Jerusalem is a veteran of no less than three millennia; a city that bears all the adornments, iconic architecture, battle scars and multicultural cosmopolitanism that have come and gone like great tides in this section of the world.
Today it stands as the religious heartland of the world’s best-known monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), and it’s possible to cover more holy centres with your Jerusalem tour guide here in just a day’s walk than perhaps in any other metropolis on earth.
Of these the world-famous Western Wall, the Garden Tomb (the supposed place of Jesus’ resurrection), the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Golgotha site at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (where Jesus is said to have been crucified) are the absolute ‘must sees’, and first-time visitors would be wise to set at least a few days aside.
But it’s not all churches, mosques and temples, within the ancient sandstone walls of Jerusalem all the authentic features of a truly old city still live on; from the hubbub of Arabic bazaars, to the sprawling capital buildings of the modern Israeli state.