Teenager's Jerusalem
Written by a Jerusalem teenager, for teenagers visiting the city
Introduction
Although Jerusalem has a reputation for being mainly a city for religious tourists, and that there's nothing to see there other than the old city , the wall and various other religious sites, Jerusalem is also a city for younger fun loving people, who have a wide variety of places to spend their time in.
Dance
Clubs
The place to be for all the youngsters and even mid 20s and 30s who love to dance , has to be the
Oman street , in Talpiot.
There are about 8 dance clubs there.
The 2 big ones are Oman 17, where people from all over the country come to, and is considered as one of the best dance clubs in Europe.
DJs from all over the world perform there, and there are special parties there for ages 11 till 50.
The other place to go to at the Oman Street is Oman 17s new rival, Hata’asia (The Industry) , although it’s new, it has got a lot of positive publicity and it is jam packed every party.
The dance club where you can usually find tourists and not Israelis would be "The Underground", in Nahlat Shiva street, but there it’s usually just for people over 18.
Movies
In case you're into big hollywood movies, you should go to the Gil movie complexes in the Malha or Harel malls.
Those are closed on Fridays, and the only movie complex that shows new and big movies that is open on Fridays is the Rav Hen Movie theatre, next to the Oman street in Talipot.
So you could go watch a movie and then go dance somewhere!
If you're into quality movies, usually from Europe, you should go to the Lev Smadar cinema in the German Colony.
But the best place to see a movie is the Cinematek, in Gey Ben Hinom.
You could catch movies that have been running in the big cinema complexes until a few weeks before they arrived to the Cinematek.
You can watch old classic movies.
Rare cult movies.
Special marathons (Usually with a special theme, such as 007 Night, De Niro night, Brando, Madonna, Spielberg etc....)
The last 2 and very recommended ones I mentioned are also opened on Friday nights, and have Coffee In them.
In case you feel like staying in the Hotel or Home or whatever and just watch a video, you should check out Ha-Ozen Hashlishit (The Third Ear) in The German Colony.
They have a wide variety of videos and DVDs, including TV shows and lots and lots of cult films that you probably wont find anywhere else.
Food
Other than the usual burger, bagel and Pizza places, there a few other special coffee shops and fast food places you should pay a visit, and they're more than just places to eat, they're places where you can meet some interesting people:
First the ones that are closed on Fridays:
In Hillel Street there are a lot of nice places, one is the coffee shop called "Hillel", where you can get tasty kosher sandwiches, and nice Coffee and Milk Chocolate.
THE place for sandwiches and toasts with a wide variety of egg omelets and cheeses, is Motek, also in Hillel street.
The prices are very low (12 shekels=3$ for a huge bagget with anything you want in it).
Just say the Ashkenazi sent you and you might get a discount.
Abou Shaool in Hillel street has just about every kind of food (from Chinese and Italian to Middle eastern and Indian) and it's also very cheap.
In Tsomet Pat you can get wonderful cheap grilled meat and sandwiches, and although it's not a big street there are about 5 places to eat there, all are very good, especially The White House Bagget.
The last place is in the Rehavim street, in Talpiot, it's called Mifgash Hashech, it has wonderful Arabic pastry, and it's worth a visit.
The next few places are open on Fridays:
Riff Raff, right across the street from Motek and Abou Shaoul mentioned earlier is a restaurant and coffee place where most of the young kids eat at on Fridays , it’s not kosher and has amazing BLT sandwiches.
Another good place to eat food, smoke Nargilas and drink nice fruit shakes Egon in Nahlat Shiva.
Music
There are 3 main places where you can watch good shows in Jerusalem:
Pargod theatre in Nahlaot, that has a lot of Jazz shows and a few famous Israelis perform there sometimes.
Zolelet Zehooba, that has all the famous Israelis every week, and a few parties here and there.
And The Syndrome in Hillel street has a lot of improvising jazz and blues wizards.
Bars
Nahlat Shiva is full of pubs and bars:
Zollis, Ma’ayan, Tavern, Star Dust, Sandak.
And there are a lot more that are open on Fridays.
But remember, in Israel you can drink only after you turned 18!