At Your Leisure
The contemporary city offers a rich variety of leisure time activities, rainging from pubs and dance clubs to fairs and festivals. International artists fill the theatres and perform on the streets in the annual Israel Festival from May to June. Arts and crafts fill the lanes on an artists' enclave opposite to the Old City walls, while films of every genre are featured in the Cinamatheque. The sounds of rock and symphony emanate from the Sultan's Pool theatre from spring to autumn while Jazz and folk can be enjoyed in intimate lounges and cafes.
Shopping and dining tastes are also well served in the distinctive treats of Jerusalem restaurants and among the stalls of the Mhaneh Yehuda Market, the Old City bazzar or the ancient Cardo, where the excavated Byzantine street and shops have resumed their ancient role. Equally tantalizing are the shops, cafes and restaurants of the pedestrian malls of the city center, with early morning coffee and pastries or after-dark dinner and drinks, while young crafts people offer their wares along the cobble-stoned streets and lanes.
View the precious Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book. Witness the awesome tragedy the Holocaust at Yad Vashem. Stroll through homes of ancient priests or treasured synagogues in the Old City. Visit the world-famous Israel Museum which , together with a magnificent archeology pavillion, also preserves and presents rich collections ranging from Judaica to modern paintings and sculpture.
Each treasure house is another tribute to Jerusalem's importance and centrality to so many. Small wonder than an ancient map maker depicted Jerusalem at the center of the world.
According to the legend, when God created the earth, he gave it ten measures of beauty. Nine of them were given to Jerusalem and the remaining was spread throughout the rest of the world. This beauty and its many promises are yours to experience.
Fast Facts
Access: 1/2 hour drive from Ben-Gurion International Airport; 1 hour drive from Tel-Aviv; 21/2 hours from Haifa; 1/2 hour flight from Eilat or Haifa.
Accommodations: over 7, 500 hotel rooms, from popular priced to de luxe, and another 2,500 rooms in apartment hotels, hostels and rented rooms.
Weather: temperate in spring and autumn; hot and rain-free in the summer; cool in winter, with rain sometimes turning to snow; always cooler at night due to the 800 meter (2600ft) elevation.
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