Nothing a Falafel Won’t Cure – Not Exactly
First off, thank you all who were concerned about Lucy’s stomach and my ankle.
Lucy is back in fighting form. My ankle looked worse than it was. Yesterday I walked through the Old City of Jerusalem racking up 11, 255 steps many on stones, some dating back thousands of years.
In fact, I think all we really needed was a great falafel.
In case you hadn’t noticed Isreali food is presently trending. Before we left I did some deep dives into the places we needed to go.
Two at the top of the list were the Carmel Market and Happiness Falafel.
Carmel Market has become world-famous due to the many foodies who have discovered it. It’s not just your average market and it doesn’t have innards and fish heads and the stuff that makes you gag.
It’s just colorful and smells amazing and every stall makes you want to taste something new.
I read one of the most important things to do was have a crepy sandwich made by the Druze woman who works at either the beginning or the end of the market depending on where you start.
The Druze are mostly from Syria and Jordon, with a healthy population in Isreal. But they have been embraced by the Israelis as they fought on their behalf. They also try and blend in and live among people of other religions. They can pray as Muslims or as Christians depending on where they are.
It’s actually too complicated for me to get into as I don’t really get much of it. But they fought against Hezbollah which puts them on good terms with Israel.
Many have been living peacefully near the Isreal Lebanon border for years.
But complicated politics and borders aside they make a bread, sandwich thing that totally slaps. In fact aside from their unique ability to blend into a tempestuous part of the world, they are famous for their unusual pita.
So, the first stop was the Druze pita sandwich which was indeed worth the visit to the Carmel Market. Knowing we had a full day of food we all shared one.
A slight detour here…..
As I write this we are glued to CNN.
I’m kind of jumping chronology here as I have not even written about Jerusalem but after an extraordinary day yesterday, which I will write about. But hard to avoid what is going on in this part of the world. We woke up yesterday to the news of Trump’s attacks on the Iranians.
The news flash this second was “Isreal is likely the most likely retaliatory target.”
I have received many messages from friends and family who are worried.
Today begins the Sabbath and the city is totally closed down for twenty-four hours. And when I say closed down you have no idea. You haven’t seen closed down until you’ve experienced Jeruselum on the Sabbath.
I can’t even get a cappuccino in the hotel for twenty- four hours as someone would have to use a machine to make it. I offered my services but was turned down.
I think the only thing open is the Isreali museum. I’m praying they serve cappuccino in the cafe.
There were four seats left on the last plane out on Sunday – we got three of them. We are not being chickens. Just trying to stay safe.
I have one daughter with me, one back in the States. I don’t like the feel of that.
We already had to cancel plans to go to the North as part of where we were going has been closed down.
Wolf Blitzer just said, ” Iran is vowing harsh revenge.”
So we are hoping to leave this region before that happens.
For now, let’s just dial back to three days ago when we were strolling through Carmel Marke enjoying the sights and scents and smiling faces.
