Jerusalem, City of Hope

Advantages: Ancient and vibrant, a city that lives simultaneously in and beyond time
Disadvantages: Prone to acts of war and other forms of madness

...►►Overview◄◄ Few places on Earth give rise to intense emotion as easily or quickly as Jerusalem. Indeed, even the name one applies to this ancient city can provoke controversy: Whether you choose to call it Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, or Al-Quds can be perceived as a political statement. Certainly there's no shortage of appropriate descriptors to apply to this extraordinary city: beautiful, timeless, passionate, inspiring, troublesome, enigmatic, holy, poignant, controversial, beguiling--the list is endless. Once again, your choice of words will tell as much about your own preconceptions as they do about the city. Jerusalem is a mosaic built over time by an extraordinary diversity of peoples and cultures. Perhaps most of all, it is a city that for millennia has been at the center of conflict--and that looks...

BawBaw 07.02.2005 · Read review
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Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

Holy Hols

Advantages: a travel destination like no other
Disadvantages: We didn't find any that gravely disturbed us.

...Last year my husband and I stayed in Tel Aviv at the end of May for two days and then moved on to Jerusalem for six days, it takes 50 minutes to get there by car. The heat wave we had encountered on our arrival was still going strong but it was much better to endure in Jerusalem whose hills are 800m above sea level, humidity is only about 40% there, sometimes even less. We set out in the afternoon to get a first glimpse of the Old City, the historical and religious heart of Jerusalem. Our hotel was near the Damascus Gate, one of the eight gates (of which seven are still in use) of the old city wall built in the first half of the 16th century under the Ottoman Suleyman the Magnificent, it?s 12 m high and 4 km long (one can walk on top of it) encircling the Old City which we found surprisingly tiny, only 1 km across from side to side...

MALU 21.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

How Far Jerusalem?

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

.... A rumbling keyboard builds the tension as the album sparks into life, a wash of sound crashes over the background noise and a distant warped vocal drifts through, and then the drums crash down and the guitars let rip and the moody rock tones of How Far Jerusalem spring forth. The delivery of sound rises and falls through out the song to build mood and tension, one moment full on driving rock at others ghostly incidental sounds and naked vocals. This is Magnum as they havent been heard before, dark and intense, bleak and snarling, razor wire guitars and industrial keyboards. By contrast Just Like an Arrow is typical Magnum, lacking none of the pace and drive of previous albums, a lighter delivery and very much chart material. Tony Clarkin mixing up power chords and gentle picked strings in his own inimitable style. Magnum always managed to to...

steerpyke 09.12.2004 · Read review
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Review of On A Storyteller's Night - Magnum

The eye of the universe

Advantages: History, Scenery, Religion, The Old City
Disadvantages: Its the city they all want

...Well I?ve just returned from Jerusalem, Israel after spending a year out studying ancient Hebrew texts, law and philosophy, most of which have been written around 1700 years ago. That?s the beauty of Jerusalem, the history, you can?t get away from it, it?s the place to remove your ?self? away from the materialistic life of western life and delve into something more spiritual and un-worldly, possibly even heavenly. Don?t get me wrong the city and Israel is very sophisticated, easily the most technologically advanced county in the Middle East and probably most of Eastern Europe. That?s Israel greatest export - brainpower. All buildings in Jerusalem are made from Jerusalem stone, the same type of stone as the Western Wall, the last remnant of the 2nd Jewish Temple destroyed in 70AD by the Romans, but behind each apartment or complex...

gideon 29.04.2003 (09.05.2003) · Read review
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Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

The Golden City

Advantages: Amazing, beautiful
Disadvantages: Dangerous

...Jerusalem is the kind of city it is impossible to visit 'blind'. Everyone knows her glancingly. Her name invokes impressions, differing impressions, in people across the globe, and her role in Western Civilisations cannot be underplayed. I was fortunate enough, and I do use 'fortunate' guardedly, to have spent a few months working in Jerusalem a few years back. The city I often now see on my television screen isn't always the happy, hearty, lively Jerusalem I remember, a city probably with more spirit than I have even felt from a city, but sometimes it is exactly the Jerusalem I remember, the fear, the hate and the entrenched beliefs. Jerusalem is a divided city. Jerusalem has been a divided city for hundreds of years, centuries even. Palestinian East Jerusalem as distinct from Israeli West Jerusalem, The Old City as distinct from...

womble 19.09.2001 · Read review
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Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

Yeroushalaim shel zahav

Advantages: most beautiful city in the world
Disadvantages: ???

