find respite in the Old City at the cloistered Austrian Hospice, one of many modest European-run guest houses welcoming visitors of all faiths (this one distinguished by a Viennese café serving great Wiener schnitzel and strudel) right on the Via Dolorosa. The hostelry is just a minute’s walk from the always busy Abu Shukri, the town’s best hummus takeout.
For more elegant accommodations, head north of the Damascus Gate, where you’ll find the American Colony, built around a 19th-century Ottoman pasha’s mansion. This Levantine-style hotel lures foreign correspondents, Israeli artists, intellectuals, diplomats, and a who’s who of the Palestinian elite to gather beside the fragrant lemon trees and burbling fountains in the courtyards or in its legendary Cellar Bar. Come hungry on Saturday for the feastlike Middle Eastern luncheon, a Jerusalem tradition.
The King David is a more formal affair, the equivalent of Raffles in Singapore (see p. 618). Built in 1931 during the British Mandate, this hotel features a mix of Art Deco and Levantine details, with modern flourishes courtesy of Adam Tihany. Linger at the veranda café and enjoy its panoramic Old City views.
WHERE: 36 miles/58 km east of Tel Aviv. AUSTRIAN HOSPICE: Tel 972/2-626-5800; www.austrianhospice.com. Cost: from $140; lunch $12. ABU SHUKRI: Tel 972/2-627-1538. AMERICAN COLONY HOTEL: Tel 972/2-627-9777; www.americancolony.com. Cost: from $380. KING DAVID HOTEL: Tel 972/2-620-8888; www.danhotels.com. Cost: from $440 (off-peak), from $530 (peak). BEST TIMES: Mar–May and Sep–Nov for pleasant weather; all major Christian, Muslim, and Jewish holidays, including the period around Passover, when thousands come for the blessing at the Western Wall.
Millennia-Old Capital Gets a Contemporary Makeover
WEST JERUSALEM
Jerusalem, Israel
The ancient City of David has quietly developed a surprisingly modern edge in its predominantly Jewish western quarters. While the area still abounds with treasures millennia old, it’s now also filled with world-class contemporary architecture, culture, and cuisine. Long perceived as the sleepy alternative to ubercool Tel Aviv an hour away (see p. 454), Jerusalem is getting a makeover.
Spanish architect and master bridge-builder Santiago Calatrava helped launch Jerusalem’s new image with the completion of his towering, swooping Chords Bridge in 2008, which welcomes visitors with a flourish and will serve as the anchor for Jerusalem’s mass transit system, now under development. Rising to over 400 feet, the bridge’s name honors the 66 steel cables that hold it in place—a massive support lattice evocative of a harp, the favored instrument of King David, Jerusalem’s biblical-era founder.
But Jerusalem’s march into modernism really began in 2005, with the opening of the Historical Museum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie. Overlooking the tranquil village of Ein Kerem, the museum is shaped like a triangular column and dramatically cuts through more than 600 feet of mountainside. An unsettling structure, it sets an apt tone for the journey that awaits inside.
Safdie lent this same cool aesthetic to the Mamilla Hotel, the first important “design” hotel in Jerusalem if not all of Israel. Located minutes from the King David Hotel (see p. 449), the 194-room Mamilla is clad in creamy Jerusalem stone, with contemporary interiors by Italian design master Pierro Lissoni. Even if you’re staying elsewhere, the rooftop brasserie deserves a visit for its Old City views and wide choice of Israeli wines. Safdie was also behind the adjacent Alrov Mamilla Avenue’s shop-lined walkway; like a stylish open-air bazaar, it links downtown Jerusalem with the Old City’s iconic Jaffa Gate.
On the opposite side of town, the venerable Israel Museum—home of the Dead Sea Scrolls—has emerged from a massive, 2-year renovation by American architect James Carpenter. Adding to its existing 1965 footprint, Carpenter created a set of glass-walled hillside pavilions that nearly double the museum’s display space. There are important new site-specific works by sculptor Anish Kapoor and artist Olafur Eliasson as well as an 18th-century synagogue from Surinam, painstakingly restored and rebuilt.
The Chords Bridge was designed by Santiago Calatrava and built to accommodate both trains and pedestrians.
