Jerusalem – by Silvia Bombardini

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3184″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]]

Dear Shaded Viewers  and Diane,

 

As it turns out, there's nothing to warm you up for your next few busy fashion week days better than a visit to the holiest of all cities, Jerusalem. As we were driving that way early Monday morning, sleepless and ever so slightly jetlagged, we would doze off culled by the proud voice of our wisest driver and guide Mr. Uri Golani, as he told us tales of geography and heavens, the incredible history of his country from once upon a time till now. We would wake up all of a sudden in a hazy, dusty valley, with no clear recollection of how we got there, to whispers of how David fought Goliath right up that road, and it would seem at the time a rather plausible idea. Israel is a sandy, ruffled country, scattered with young forests planted to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and low mauve vineyards. There's a place close to the Jordan border named the Island of Peace a few kibbutzim still survive here and there today.

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3185″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3186″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]]

Once we reached Jerusalem the old graveyard was the first place we went to, surely at least in part because of the truly enchanting view from up there. The graveyard itself is still in use, and reaches up to the top of the hill to a certainly massive, yet somehow so humble appeal at the same time. The graves are candid blocks of the whitest stone, with no headstone of any sort, and little pebbles instead of flowers are laid upon them in memory, since flower in the desert do not grow. Then we moved to the old city that we could see from there, and here's a few snapshots to show you what that was like:

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3188″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3189″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3190″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3191″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3192″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3193″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3196″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]]

Here's a fashion group by the ruins:

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3194″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3195″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]]

Here we were at the Western Wall, in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. We parted from our men, who wore kippot by then, covered our shoulders appropriately and walked across the plaza to squeeze tiny paper wishes in between countless others through the Wall's polished fissures. There were prayers' book nearby for those so inclined, and a boy just turning 13 could be heard finally celebrating his Bar mitzvah in the men's aisle.

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3200″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3197″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3198″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3199″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]]

The markets perched on the narrow, steep paths held a flavour of Istanbul in Old Jerusalem.

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3201″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3202″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3203″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3204″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]]

The Christian Quarter.

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3205″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3206″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3208″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]][[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”3207″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”480″,”style”:”line-height: 1.538em;”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”480″}}]]

 

From Israel with so much love,

Later,

Silvia

SHARE