Jerusalem: the city of stone, light, and contested ground

It’s 6:24 a.m. and the call to prayer from the Al-Aqsa Mosque is winding down across the Old City of Jerusalem. The bells at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are starting up. The first orthodox Jewish men, in long black coats and wide-brimmed hats, are walking quickly to the Western Wall for the morning service. The Old City stone — Jerusalem stone, the pale limestone the British Mandate required all buildings be faced with — is starting to catch the dawn light. Three world religions are starting their morning. They have been doing this, in this space, for approximately two thousand years. This is the Jerusalem morning.

Why I keep coming back

I write this with full awareness of the difficulty of writing about Jerusalem at all. The city is sacred to three world religions and contested between two political peoples. It is, for the Western traveller, one of the most consequential places on earth and one of the most ethically complicated to visit thoughtfully.

I come back because the historical depth is unmatched. The Old City is one square kilometre of continuously inhabited urban space that contains: the Western Wall (the holiest site in Judaism), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (which most Christian traditions believe to be the site of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection), and the Haram al-Sharif / Temple Mount (the third-holiest site in Islam, with the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque). The food is among the most sophisticated I have eaten anywhere. The light, particularly in the late afternoon, is what every painter who has tried has tried to capture.

Where to base yourself

The Old City itself — accommodation in the Armenian or Christian quarters is the closest to the central sites; quieter than the Jewish or Muslim quarters at night.

West Jerusalem — neighbourhoods like Nachlaot or Yemin Moshe, close to the Old City but in modern Jewish West Jerusalem.

East Jerusalem — Sheikh Jarrah or near Damascus Gate; a Palestinian-Arab residential character.

The choice of where to stay is, inevitably, partly a political choice. Stay where you are most comfortable.

What to actually do

Walk the Old City early, slowly, across all four quarters. The Old City is divided into Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Armenian quarters; each has its own character. Walk through all four in a morning. Start at Damascus Gate (Muslim quarter), through to the Holy Sepulchre (Christian quarter), down to the Western Wall (Jewish quarter), back through the Armenian quarter to Jaffa Gate. Three hours, slowly.

Visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 5 a.m. The doors open at 5 a.m. (a slightly different time on Sundays). Before 8 a.m., you can have the Stone of Anointing, the Calvary chapel, and the rotunda around the tomb to yourself. The status quo arrangement between the six denominations sharing the church is one of the most elaborate religious-property compromises in the world.

Spend a Friday afternoon at the Western Wall. The Sabbath welcoming on Friday evening is an extraordinary scene — singing, dancing, prayer at the wall, often a Bar Mitzvah celebration in the men’s section. Dress modestly; no photography from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

Visit Yad Vashem. The Israeli Holocaust memorial and research centre, in the western Mount Herzl area; not a cheerful day’s outing but essential. Allow half a day.

Walk Mahane Yehuda Market. The vast central market of West Jerusalem; midweek for the produce-buying, Friday morning for the maximum chaos.

Take a day trip to Bethlehem. Eight kilometres south, in the Palestinian West Bank (crossing the separation barrier). The Church of the Nativity (Greek Orthodox / Armenian shared) is the traditional site of Jesus’s birth. The Banksy ‘Walled Off’ Hotel is the contemporary art-installation experience opposite the wall.

Where to eat

Jerusalem and the broader Israeli-Palestinian food scene is, in my view, one of the most innovative cuisines in the world in the past two decades.

Machneyuda — Modernist Israeli, by Mahane Yehuda Market; arguably the most famous restaurant in the country. Eucalyptus — Refined biblical-influenced Israeli cuisine. Abu Shukri (Old City, Muslim quarter) — The legendary hummus shop; arrive at 11 a.m. before the lunch queue. Lina Restaurant (Old City) — Excellent Palestinian hummus, considered by many to be the best in the Old City. Azura (Mahane Yehuda) — The lunch-only hamin (slow-cooked stew) workshop; old-school, Iraqi-Jewish. Anna — A bistro café in a women’s-empowerment training programme; reliable. Pinati — Old-school West Jerusalem hummus on King George Street.

When to come

Spring (March–May) or autumn (September–November) for pleasant temperatures.

Summer (June–August) is hot (35°C+) and crowded. December–February has occasional cold rain and the rare snow event.

The Jewish High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot in September–October), Passover (April), and the Christian Holy Week (varies, March–April) are the most atmospheric but also the most crowded times.

Practical notes

• Visa: Most Western passports get 90 days visa-free.
• Money: New Israeli shekel; card universally. In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, cash is more reliable.
• Transport: The light rail and city buses are extensive. The Old City is walking only. Tel Aviv is 50 minutes by fast train.
• Sabbath: Most West Jerusalem businesses close from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. Plan accordingly.
• Security: The situation in Israel-Palestine has been volatile for decades. Check your government’s current travel advisories. Some sites are occasionally closed for tensions. Walk respectfully around political demonstrations; photograph cautiously.
• Dress code at religious sites: Shoulders and knees covered everywhere; head covering required at the Western Wall (kippot are provided), at the Temple Mount for women (and they’re closed to non-Muslims at most prayer times), and in many churches.
• The Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif: Currently open to non-Muslims for limited hours (typically morning) through the Mughrabi Gate; check the day’s status, and access is sometimes closed entirely on short notice.

A final thought

Jerusalem is one of the most rewarding travel destinations on earth and one of the most ethically complicated places to write about. The visit is worth making. The conversations you will have — with Israelis, with Palestinians, with the orthodox and the secular, with the pilgrims and the locals — are conversations you will not have elsewhere.

No neutral position is available, and the visitor who claims one is usually being dishonest. What you can do is listen carefully, ask thoughtful questions, walk the city slowly, eat in restaurants and shops run by people on multiple sides of the conflict, and resist the temptation to reach a clean conclusion in three days.

The Old City at dawn, with the three religions starting their morning in the same square kilometre, is one of the most moving urban experiences in the world. The political reality is far more difficult than that morning suggests. Both are true. Both belong in any honest account.