The concept of an Insider's Look on Jerusalem is to shed some light on some of the smaller places that you are not likely to find in a regular tourist guide. To show Jerusalem from the point of view of someone who's lived there for a long time.

If you're planning a trip to Jerusalem, your "Lonely Planet" or "Let's Go" or what-not will surely give you all the information you need about the Dome of the Rock or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or the Knesset, provide names of good places to stay and interesting restaurants to visit, and all those other things regular travel guides know. This entry invites you to **go behind the corner** and explore the things you might overlook. **bad phrasing?**

Walking in the streets

***nasty habit to curve, have a map or plenty of time (or both). Good places to wander between city centre and german colony (rehavia, talbiya, shikun ovdim, baka aleph etc), nahlaot, nahlat shiva… anything else?
Describe some of the beautiful streets, inc that one I only went into because it had an amazing name (dunash ben lavrak or something) and which has the lovliest little grocery I've ever seen.
Point out the advantages of taking your time and looking around.***

Coffee Shops

There are countless coffee shops in Jerusalem. Small old family-style places, cool new spots, specialized** cafes, cafe-restaurants, espresso-bars - there's pretty much something for everyone.

There is no point in listing all the coffee shops in town, because of their number and because places open and close all the time; but here's a list of a few noteworthy ones:

The Chain Stores

No, there's no Starbucks. There used to be some branches** in Tel Aviv, but they closed (apparently, Israelis had good coffee for long enough and weren't that excited about Starbucks). However, there are two Israeli chains that actually started right here in Jerusalem, and even on the same street.

• Aroma: With lots of branches** all over town - and now all over the country - this is one of the most successful chains around. It is recognizable by its big square red-on-black logo, and offers good coffee and great sandwiches at reasonable prices. Nice if you just want something to drink and a bite to eat, but since it doesn't offer much more than sandwiches and salads it isn't really a place to have a meal.
  
  The service system is semi-fast-food-like: as in fast-food restaurants, you place your order and pay for it, and then pick it up at the counter (you can go and sit down, and your name will be called when your order's ready). When you're done you leave the *things* on the table to be picked up by the waiter.

• Hillel: Named after Hillel Street where the first store was opened. This is a smaller and fancier chain than Aroma. A bit more expencive, but the food is better and more ***diverse?***, and the atmosphere is more sophisticated. The logo is also in red and black, fituring the silhouette of a walking man wearing a trenchcoat and a hat and the *moto* "Great Coffee".
  
  They have a strange hybrid service system, in which you place your order and pay for it, then take a plastic tag and sit down at the table. The waiters bring your food to your table, recognizing it by the plastic tag. It's a cute system, but the problem with it is that when the place is crouded the waiters get somewhat confused and so you need to wait a long while.

Well, those were the big chain stores. Now let's move on to the more interesting spots:

The first place on the list should definitely be Tmol Shilshom, one of the more charming cafes in town. It is named after a book by the Israeli Nobel-prize winning author Shai Agnon, and has a strong literary motif to it - apart from serving coffee and food, it is also a small book store. For this reason, the menus are designed as books and are divided to ***to be continued***

An important note: Most coffee shops **adhere to** the laws of Kashrut - the jewish laws of what to eat and how to eat it. Kashrut is by no means a requirement, but since religious jews will not eat in places that aren't kosher it is definitely a **preference**. That simply means that most coffee shops will stick to a ***milk*** menu, and not serve any meat - and you can forget about bacon for breakfast, of course. **?*If for some strange reason you are very keen on** getting an English breakfast, try the American Colony Hotel in the eastern city, which despite its name includes the traditional British mush in its good yet terribly overpriced breakfast buffet.*?** **check info**

It is highly recommended, however, to try the Israeli breakfasts that can be found almost in aevery coffee shop for a price of about 20-40 Shekels (about 4-8 EUR). A regular Israeli breakfast is likely to include plenty of vegetables, an omelette, some cheese, bread, orange juice and coffee or tea. It's large, but not heavy like the fried variety you might be used to.

Book shops

steimatzki (big bad chain), tzomet (small chain); academon? (in uni… hard to get in); lovely small places with used books – gur arie, sefer vesefel, whatever you call that store in baka (Siman Kri'a/Book Mark), Danny books, Book Galery(?, in Shatz St). Tmol shilshom too (but it's mentioned above). Shtein too. Anything else?

Israel museum

just a few tips. A Space That Sees is wonderful. the couches next to the photography-sketchings library are great (I need to check if it's still true...). DO NOT BUY FOOD THERE, IT'S NOT WORTH THE PRICE!!