Love Your City: Jerusalem

In a dusty corner of my drafts folder I found this sweet Love Your City guest post by Anabelle. I can't believe it's been hiding in there all this time...

3 things you love about Jerusalem
1. The feeling of Shabbat on Friday evening and Saturday morning
2. The call to prayer
3. The Old vs. New dichotomy—a light rail passing by the ancient walls of the old city, for example.

3 things that drive you crazy about Jerusalem
1. People not knowing how to use the light rail
2. Getting yelled at by strangers—for a variety of things
3. Everything is made of Jerusalem stone—this gets especially tricky when it rains and people are slipping and sliding

A stereotype that’s true
It's really religious

A stereotype that’s sooooo wrong
There's nothing fun here

The best thing about your neighbourhood
Nachlaot: Old ottoman train track converted into a boardwalk (similar to the highline in NYC)

Describe the view out your window
Olive trees, blue skies, cats, and a corner store run by Chaim, an old Moroccan man who calls me sweetie

Something you can’t live without daily, what/where?
The all female gym, and the gorgeous walk from my apartment to work

Book/movie/poem/song that captures the spirit of Jerusalem for you.
There's a wonderful book of short stories about Jerusalem, I forget who the author is, but its probably the best piece about Jerusalem I've ever read. Also Jerusalem: A Cookbook that came out earlier this year is a wonderful way to explore Jerusalem gastronomically.

If you were the boss of the tourism board of Jerusalem what would the city slogan be? “Jerusalem: not just your rabbi's city”

And if you didn’t live here, where would you live?
San Francisco, in a heart beat. Both cities have a strong sense of community.

Anabelle Harari is a Jerusalem-based food blogger and writer