Friday, August 2, 2013

#ShabbatShalom : The Station

The original Jerusalem Train Station was part of a network of railways that ran from Cairo to Damascus. It was still in use when I arrived in Israel 25 years ago but the trains stopped running soon afterwards and a new station was built elsewhere. The old station has recently opened as an arts and crafts, foody, concert and entertainment venue. We went there this afternoon to taste the ice-cream and play with the constructastraws. It's a good half hour walk each way so we came home tired enough to justify a dvd before supper and bed.

The old platform and buildings are restaurants and a railway museum

The opposite direction

There's a craft market and farmers' market over the old tracks

Tables of creative toys are free for the children

Every so often a concert breaks out


Here begins the long walk home

6 comments:

  1. Looks like a great place to while away the hours! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's has that Covent Garden feeling about it and lots of shade which is of paramount importance here.

      Delete
  2. Wow it seems like a hive of activity. So odd to see the track overgrown when it was such an important station but great that it has had a rebirth in some way xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. you can see where the original track was as they've kept it, planked over, as a walkway and park that runs for a couple of miles towards the new station. If you look at the original route from Cairo to Damascus you can see that Jerusalem wasn't on the main route, it was an off shoot meeting the main line at Lydda near the coast.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lovely that they've found a new use for the station - it's so sad when they are left to rot

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally. It was empty for over 10 years - such a waste of a beautiful location.

      Delete