Night owls: Jerusalem after dark
Well-known among locals, the night scene in Jerusalem’s legendary Machane Yehuda Market has proliferated in recent years, creating a trendy, yet remarkably different marketplace at night. Abra Cohen explores what’s lighting up after dark
In the daylight, the Machane Yehuda Shuk in Jerusalem is alive with aromatic smells of fresh spices, noisy shop owners, locals and tourists from all ethnic and religious backgrounds. With a maze of alleyways and intricately sprawling streets around the Shuk, sellers peddle their fresh fruit , vegetables, cheeses and decadent desserts...BUT come nightfall, the shop owners close up, and a drastically different crowd emerges. In between the dark and dingy stalls, restaurants and bars come to life and the hustle and bustle of the Shuk is replaced by live music and local on-tap beer and wine.(FYI, there are restaurants and bars – various in the surrounding streets – with both an indoor and outdoor areas).
May 5
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A small, unassuming coffee shop, opposite a fruit stand, with a yellow "Danesi Café" sign out front serves up fresh coffee and sachlav to a constant flow of customers during the day. At night, the small coffee shop turns into a packed bar with limited indoor and outdoor seating. With a laidback vibe, they prepare various local specialties including sabich – an Iraqi dish stuffed with eggplant, hardboiled egg, tomatoes, and pickled lemons, served with bread. Do not miss Sunday nights when they pull the grill into the middle of th