The Flowers of Jerusalem

Every where you turn there's a new plant or flower that you see. I don't know which ones are indigenous or which ones have been brought here. but they seem to do well in this very hot climate with little amount to no rain at all. which I'm impressed. although I have noticed all the lawns around town and the outskirts of the city. irrigation must be a huge deal here considering there's a shortage of water and most of the water comes from desalinisation plants along the sea of Galilee.

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Modi'in was an interesting city as well. it is a fairly brand new city, built in an arid area outside Jerusalem on a couple of valleys and hills. but when you go there its like an oasis. trees and grass and plants everywhere. its interesting to see how these steep hills have garden terraces that connect you through a series of spaces on your way from the top of the hill to the bottom or other way around. There are some intimate lawn spaces through out the city that over look the downtown and valley areas which are interesting and seem to be appropriate for the individual neighborhoods that you see through the city.

The concept behind leaving the hill tops as open spaces and the valleys as the community centers is interesting. normally its the other way around with the public or civic buildings with the prime location on the top of the hills. but our tour guide explained to us that by building centers on the hill you begin to separate all the neighbor hoods. but if you build schools and markets and churches and theaters and etc in the valley it brings all the different people from several hills down to one common area. At first i thought you know "people don't normally build in valleys because of the fear of floods and rain, but now i see it can happen here because it doesn't rain and when it does its so minuscule that probably not even a stream would form.