Alexandria Baptist Church: Day 10 - June 13

This morning started as a cool day, 65F. It warmed up to the low 80's. It was the best day as far as weather yet. Today, we headed to the light rail and we took it to the Shuk. The Shuk is an open air market. We had been through a similar market in the Old City but it was like comparing Kohl's and Walmart. Eugenia led the way. She has spent some time in Jerusalem and knew her way around. With her help, we arrived at the Shuk. She said just ask the vendor's and they will let you try their fruits and vegetables. It was an amazing morning. The rest of us never felt comfortable just taking something off a table and trying it. We would tell her and the next thing we knew we were eating it. We tried fresh figs, lychee nuts, teas, a local granola, smoothies and various nuts. The lychee nut is a strange fruit. It has a hard nut shell, a citrusy fruit inside and a nut in the middle. The Shuk gave us an idea of how the people of Jerusalem shop for groceries daily.

We heard such things as "You broke my heart because you wouldn't buy my granola." or Eugenia bartered with someone and he said "You are squeezing me like a lemon!"

Light Rail - 6 Shekels or $1.50 to ride

One of the streets of the Shuk

You could buy fish -

Nuts, cheeses, more fish -

Dried fruits and nuts -

Fresh Fruits -

Breads - and the list goes on and on.

Lychee Nut

We went to an upscale Shuk and went into an Aroma Coffee shop. I picked up my hot chocolate that I ordered and it came with a wonderful little piece of chocolate. Terry loved it. I started drinking my hot chocolate and it was just hot milk. We had eaten so many Israeli chocolate desserts that were not sweet at all. I thought this was the same. They had also given me a spoon. After a couple of sips, it dawned on me that I should stir the hot chocolate. I lifted up the spoon and there were partially melted chocolate bars. I got it totally mixed up and took a sip. It was the best hot chocolate that I had ever taste. It was thick, creamy and rich.

Then we headed to the Jaffa gate to get tickets to do the Ramparts walk. The ramparts are on top of the wall. There were two sections. Today we would walk the ramparts from the Jaffa Gate to the Lions Gate. We were missing our bus. We had walked from the train to the Shuk and from the Shuk to the Jaffa Gate. We walked from the Jaffa Gate to the Lion's Gate on the ramparts and then finally to the hotel. By the end of the day, we had walked more than 6 miles. We saved the Southern ramparts for tomorrow. The views were amazing.