The French toast of champions
You can’t hope to experience modern Jerusalem without partaking in a fully modern breakfast. Shame on you for even thinking so. A traditionalist might be happy with two eggs over easy and labneh on toast, but you, thoroughly modern Jerusalemite you are, should hit versatile Rechavia hotspot Restobar, which begins each day as a hip breakfast joint (before getting a bit fancier and boozier as the day wears on).
Grab a round table on the patio and watch the edgy young student life of Rechavia go by over a fishy Basque breakfast platter or pain de mie French bread with compote and creme fraiche. Or something else.
Bridges, strings, Spaniards, et al.
Modernism is often controversial, of course, and few civic works in Jerusalem drew as much debate as the Bridge of Strings, designed by famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, promiscuously global master of the cantilever span.
The bridge attracted a significant measure of opprobrium for both its cost and its incongruous location in the let’s-charitably-call-it-gritty neighborhood around the central bus station – but the bridge, whose sweeping lines recall David’s harp, does possess an undeniable visual appeal, surroundings notwithstanding. It’s possible, though, that the bridge’s lack of visual context is a plus rather than a minus, allowing ambitious building projects in the years ahead to aspire to look good next to Calatrava’s structure. In this sense, the Bridge of Strings is superior to Jerusalem design of the contemporary age – it’s Jerusalem design of the future.
You can walk across it, too, although the view of the bridge from a distance may be better than the view from atop it.
Black Rebels Segway Club
Remember the Segway, personal transporter of the future? In southern Jerusalem, the future has arrived, and even though you’re still more likely to see a bike, a horse-drawn carriage or a unicycle during your average morning commute, the Segway has carved out a comfortable niche for itself as a tourist transport device.
So hop aboard those gyroscoped wheels for a Segway tour of the new city, conveniently juxtaposed against the old. Ain’t the future grand?
The capitalist wonderland of Mall-milla
Mamilla has been many things over the past century: a modest mixed Jewish-Arab neighborhood immediately outside the walls of the Old City; a bullet-scarred no-man’s-land; an open construction site whose decades-long development reached Pythonian levels of farce; and most recently, a ritzy cosmopolitan luxury-shopping-luxury-living-luxury-hotel district that would feel right at home in LA.
Still, in LA you can’t browse the racks at the Tommy Hilfiger and shop for Rolexes in the shadow of the Old City’s walls. So take a stroll through the outdoor mall – just bring shekels.
Where laws are made and light rails aren’t
Up Jaffa Road from Mamilla you’ll pass by the unmistakable Safra Square, a broad plaza of white stone studded with statuesque palm trees. This is the home of Jerusalem’s municipal government, and it’s definitely worth the 15 minutes or so it takes to wander around the plaza and bask in the reflected (municipal) power.
Gladly paying you Tuesday for a hamburger today
By now you must be hungry. While the traditional Jerusalem lunch remains the humble falafel or dish of hummus, Israeli tastes have become markedly global in recent years.
Worth your attention are the cheeky – and exquisitely crafted – burger creations of renowned Israeli chef Tzachi Buchester at the curiously-named Black Bar ‘n’ Burger.
The biggest burger, clocking in at 330 grams, is called the Yokozuna, of course.
The museum
After lunch, hop a cab to Nayot for a stop at one of the finest and most diverse museums in the whole world: the Israel Museum. One of the greatest cultural accomplishments of the Jerusalem government during the post-reunification era, the Israel Museum has just restated its relevance for the new century with the completion of a lengthy and comprehensive renovation. Archaeology, history, Judaica, the paintings of the great masters, a fantastic modern art collection, and more – it’s all here.
A stop by the courthouse
Near the Israel Museum is Israel’s Supreme Court, one of the capital’s architectural triumphs. The design is quite modern, but it reflects Biblical themes in a consistently intriguing fashion, a perfect statement on the rebirth of one of the world’s oldest states as a modern entity.
Is that za’atar in my maki?
Dinner time! Like the rest of the world, Jerusalem has fallen hard for sushi – and like the rest of the world, Jerusalemite itamae have found it difficult to resist the temptation to marry vinegar-ed rice and fresh fish with local flavors and ingredients. To taste the best of the new Jerusalem sushi, sidle up to the bar at Taiku in the German Colony.
Haute cuisine cachère
Or, if you’re not in an aquatic frame of mind, reserve a table at Canela, on trendy Shlomtzion HaMalka Street downtown – one of many Jerusalem restaurants that have handily disproved the notion that Jewish dietary laws and haute cuisine are incompatible.
And should you desire an even more comprehensive look at modern Jerusalem, hop on the Egged 99 line bus, which loops around the city’s tourist sites, or book a customized city tour right here on GoJerusalem.
