Shopping

 After the Western Wall tour, we were left to explore and shop for the last day of the trip. I went back into the Old City but quickly realized that I was getting touristy prices there.

Listen to this...this one guy tried to sell me a liter of olive oil for 150 shekels and I momentarily considered it! That is $40 for a liter. He said if I bought 5 liters, he'd give it to me for 750 shekels...which after a minute I realized was just 150 times 5. 😅

So I texted Ehab and asked him where I could buy things like olive oil and dates and olives without being ripped off. He told me to exit the Old City out of Damascus Gate, cross the street, turn left and walk till I saw the fruit. I'd get local prices there. Well, I don't know if I got local prices because they knew I was a foreigner but I did pay only $8 a liter for olive oil.

Jerusalem bagels

I bought olive oil, dates, olives, figs, honey, baklava, and candy.

 You are now probably wondering why these items. Besides the baklava and candy, the other food items are mentioned in the Quran. If you add the factor that those things are produced in a blessed land, it makes these things very special to Muslims. 

I did go into the Old City for souvenirs. I found some very nice shopkeepers and if I said to them, give me a good price, you could see the conflict of making a nice profit and being hospitable to a guest, and then they'd finally eke out what was extremely reasonable for an American. So it ended up being a good situation. 

I remember a few of them asking if it was my first time in Jerusalem and then saying "Welcome home", when they realized it was.

By the way, my advice is if you see something you like, just buy it. I was not often able to find a store again even if I pinned the location. 

They had some obsession with candy. It was really good candy.

This was the candy stall on the way to Aqsa every day. It's a good thing I didn't try the candy until I got home because I'd have eaten a lot more of it, otherwise.

I lugged all of this including four liters of olive oil and 5 kg of baklava in my bookbag and in my hands to the hotel. I had so much in the end, that I had to buy an extra suitcase. But, I was packed and within weight restrictions by midnight. And then my last day in Jerusalem was over. All that was left was to pray one final time in Aqsa, the next morning and get through airport security, which I did with only ten minutes to spare. 

What an adventure this was.

What a dream.

There is not much left to say. 

Peace be upon me, my family, and my friends. 

Peace be upon the messengers. 

Peace be upon the Holy Land.

And all thanks is to Allah, Lord of the worlds.