Friday afternoon - hiking the Judean Hills - and the Mahane Yehuda market

Late on Friday morning, we left the Latrun Police Station and the Armored Corps Museum and hiked through the Judean Hills - first along the Burma Road noted in the last posting, and then continuing through the hills.  This was an easier hike than some of the earlier ones - although there were still plenty of hills to remind us that this is a 'hiking trip' and not simply tourism!  We saw numerous grape fields and olive orchards, among others, through this beautiful fertile land.

The hike ended when  our van met us with another wonderful picnic lunch.   After that, we drove back to Jerusalem.

Four of us left the bus at the Mahane Yehuda market - a fantastic place where there are several blocks with market stalls crammed against each other, and wall-to-wall people everywhere.   The vendors were shouting at the top of their lungs about the bargains they were offering.  With the Sabbath approaching, people were doing their last-minute shopping, and most people carried several bags.

Here are some of the more interesting vendors:

This wine shop
seemed to have
every brand of
Israeli wine that
there is!

This one - the "Halvah Kingdom"
had 50 flavors of Halvah

I didn't count how many types of Olives were here!