Eating Apfelstrudel in the Old City

September 18, 2008 - 7:50 PM by

Apple Strudel (with whipped cream)I had a conference last night in the Old City and had a couple of hours to kill beforehand. I was hankering for some good hummus but alas, the two best hummus joints in the Old City – Abu Shukri and Lina – were long closed in the late afternoon. So I abandoned my quest for some chickpea action and decided for a completely experience. I headed to the Austrian Hospice. The hospice was originally established as a hotel for pilgrims from Austria, was later a Jordanian hospital and is now back to being a hostel for Christian pilgrims. The front doors, heavy and wooden, open to a two-floor ascent and a wide outdoor space completely removed from the cramped alleys of the Old City. High ceilings and expansive marble floors are standard. Generous cushioned seating areas a cafe are available for all, as well as a beautiful outdoor seating area. And the Apfelstrudel. Oh the Apfelstrudel how I love thee.
Old City Rooftops
There is only one thing better than the Apfelstrudel at the hospice and that is the rooftop view of the Old City. Whenever I have guests visiting from abroad (or from Tel Aviv) and I’m giving them the requisite Jerusalem tour this is always one of my destinations. I bring with me my copy of “The Innocents Abroad” and read Mark Twain’s take on the same view.

The appearance of the city is peculiar. It is as knobby with countless little domes as a prison door is with bolt-heads. Every house has from one to half a dozen of these white plastered domes of stone, broad and low, sitting in the centre of, or in a cluster upon, the flat roof. Wherefore, when one looks down from an eminence, upon the compact mass of houses (so closely crowded together, in fact, that there is no appearance of streets at all, and so the city looks solid,) he sees the knobbiest town in the world, except Constantinople. It looks as if it might be roofed, from centre to circumference, with inverted saucers. The monotony of the view is interrupted only by the great Mosque of Omar, the Tower of Hippicus, and one or two other buildings that rise into commanding prominence.

Hard to imagine we are looking at the same thing. Perhaps we would agree on the Apfelstrudel?

Tags: , , , , , , • Category: Food, Religion, Travel 

Comments

2 Comments on Eating Apfelstrudel in the Old City

  1. A. Bear on Thu, Sep 18th 2008 10:19 PM

    2. Nippled. The word is nippled. This is a nippled roofline, and Mark Twain obviously had a problem with nipples. Once you acknowledge how the sensual roofs protrude you are free to appreciate the minarets, that tower so like where Rapunzel sat. It looks like an Elizabethan linotint. And the antannae, faint traceries establishing the century, and oddly resembling the derricks, the cranes, the crucifix-like contraption on the horizon that was. Medieval.
    A brilliant setting for Monty Python. I can see Cleese’s production stampeding through, cleaning out all the humous. The Apfelstrudel will crumble.

  2. karin on Tue, Sep 23rd 2008 3:39 PM

    3. I too love the Apfelstrudel and the overly serious Austrian servers who slice it. My all time fave though is Apfelstrap in Amsterdam.

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