Jerusalem by foot

Special Issue: This divided and tense city is less medieval theme park when seen apart from the tour groups | Marvin Olasky

JERUSALEM— Most Americans visit Jerusalem as members of tour groups, and that approach has its advantages: You don't have to make arrangements or plan out the details yourself, you ride on a bus so your legs are fresh, and you have a guide who knows where the must-see sites are and when they are open.

But an alternative exists: If you like to plan your own schedule, spend as much time as you want at a site that interests you, and get the lay of the land by walking it, you can explore Jerusalem on your own. You'll learn by up-and-down experience that the city is hilly, with Mount Zion and the Kidron Valley both as advertised.

I can guarantee, based on walking Jerusalem from the Knesset building in the west to the Mount of Olives in the east over parts of six days, that you will get lost, since streets curve and are often poorly marked. I suspect that sometime you'll move from areas where the signs are in Hebrew, English, and Arabic, to areas where the signs are in English and Arabic, to others where the signs are in Arabic alone. When you see graffiti that equate the Jewish star to the swastika, it might be time to turn back.