Hi guys, Jerusalem has a lot of holy places, you already know that, there are many videos
about it.
The thing is that between the holy places you have some non-holy people that will try
to scam you and rip you off and this video is going to be exactly about that: the places
that you should be more careful and tips what you can do about it.
The first place is right here, the top of Mount Olives, the lookout.
It’s a beautiful place to start the day in Jerusalem.
You have the sun behind you, the holy city in front of you, and many scammers all around
you.
Now I will say that Jerusalem is safe, much safer than Rome or Barcelona, but still there
are some places you need to take more caution and this is one of them.
My tip for you here: don’t take your wallet out.
There are many pickpockets here.
You can have ten bucks to buy small souvenirs but this is not a place to buy a new Rolex.
If you want to take photos and take a lens out or something like that, you can do it
here but it is a bit safer, you can just walk a little bit down to the cemetery and over
there nobody will bother you.
Here we continue to the next stop: Gethsemane.
Right down in the valley between the Mount of Olives and the Old City.
Right here between the Tomb of Mary and the church of Gethsemane is another place that
you should be aware of.
There are some very aggressive sellers.
Now I will say that many of them are honest guys just trying to make a living but there,
some of them will sell you stuff that is worth two bucks for like twenty, thirty bucks.
And my tip for you here is never take it into your hands before you ask for the price.
Always ask what the price is and only then take it and pay because once you take it into
your hand the price will go up and they will not accept it back.
It’s their right to be aggressive but it is your right not to buy.
And the rule of thumb is that if you are feeling pressured then it’s a sign you shouldn’t
buy.
Just give it back, leave it and continue.
And from here we continue up to the Old City.
As you go down from the Jewish Quarter to the Kotel (The Western Wall) you will see
some people that will approach you with a red string.
They will want to put it around your wrist and bless you and then they will ask for money.
My tip for you here: don’t accept the red string and just continue.
Restaurants in the Muristan, next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is another place you
need to be extra careful.
The closer you get to holier places, the greater the chances that you will be scammed.
And what they do here, there are many restaurants and they can all show you a menu without prices,
and after you order they charge really a lot for it.
Or what they do is that like they show you the menu and it says falafel for eighteen
shekels, which is fine, but after you say falafel, they bring you the falafel plate.
And for the falafel plate they charge sixty shekels, which is way too much, like three
times too much.
So first of all I will say there are no great places to eat here, around the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre.
If you want to eat in great places, I did a video about it and I will link, put a link
somewhere here.
And I will say if you do sit here and eat something, point at the price and say falafel
for eighteen shekels, so you won’t get the plate.
It doesn’t matter: falafel, shawarma, hummus, see exactly how much you’re going to pay
and tell it to them before you order.
Very important tip.
And let’s continue.
Along the Via Dolorosa there are some very aggressive sellers.
The worst place is around station number five, it’s also a junction so there are a lot
of people over there and there are some very aggressive sellers that can even swear at
you if you don’t buy.
Just continue walking and see that your wallet and camera is at a safe place.
The area of Jaffa Gate is another place you need to be aware of.
This is the main gate where most of the tourists enter the city so it makes sense that there
will be here a lot of scammers.
I personally wouldn’t recommend to change here money.
If you want to change money over the corner seventy meters from here, there
is the post office where you can change money without commission.
You can also buy there a SIM card so you will have internet for very cheap.
Another thing you need to be aware of here is that people will approach you and say that
they are guides and they are actually illegal guides.
And what they will do, they will bring you to their shop or will force you at the end
to buy something.
In Israel, all guides, like myself, when we guide, we always have to go with our license,
this year it’s blue, it was red, so every two years we get a new one, but go with a
licensed tour guide, it’s very, very important.
I will say that here at Jaffa Gate there is the Sandemans free tour that starts here,
which is a great tour.
I just don’t like the name, I don’t like the name free tour, it’s more a tip-based
tour.
And there is the tourist information of the Ministry of Tourism, which is great.
You get free information, free maps of the city, and it is right here once you enter
Jaffa Gate and turn to the left.
So I will say the post office to change money, it’s a good place, free tour, and the tourist
information point of the Ministry of Tourism.
They are great places.
Other than that, I cannot show you the problematic places because I don’t want to be sued but
the area of Jaffa Gate, you should be very careful.
Like many places around the world, taxi drivers can scam you.
And in Israel all the taxi drivers have to work with a meter.
If you enter the car and they don’t use the meter, get out, they will scam you.
You will be, you will pay like a hundred shekels, for a, twenty-five bucks, for a minute’s
drive.
So if you get into a taxi and they don’t use the meter, get out of the taxi.
Very, very important.
My tip for you here is or make sure they use the meter, or use an app called Gett, this
is the app we Israelis use.
I think they can still scam you, but it will be very dangerous for them because you have
all their information.
And by the way, they also need to use the meter: this is the most important thing.
If you got scammed and I’m not talking paying a bit too much like something with your credit
card or even, I don’t know, paying forty dollars for a shawarma, you can always come
here to the police at Jaffa Gate.
They are very tourist-orientated, and they can help you.
Nobody wants to spend time filing a complaint but usually like they will send a policeman
that will come with you and usually you will get your money back.
Now I can also give you their phone number.
This is the phone number of, in Israel the number of the police is 100, but specific
here in Jaffa Gate it is 02 622 6150 and I will leave the number down here below.
That’s it, guys.
I hope you enjoyed this video.
It is important to know that Jerusalem is safe.
You will feel safer here than in most of the large cities in the U.S., but still there
are some important stuff to know.
I hope that you enjoyed this video.
If you did, please leave a like and subscribe, and don’t be shy, leave a comment below.
That’s it.
See you in the next video or here in Jerusalem.
Yallabye.