YAD VASHEM: Tel 972/2-644-3565; www.yadvashem.org. MAMILLA HOTEL: Tel 972/2-548-2222; www.mamillahotel.com. Cost: from $350 (off-peak), from $500 (peak). ISRAEL MUSEUM: Tel 972/2-670-8811; www.english.imjnet.org.il. BEST TIMES: May or Jun for the arts-filled Israel Festival; Jul for Israel Film Festival; Aug for Jerusalem Wine Festival.
The Site of Jesus’s Birth
WEST BANK
Palestinian Authority
Technically located beyond Israel’s borders, the West Bank is mere miles from Jerusalem, but it feels like another world entirely. Conflict-fraught and Israeli-occupied since 1967, it remains one of the most hotly disputed and spiritually rich places on earth. Getting there requires a bit of advance planning (Israeli-registered cars and Israelis themselves are not allowed in), but for intrepid visitors not put off by the checkpoints, roadblocks, and controversial Israeli security wall, a quick passport check will put you swiftly on the road to Bethlehem for a glimpse of life in this land sacred to Arabs, Jews, and Christians.
Although the West Bank is revered by Jews as the birthplace and hometown of David, King of Israel, most modern-day pilgrims are Christians, following in the footsteps of the Holy Family to Bethlehem—today a busy and modern city of 25,000—to visit the place of Jesus’s birth. Manger Square is the site of the fortresslike Church of the Nativity, built around A.D. 330 (later destroyed and rebuilt) and one of the world’s oldest continually operating churches. Custody is shared by the Greek Orthodox Church, the Franciscan Order of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Armenian Orthodox Church. Within its Grotto of the Nativity, a 14-point star marks what is thought to be the place where the infant Jesus was born. Near Manger Square, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all flock to the tomb of Rachel, second and favorite wife of Jacob. It is the third holiest site in Judaism.
Tourist facilities are limited and most visitors come for the day from Jerusalem, but overnighters can stay at the 250-room Jacir Palace InterContinental Hotel, whose original wing was built in 1910 as the home of the wealthy Jacir mercantile family. It’s a short drive—or atmospheric stroll—from here to the city’s most important landmarks.
Outside Bethlehem—where the scenery quickly shifts from olive and pine forests to stark desert valleys—lesser-known (but no less important) religious sites abound. The ancient town of Jericho, where Joshua led the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, is surprisingly green. Despite being one of the lowest cities on earth, it is the breadbasket of the West Bank and, having been inhabited for some 11,000 years, vies with Damascus (see p. 469) as the world’s oldest city. The 12th-century Greek Orthodox Monastery of Deir Quruntal atop the Mount of Temptation was built where Jesus fasted for 40 days while tempted by the devil. Ascend via a scenic cable car that provides views of the Dead Sea and Jordan to the east. Also outside Jericho is Nabi Musa, an Islamic shrine to Moses said to be his burial site (a designation also given to Mount Nebo, in Jordan; see p.458), and Mar Saba, a beautiful 5th-century Greek Orthodox monastery open to men only.
WHERE: Bethlehem is 7 miles/10 km southeast of Jerusalem; Jericho is 13 miles/20 km southeast of Jerusalem. JACIR PALACE INTERCONTINENTAL: Tel 972/2-276-6777; www.ichhotelsgroup.com. Cost: from $150 (off-peak), from $250 (peak). BEST TIMES: Christmas and Easter for processions in and near Manger Square in Bethlehem.
A Legendary Fortress Near the Dead Sea
MASADA
Israel
“Masada will not fall again” is a phrase known by every Israeli youth and countless numbers of their Jewish brethren around the world—a declaration of invincibility commemorating the 967 Jewish men, women, and children who died atop this stark plateau defending themselves from Roman forces in A.D. 73.
At that time, Palestine was a Roman colony, and Masada was built and ruled—with an iron fist—by Herod the Great. His 18-acre palace stood on a sheer-sided plateau,
1,440 feet above the shores of the Dead Sea and surrounded by a desolate desert. Abandoned by Roman forces after Herod’s death, Masada became the ultimate refuge for a tenacious band of Jewish patriots who repelled an invasion by 15,000 heavily armed Roman troops for three long years.
Ultimately, the Jews opted for mass suicide over defeat—a tragic act that has come to symbolize Israel’s ongoing struggle for survival since its 1948 independence. The fortress itself is remarkably well preserved: a complex of ancient homes, cisterns, thermal baths, a church, synagogues, and Herod’s three-tiered villa, all ringed by citadel-like walls.
