As the Jewish holiday came to an end and the new day started it's like the city had come back to life! So many stores that appeared in place of the graffiti covered shutters and people everywhere. Much more what I expected from the city! Today I wanted to go to Carmel Market, it was like a ghost town when I had gone there yesterday so I wanted to see it come to life. And come to life it did! The market was packed, hundreds of stall holders yelling in Arabic or Hebrew (I can't tell the difference!) selling everything from clothes, to toiletries, to gadgets, souvenirs, cakes, pastries, spices- literally everything you could think of! It was a fast pace and you had to keep up, that's if you can work up any kind of speed trying to get through the crowds! Everything was so loud and colourful, everything I was hoping for! Once I battled my way through the market, I found another little market full of handmade goods. I found a few artists who were selling their photos. I found a few amazing ones that really captured my view of Jerusalem Old City, with massive stone archways with a few Jewish men and another of one of the many stone staircases with a little Jewish boy standing timidly at the side. I loved them so I indulged. I also indulged in Falafel for the hundredth time this holiday! I ended up spending most of the day at the market and in the surrounding areas and didn't head back to the beachfront until about 3pm. Everything starts to close again from sunset in time for Shabbat (Shabbat is kind of like the Jewish day of rest- it starts a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. Shabbat is ushered in by lighting candles and reciting a blessing. There are rules as to what can and cannot be done during Shabbat) so this left me
enough time to squeeze in a few hours on the beach before calling it a day watching another beautiful sunset.