Hotel Arcadia

If you've read the rest of this page then you'll know by now that I really loved the walls surrounding the Old City. They extend for 4km right round the Old City and were built betwen 1537 and 1542 by Suleyman the Magnificent when the Ottoman Turks ruled Israel and Palestine, a rule that continued some 400 years until 1917. Among the many popular legends about the walls, possibly the most grisly is the one that tells of Suleyman beheading the architects and having them buried inside the Jaffa Gate. The reason for this was supposedly their failure to enclose the Franciscan Monastery or the fact that he didn't want them to build similar walls anywhere else. The walls are amazing and walking around and through them really heightens the experience of visiting the Old City. It's possible to walk on the walls as well and taking the Ramparts Walk is something I look forward to doing when I come back to Jerusalem. You cannot do the full circuit as one section of the wall is closed for security reasons, so there are two seperate sections. The first is betwen Jaffa Gate and Zion Gate and a longer walk starting at Jaffa Gate and finishing at New Gate, Lion's Gate or Herod's Gate.