...Jerusalem, town of gold... Yeroushalaïm, shel zahav.. Eternal City... town of David... town of peace... town of all the conflicts... Center of the world... timeless town... City of the 3 great monotheist religions ... Incarnation of Israel... city of the passion of Jesus... city of Mahomet... City which as no other can move, clarify your heart and ignite your imagination. The old city, cradle of the religions ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The old city counts 27000 inhabitants in its old enclosing walls, for a surface of 4km2. One enters there by several gates: Damas gate, Golden Gate, Detritus Gate, Sion Gate, Jaffa Gate... There are 4 various districts: Jew, Moslem, Christian and Armenian. The Jewish district &&&&&&&&&& This district is inhabited by Jews since the time of the first temple...

sheli 12.09.2005 · Read review
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Review of Jerusalem (Israel)

Mel Gibson's Italian Jerusalem

Advantages: a unique destination
Disadvantages: no public loos

...Did Mel Gibson not shoot his latest film ´The Passion of The Christ´ in the real Jerusalem because of the political situation in Israel? This may have been a thought, but only one of secondary importance, I bet he knew from the start that the setting had to be Matera; the Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini shot his film ´The Gospel according to St. Matthew´ there in 1964, Richard Gere was there to play King David in 1985, since 1949 twenty-four films have been shot in Matera. Where on earth (!) is Matera and what is so special about it that it has been included in the Unesco list of cultural heritage? It is situated in the Italian region Basilikata which is the one between the tip and the heel of the Italian boot, a small nondescript town of the kind you find dozens of in Southern Italy. People don´t go there to see the town proper...

MALU 09.10.2004 (15.10.2004) · Read review
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Review of Matera, Italy

:::::::: Excursion: JERUSALEM BY BUS with STARCO TRAVEL:::::::::

Advantages: easy traveling
Disadvantages: did not get the service we had booked (English guided tour)

...During our fantastic stay in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, we booked a 1-day trip to Jerusalem in a local travel agency named Starco Travel. Unfortunately, the trip was a total disappointment. We had booked an English-speaking tour - however, we were placed in a Russian-guided bus with an only Russian-speaking tour guide! Our complaints to receive information in English was merely ignored. Once arrived in Jerusalem, we were supposed to receive a guided tour through the most important places. We spent one hour with no guide at all, just following the Russian group, and missing information on places such as the Wailing Wall and the Via Dolorosa... After we had made half of the city tour, an English-speaking guide eventually showed up. He also came with us to Bethlehem, however, then left right away, so we once again were kept...

Reisetante 11.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Starco Travel

Ancient and blessed, yet always in turmoil

Advantages: Good research, well written, good photographs
Disadvantages: -

...Hershel Shanks, editor of the magazine 'Biblical Archaeology Review', put together this wonderful volume on the archaeology of Jerusalem in honour of the 3000th anniversary of the establishment of the city by King David (a date of conjecture, to be sure, and with some variability even within the conjecture). In the introduction, Shanks states: 'Through the archaeology of Jerusalem, one can learn about almost everything even remotely connected to the ancient Near East: from Bible and ancient history, art and architecture, burial practices, languages and scripts to geography, water supply systems, chronology, theology, pottery typology, archaeological methodology, warfare and daily life.' Jerusalem is at or near the centre of three major faiths that have had profound and lasting impact not only on the city or region, but upon...

frkurt 12.01.2006 · Read review
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Review of Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography - Hershel Shanks

Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition

Advantages: Absolutely Stunning Guitar based debut
Disadvantages: Requires concentration and committment

...than a passing resemblance to Bob “The Bear” Hite of Canned Heat, and are lead by Stetson wearing religioso guitarist and song smith Josh T Pearson who sports side whiskers strait out of a Dickens novel. This band are visually impressive and I’m going to see them next week. Before I describe the music here are some sleeve musings: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed We are perplexed but not in despair…” The opening lyrics… “This is the story of three Texas boys, busy minding their own bidnis (sic) when an Angel of the Lord appeared to them….” “Don’t you boys know nothin? The USA is the centre of JerUSAlem” Get the drift….. The album is split into two disks , the first “Texas” the second “...

mikeydred 23.08.2001 (29.08.2001) · Read review
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Review of Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads, The - Lift To Experience