On Geography, Jerusalem

I love geography something akin to the way I love chocolate croissants or back massages. I think it's one of those subjects that school has never ruined for me, something that I've always taken upon myself to learn on my own time. This post will be dealing with the geography of Jerusalem (I'll save the geography of Israel for another post), and if you don't really care for maps and familiarizing yourself with your surroundings, this post probably isn't for you. Actually, I'll be a bit surprised if anyone even finishes this post, but whatever.

South Jerusalem

We live in Katamon, specifically, Gonen Bet, on Yose ben Yoezer. We're in southern Jerusalem, basically as far south as you can get within the city limits. South of us is the friendly Arab neighborhood of Beit Sefafa, and south of that is the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo. We live in a valley that extends south-west of us, and Gilo is on one hill and Malha is on the other. Through the valley, you get the most beautiful sunsets you can imagine. Right then. Here's a map.

Expand that shit. I am at the red blip marked A—Yosse Ben Yoezer 34. Across the street from us is Shalom Felafel, Pizza Oz, and Bar 55, respectively a felafel joint, a pizza shop, and a liquor store. The other blips represent places that I go on a regular basis. The green blip is the rock climbing gym, and I'm there about three times a week. The blue blip is our local library, a four minute walk. The yellow blip is the supermarket, Rami Levi. Between us and the supermarket is a defunct railroad that once served as the primary method of travel between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The purple blip, up top, is my favorite park within walking distance (Gehenna and Gan Sacher are my favorites in J-ru). The turquoise blip on the top right is Emek Rafaim, a street lined with restaurants and shops down it's length, a twenty minute walk. The red shaded area is Katamon, our neighborhood, essentially the largest neighborhood by area in all of Jerusalem. The blue area is Talpiot, which has an industrial area, along with many shops. The green area on the left is Malha, which has the Jerusalem Mall, the largest shopping area around. The yellow area is the German Colony, one of the most expensive and upscale neighborhoods in Jerusalem. This is southern Jerusalem, which is predominantly secular and has a pretty young crowd.

Jerusalem at Large

Here's another map.

Katamon is that yellow area at the bottom, my apt. still that red blip. Thumbtacks represent parks and places I go to chill. The yellow one at the right is Gehenna, a.k.a. Guy ben Hinnom, a.k.a. the place where, in ancient times, they threw the rotting corpses of those not fit to receive proper burial, trash, and sewage. And now, it's a beautiful park with the best grass to sit on in all of Jerusalem, and cliffs next to it that are bolted for rock climbing (still waiting to buy equipment). It's on the border of East Jerusalem, so you'll see a mixed crowd there, but it's a park so everyone's friendly. The pink thumbtack next to it is Bible Hill, an empty hilltop with wild grass and no development, which is remarkable considering how densely populated Jerusalem is. Only a matter of time...The turquoise one in the center is Gan Sacher, which is the largest park in Jerusalem, but not necessarily the nicest, see what I'm saying? It's fun, though. The green thumbtack on the left is the Jerusalem Forest, a great place to wander around and get lost in, although all the trees have been artificially planted by the JNF, so it's a bit bittersweet, adventuring there, that is. The blue thumbtack on the bottom left is by far my favorite place that's accessible by city bus, but I'm not gonna say what's there. I merely put that there so my fellow Jerusalemites have a cool place to try to find.

Blue Thumbtack

The blips. From the left of the screen. The pink blip in the center is the Givat Ram Hebrew University Campus, which is a beautiful place with a massive library (five million some odd books). The yellow blip is the central bus station, which is unfortunately far from our apartment. The red blip is Mahane Yehuda, otherwise known as The Souk. The blue one is Tsiyon Square, or Crack Square, as we call it. That's where all the Americans congregate at night, and I generally try to avoid it as a rule of thumb. The surrounding area, though, shaded in yellow, is the City Center, and has many bars hidden in all sorts of side alleys, resembling something out of Assassin's Creed. It's really cool. The green blip in the blue section is the Arab Souk, which has lots of tapestries and other hippie shit for sale, along with tons of cheap Chinese junk.

Typical Store at the Arab Souk

The neighborhoods. The green area is the German Colony, north of which is Talbia, another very expensive area. North of that is Rehavia, which is the most populous area in Jerusalem, and is relatively secular and well-to-do. Actually, all of Jerusalem is pretty well-to-do (save for East Jerusalem), and I find myself being able to walk to just about any part of the Jewish city without worrying about safety. North again, the small yellow section, is the City Center extending from the bus station to Mamila, and you'll find most of the bars and pedestrian traffic here. Rehov Yafo, the light rail / pedestrian street, runs the length of this section. To the south-east is Mamila, the upscale district with jewelry shops, expensive hotels, and multi-million shekel apartments. East of that, in blue, is the Old City, incredible, incredible place, surrounded by the red East Jerusalem (not allowed to go there...nothing really to see anyways...). And the light blue. Haredi-land, if for lack of other description. This is basically where all the ultra-orthodox live in Jerusalem, and my oh my are there a lot of them. I'd say essentially a third of the city's population is Haredi. I even got stoned once near Mount Hertzel on Rosh Hashana. I was walking back to our apartments from Ein Kerem and these two kids started throwing rocks at me...

Path through the Jerusalem Forest on the Jerusalem Trail

Aaaand that's basically Jerusalem, city of a million people, holiest city in Israel, denser than every city in the states save for NYC and San Francisco, and a pretty damn cool place to spend half the year.

He Tried to Escape - Midlake & Logos - Rodrigo y Gabriela