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AFTER BREAKFAST
we packed up and, laden with
bags, hiked through the narrow,
crowded streets to the New
Imperial Hotel. Joy was
impressed also, and was sold
when the lady showed us our
room. The ceilings were higher
than any we’d seen so far, and
the balcony four floors up
looked out over a colorful scene
of local inhabitants streaming
in and out of the Jaffa Gate.
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FROM A VANISHED
WEBSITE: One of the
oldest hotels in
Palestine, the New
Imperial Hotel is
attractively located in
front of the Citadel as
you enter the Old City
of Jerusalem from its
northern Jaffa Gate.
This is one of the
busiest entrances to the
Old City. . . .
The Moslem Caliph Omar
Ibn Al Khattab entered
Jerusalem from this gate
after its capture in AD
638. Also, this is the
gate used by General
Allenby, commander of
the British forces which
captured Jerusalem
during World War One, to
enter Jerusalem heading
a victory parade in
December 1917. In the
area where you now find
the New Imperial Hotel
and beyond it there were
fields where wheat grew
in the winter. In the
summer, the empty fields
became dumping grounds
for carcasses of
donkeys, camels and
horses. The Turkish
authorities moved this
"cemetery" outside the
wall and the Grand New
Hotel was built in its
place in 1884. Travelers
began to write of the
new hotel with grand
facilities inside Jaffa
Gate when it first
opened. . . . In the
late 1940s it became
known as Morcos Hotel.
Kaiser Wilhelm II stayed
here when he visited
Palestine in 1898. The
wall between the gate
and the Citadel was torn
down and the moat filled
by the Ottoman Sultan
Abdul Hamid II in order
to permit the Kaiser and
his suite to ride into
the city. In the 1950s
and 60s it had an
elegant ballroom in
which many weddings were
held. Sitting on the
hotel's balcony
overlooking Omar Ibn Al
Khattab Square one
observes below an
ever-changing mosaic of
people, images, colors,
and sounds. The roof
offers an enchanting
panoramic view of
Jerusalem. . . .
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We
shuffled the furniture around so
that the table was out on the
balcony, but the sun was hitting
it directly and it was too hot
to sit outside. Instead we went
down into the old town, and
while Joy did some souvenir
shopping, I sat in a restaurant
eating soup and bread, drinking
coffee and reading my Urantia
Book, the part about the time
right before Jesus’ arrest in
Jerusalem.
When
Joy returned we went back up to
our room to sit on the
bird’s-eye-view balcony and
people-watch over a bottle of
cheap wine. The sun had moved
away, making it an ideal place
to relax for a few hours.
* * *
When
the bottle was empty, we set out
for the Wailing Wall and Dome of
the Rock Mosque, walking through
the Armenian sector to get there
and chancing to meet an orthodox
Jew in a suit and hat, who
kindly gave us a quick tour of
the area as he led us to the
Wall. According to him, a “new
Jerusalem” has been built on top
of the old, the remains of which
have been preserved as a
cavernous underground museum.
All-new brick buildings in the
old-city style, he told us, have
been constructed since the 1967
war.
Dome of
the Rock Mosque, with the
Wailing Wall in the foreground
After
videotaping the goings-on at the
Wall, where the men were
segregated from the women, I
realized too late that it was
forbidden to take pictures on
the Sabbath!
We
walked back and bought some
scarves from an old Arab who had
set up shop inside a covered
alleyway leading to the Dome of
the Rock mosque, which—along
with most of the Jewish
attractions—was closed for the
day.
On the
way back to the room we bought
more wine and sat drinking and
talking on our balcony for a few
more hours, absorbing the
endlessly fascinating parade of
humanity down below. Somewhat
tipsy, I “healed” Joy’s foot,
both of us going into deep
meditation as I clasped her heel
between my hands. It seemed to
work, for when we took off again
at 7:30 into the New City to
check our email at the Netcafé,
she had no trouble walking for
the first time in days! (Could
the wine have played a small
part in this miracle healing? I
wonder …)
After
an hour or so we returned to the
Jaffa Gate vicinity where we ate
at an outdoor restaurant, and
because we were so talkative we
drew a small crowd of local men,
including the owner, whom we
entertained with our tall tales.
They invited us to join them for
an evening out, but we had the
good sense to say no. Back at
our room we drank yet another
bottle of wine on the balcony,
and passed out some time in the
middle of the night.
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Photo: Ron Peled
An old postcard from 1900
showing the scene inside the
gate, with our hotel on the
right
Our balcony
The street scene near our hotel
In the distance, the new city
lies outside the walls of the
old city |
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