Editor’s note: Rick Steves has been traveling in Israel and Palestine to film a documentary. This is the first article in a four-part series about his impressions of the Holy Land.
Before Columbus, many maps of the world showed Jerusalem as the center of the world. Jerusalem — holy, treasured, and long fought over by the three great monotheistic religions — has been destroyed and rebuilt more than a dozen times. Its fabled old-town walls corral a tangle of colorful holy sites, and more than 30,000 residents — most with a deep-seated reason to live so close to such hallowed ground.
Jerusalem’s tiny historic core, a dense and complex old town, is contained within a mighty two-mile-long Ottoman wall. The old city within is divided into four distinct quarters: Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim. During my visit, I found that the old town is fraught with endless little struggles. For example, the volume of the call to prayer at local mosques is turned up high — some residents think it’s to make a statement and to annoy the Jews. And Jews buy a house in what is historically the Muslim quarter and festoon it with Israeli flags.
But the fascination of Jerusalem isn’t limited to its old town within the walls. Well beyond them lies the ultraorthodox Jewish neighborhood of Mea She’arim. Kiosks sell posters of leading rabbis. Each rabbi has his own following, and the rabbi you follow influences how you live and dress. Since this population takes the Shabbat (Saturday) very seriously, Friday is a huge day as all are busy preparing for their holy day of rest.