The best time to experience Masada is early, with a predawn climb to witness sunrise over the Dead Sea and the Judean Desert (for citizens, scaling these heights at least once is a matter of national pride). Although a 5-minute cable-car ride is available, many visitors brave one of Masada’s two hiking paths. The steep Snake Path is the most challenging, wending its way up the plateau’s eastern flank. After descending, the nearby Dead Sea and its main beaches are a welcome relief, easily reached via a waterside highway.
The Dead Sea—at 1,300 feet below sea level, the lowest land point in the world—is a landlocked salt lake that creates a natural border with Jordan, whose waterfront is less commercially developed (see p. 456). On the Israeli (western) side, it is an hour’s drive from Jerusalem to the stretch of coastal towns that lure with mineral-rich muds, sulfuric baths, and easy floating in water nine times saltier than the ocean. The stretch around Ein Gedi and Ein Bokek offers hotels, spas, and restaurants, whereas the sea’s northern tip, near Kalya, is less developed. Stop along the way for a hike and take a soak in the springs at the oasislike En Gedi Nature Reserve. Escape the heat in the cool Qumran Caves, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947.
Archaeologists excavated Masada in the 1960s.
WHERE: 5 miles/8 km southeast of Jerusalem. EN GEDI NATURE RESERVE: Tel 972/8-658-4285; www.parks.org.il. BEST TIMES: Mar–May and Sep–Nov to avoid the crowds and heat.
Tel Aviv’s Sister City Shines with a Charm All Its Own
OLD JAFFA
Tel Aviv–Jaffa, Israel
Long before Jerusalem welcomed King David through its stone gates, there was Jaffa (Yafo in Hebrew, Yafa in Arabic)—the Bible-era port town that some believed to be named after Noah’s son and that can rightfully claim to be one of the oldest cities in the world. Dating back to 7500 B.C., Jaffa, now technically part of the city of Tel Aviv, is one of Israel’s rare mixed Arab-Jewish urban enclaves. It’s home to the Bronze Age–era harbor from which Jonah reputedly set sail for his fateful date with a whale. The once rundown Old Jaffa Port area has been restored and offers incredible views of Tel Aviv.
Start by visiting the Ilana Goor Museum, located in a stunning century-old mansion built by a wealthy Turkish merchant. The museum displays a collection of works by its namesake and owner, a noted Israeli-born sculptor, artist, and furniture maker, and features a rooftop café with sweeping views. Just past Jaffa’s iconic Ottoman-era Clock Tower awaits the ramshackle flea market, a casbah-like warren of merchants and mongers who offer everything from Levantine antiques to Middle Eastern–styled textiles and crafts, plus the occasional live chicken. In the heart of the market is Puah, a small café offering legendary baked goods, tomato salad topped with tahini, and homemade couscous. Locals display an intense loyalty to nearby Abu Hasan, a second-generation hummus purveyor where the creamy chickpea-based dish is prepared every morning and is almost always sold out by early afternoon. To experience a more upscale part of Old Jaffa, stop by the elegant Yoezer Wine Bar near the Old Clock Tower. Set in a Crusader-era building, it offers one of the country’s best wine lists—including many Israeli wines—and very inspired dining as well.
Jaffa’s southern edge remains predominantly Arab, nowhere more so than in Ajami, a 200-year-old neighborhood founded by Maronite Christians. Named after one of Mohammed’s Koranic companions and full of arched, Ottoman-styled homes, Ajami is the site of the new Peres Center for Peace. Ten years in the making, this dramatic concrete-and-glass building by Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas is one of the most impressive pieces of contemporary architecture in all of Israel, and the gardens, which front the Mediterranean, are open to all.
WHERE: 5 miles/8 km south of central Tel Aviv. ILANA GOOR MUSEUM: Tel 972/3-683-7676; www.ilanagoor.com. PUAH: Tel 972/3-682-3821. ABU HASAN: Tel 972/3-682-0387. YOEZER WINE BAR: Tel 972/3-683-9115. Cost: dinner $70. PERES CENTER FOR PEACE: Tel 972/3-568-0860; www.peres-center.org. BEST TIME: early May for Fresh Paint Art Fair at Old Jaffa Port.
