Jogging Jerusalem

I try to jog when we are at Nasuli but it's nice and flat there. I've been trying to do a 20-40 minute jog here in Jerusalem most days, but it sure uses muscles differently running up and down hills!

It's not the easiest place to jog, because most of the footpaths/sidewalks have cars parked on them. I've discovered that some of the plants/trees are quite prickly if you try to squeeze between the cars and fences. But it's also difficult running on the road, because the cars parked on each side have two wheels on the road, so they streets are already narrow and I don't want to get hit by a passing car on my last couple of days here.

I guess like most places, cars were once fairly rare, then every family got one, and now every family has two or three. Most houses in this suburb don't have parking on their property, although some have built parking areas into the rock (if their house is above the road) or on raised platforms (if their house is below the road). Indeed, the next building project where I'm staying is to do exactly that: build a garage on a platform and change the main house entrance into the second floor, rather than using the front door of the original one-level house on the ground.

However, one place that is nice to jog is in the many back alleys. Some of these are just walkways; some are wide enough to squeeze a car into. But there's no traffic to worry about, and the trees and walls of the houses on the high side provide shade.