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We met in the year we all held our breath. It was no season for beginnings, and everyone we knew was waiting for something to pass.
We began anyway.
That year passed.
This one hasn't.
In October we'll say so out loud — Nazareth first, then Jerusalem, on the ground we both come from. We would love to have you there with us.
Renaissance Hall, Nazareth. A traditional Palestinian wedding — dinner, and then dancing for as long as everyone can manage.
St Étienne and the American Colony, Jerusalem. Church at four, and everything else after.
Let us know you're coming by 10 October — the seating plan hangs on it, and our mothers ask weekly.
The evening opens with the zaffe — drums, a bagpipe, and a great deal of singing, walking the two of us into the hall.
It is the best part, and it happens right at the start. Please don't be fashionably late.
Nazareth. Open in Maps
Ours will run late. Dinner arrives somewhere in the middle of the evening rather than at the beginning, which catches people out the first time — eat something in the afternoon and pace yourself.
The zaffe first, then a singer through dinner, and a DJ once the tables clear.
Please don't drive yourself. There will be a great deal of drinking and the evening runs very late — come on the shuttle if you are staying at the Legacy, and otherwise by taxi. They are easy to find in Nazareth at any hour, including on the way home.
TODO: decide whether we are running transport from the hotel — if yes, say times here
A suit and tie. A cocktail dress or something long.
The Dominican Church of St Étienne. Open in Maps
Four minutes on foot from the church, through the gate of the American Colony and into the Summer Bar.
The same courtyard, the lights down and a DJ. Come ready to dance — this is not a figure of speech.
As on the fifteenth — a suit and tie, a cocktail dress or something long.
The walk from the church is short but the streets are old stone. Wear something you can actually walk in.
Downtown Nazareth, across from the Basilica of the Annunciation and a few minutes into the old city. We chose it so you could actually see the place rather than just sleep in it.
Ramada Olivie — larger, a short drive from the centre.
Our favourite place in Jerusalem. A pasha's palace in 1860, a hotel since 1902, and for a century the one courtyard on the seam of a divided city where everyone — correspondents, diplomats, the occasional spy — sits down together. It calls itself an oasis, and for once the word is earned.
The reception and the afterparty are both here, four minutes on foot from the church. If you stay anywhere in Jerusalem, stay here.
The Jerusalem Hotel — directly across the street from the church.
The Ambassador — nearby in East Jerusalem, a short taxi from the church.
Most people fly into Ben Gurion, near Tel Aviv. Jerusalem is about thirty to forty minutes from there, Nazareth about an hour and a quarter.
At passport control you may be asked where you are going and who you are seeing — answer plainly, it is routine. Handy to have the hotel booking and our number saved somewhere you can reach without wifi.
If anything about your own trip feels complicated, message Jowan. We would far rather help you sort it out now than have you turning it over alone at three in the morning.
There is a land crossing from Jordan at the Allenby bridge — King Hussein on the Jordanian side — around forty minutes from Jerusalem, with taxis on this side to take you in.
Worth knowing if you are tempted to build Amman, Petra or Wadi Rum into the trip, which is easier to do than most people expect. Hours and entry rules at the crossing change more often than at the airport, so check before you commit — and tell us if you are going that way.
An hour and a half by road. The easiest ways across are a rental car or a taxi arranged through your hotel — and if a few of you are travelling together, splitting a taxi is simple. Tell us if you would like help finding others going the same way.
There are two days in between. Nobody is in a hurry, and most people use them to see something.
The seventeenth is a Saturday. In West Jerusalem and most of the country, buses, trains and car rental offices shut from Friday evening until Saturday evening. East Jerusalem — the church, the hotel, all of it — carries on as normal, and taxis run throughout.
Nothing to do with us. But sort the car out before then.
Warm — high twenties in the day. Jerusalem sits high and drops sharply after dark, and the reception spills outdoors, so bring something for your shoulders.
The Basilica of the Annunciation is directly across from the Legacy, and the old city and the souq begin a few minutes on from there. Give it a morning and get lost in it.
Almost everything good is around Mary's Well, and you can walk into more or less anywhere in that quarter and eat well. These are the ones we would send you to.
Friday morning is the right time for this — take a long coffee, and by early afternoon nobody will mind if it turns into a drink instead. Earlier than that is a question of temperament.
Nothing here is far. Haifa is about forty minutes from Nazareth — the Bahá'í gardens dropping down the terraces toward the sea, a great many places to eat, and a beach still warm enough to swim off in October.
The Galilee beyond it is full of things worth the drive. If you want to go exploring and would rather have real directions than a list, message Jowan. He will enjoy being asked.
Walk the Old City. It is barely a square kilometre and it will still take you a day, because you cannot get fifty metres without stopping — four quarters, stone worn smooth by a few thousand years of feet, and a market that becomes a church that becomes somebody's rooftop.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Haram al-Sharif with the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa, and the Western Wall are all within a few minutes' walk of one another, which is the whole strangeness of the place. The Haram has limited visiting hours for non-Muslims and they change often, so check on the day. Cover shoulders and knees anywhere you go in there.
On Friday night, head for the New Gate. The restaurants and bars around it stay open and are genuinely good, which is not true everywhere in the city that evening.
Anything at all — travel, timings, entry, something we haven't thought of — just ask. We would rather hear from you.
Let us know which evenings we will see you. By 10 October, if you can.
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Thank you — we have you down. We will be in touch closer to the time.