European Bauhaus on Mediterranean Shores
THE WHITE CITY OF TEL AVIV
Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel Aviv—dubbed the “Miami of the Middle East”—has long enjoyed its image as a city with chutzpah, one that, while embracing its past, is always moving brashly into the future. For a sense of this country’s millennia-old history, go to Jerusalem (see p. 449), but for a glimpse of its more recent past, look no further than the White City, as Tel Aviv’s historic heart is called. It’s here you’ll find roughly 4,000 sleek examples of Bauhaus architecture—the world’s largest trove of buildings from this seminal design movement. Originating in Dessau, Germany, in 1919 and banned by the Nazis a mere 14 years later, the style found an unlikely home along Israel’s hot and humid Mediterranean shores in the period just before the nation’s 1948 independence. It was a surprisingly successful fit. The Bauhaus signature—unadorned pale white façades and curved balconies—turned out to be an inexpensive and efficient way to house the thousands of immigrants pouring in from Russia and Europe.
Over the subsequent decades, many of Tel Aviv’s Bauhaus buildings fell into disrepair as affluent locals abandoned the city center for luxury towers to the north. But today, vast swaths of the area are being cleaned up, particularly along Bauhaus-rich arteries such as Rothschild Boulevard and Ahad Ha’Am Street. There, you’ll find pristine architectural beauties: not only private homes, but elegant restaurants and cutting-edge galleries as well. Founded in 2000, the dynamic Bauhaus Center Tel Aviv serves as a repository for all things Bauhaus and organizes walking tours of the city’s most important landmarks from this period. And at the jewel-like Bauhaus Foundation Museum, housed in a meticulously renovated 1934 building, you’ll find important furniture and design pieces by the likes of Marcel Breuer and Mies van der Rohe.
Experience yet another Bauhaus wonder, the Gordon Hotel, a 12-room retreat across from the beach. It’s the city’s first luxury boutique hotel, set in a modernist marvel.
BAUHAUS CENTER: Tel 972/3-522-0249; www.bauhaus-center.com. BAUHAUS FOUNDATION MUSEUM: Tel 972/3-620-4664. THE GORDON HOTEL: Tel 972/3-520-6100; www.gordontlv.com. Cost: $215 (off-peak), $350 (peak). BEST TIMES: early May for mild spring weather and Houses from Within architecture fair; early Jun for White Night festival of fashion, food, and art.
Nature’s Largest Spa
THE DEAD SEA
Israel and Jordan
The Dead Sea is actually a landlocked lake in the middle of the desert, lying 1,305 feet below sea level. It is the lowest spot on earth, a high point of any Middle Eastern itinerary, and the sooner visited the better: Due to evaporation and industrial exploitation, the Dead Sea is rapidly shrinking, having lost a third of its surface area in the past half-century alone.
Boasting one of the highest concentrations of sea salt in the world—it’s about nine times saltier than the nearby Mediterranean—the Dead Sea is a buoyant wonderland where bathers float effortlessly upon the glass-smooth surface. Its mineral-packed waters (called “dead” because they kill virtually all marine life) are believed to heal skin problems and arthritis, while the concentrated oxygen in the surrounding air has been shown to ease asthma and other respiratory ailments. Indeed, the Dead Sea’s restorative and therapeutic powers and beauty regimens have been a not-so-well-kept secret since the days of Cleopatra and the Queen of Sheba.
Today, it’s the luxury spas on both the Isra
eli and Jordanian sides of the sea as much as it is the water itself that lure cure seekers. While the Israeli side is more visited (see Masada, p. 452), Jordan’s resorts—an hour’s drive from Amman—are busy playing catch-up. One of the originals, the Mövenpick Resort and Spa, staked out what might be the best waterfront location when it opened in 1999. Laid out in the style of a traditional desert village, it has 358 simple but elegant rooms; it is not small, but it feels personal. Its architecturally striking and ultrachic Zara Spa is one of the finest in the country. Although not on the Dead Sea, the Six Senses Spa at the nearby Evason Ma’In Hot Springs Resort near Ma’daba also revolves around water-based treatments. Located in the limestone canyon of Wadi Zarqa, it features a series of rocky pools filled with soothing hot water that cascades from towering cliffs, creating a veritable oasis below. Guests can laze amid the hot pools or under the steamy waterfall and then enjoy a bite on the terraced restaurant with panoramic views of the Dead Sea, which is just a 20-minute drive away.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 72
