Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a home by a wealthy Arab
merchant, the building was
subsequently sold to pilgrims
from Chicago, hence the
name, before later becoming
a hospice and then a hotel. It
boasts a beautiful courtyard
café and equally welcoming
cellar bar. Opposite the main
entrance to the hotel, beside
an attractive little giftshop,
steps leads up to the excellent
Bookshop at the American
Colony Hotel
(see p149)
.
Salah ed-Din Street
Return the way you came,
taking a quick detour left
down Abu Obeida Street to
take a look at
Orient House
6
he historic American Colony Hotel
Lobby area of th
5
served as the
headquarters
or “Flower Gate”. At this
point you can enter the Old
City; or turn left and follow
the walls down to the very
worthwhile
Rockefeller
Museum
of the Palestin
nian
Authority
, an elegant 1897 villa that
erusalem u
y the Israeli
until it was
in J
shut down by
n 2001.
government i
Back on S lah ed-Din
0 metres
250
al Street
sed, plain door
(see p127)
and
its archaeological finds from
the Holy Land; or bear right
and follow Sultan Suleyman
Street, past rows of small
clothes and jewellery shops,
and eateries, back to the
Damascus Gate area.
q
0 yards
250
an easily miss
es access to the
in a wall give
Kings' Tombs
(see p127)
e tomb of a single
7
- actually the
queen, dating
century A
g from the 1st
D. F
eet to the main
From here, cross
over the str
gate of
St G
edral
George's
Cathe
(see
8
p126)
and buzz for
ttance. Visitors
)
admit
sually free
5"
are us
nder the gardens
to wa
and c
ourts of what is
a surp
prisingly large
compo
g your way into
ound. It is worth
finding
edral for its
the cathe
y restrained
admirably
which contains
E
interior, w
arms formerly
the royal a
in Government
displayed
House du
B
uring the time of
ritish rul
e and deposited
here when th Mandate came
1948.
he
Decorative sarcophagus at the
Rockefeller Museum
to an end in 1 Services
throughout the
q
are still held t
gh the language
week, althoug
e days is
TIPS FOR WALKERS
Starting point:
Damascus Gate.
:
Length:
1.5 miles (2.4 km).
Palestinian Pottery:
Open
9am-4pm Mon-Sat.
Stopping-off points:
The
American Colony Hotel serves
lunch in the courtyard garden or
indoors in Val's Brasserie Lounge.
Café Europe, at 9 El-Zahra Street,
just off Salah ed-Din, offers good
value Western-style cuisine,
including ham and eggs, in
premises that resemble an
English tearoom.
of mass these
Arabic.
outh of the
Salah ed-Din Street
Salah ed-Din
S
e cathedral,
9
becomes a busy high street
with a clutter of low-rise
shops, moneychangers,
pharmacies and snack joints.
Although vibrant, the scene is
very visibly poorer than the
corresponding main streets
over in West Jerusalem. At its
southern end Salah ed-Din
Street terminates opposite the
city walls and
Herod's Gate
0
, which to the Arabs is the
far more poetic Bab el-Zahra,
The Gothic bell tower of St
George's Cathedral
8
