2 Best Sights in Jaffa Gate, Jerusalem

Many visitors find this museum invaluable in mapping Jerusalem's often-confusing historical byways. Housed in a series of medieval halls, known locally as the Citadel (Hametzuda in Hebrew), the museum tells the city's four-millennium story through models, maps, holograms, and videos. The galleries are organized by historical period around the Citadel's central courtyard, where the old stone walls and arches add an appropriately antique atmosphere. Walking on the Citadel ramparts provides unexpected panoramas: don't miss the wonderful view from the top of the big tower. The basement has a model of 19th-century Jerusalem, constructed for the Ottoman pavilion at the Vienna World Fair in 1873. Guided tours in English are offered weekdays at 11 am. You'll need 90 minutes to do justice to this museum.

The outdoor "Night Spectacular" is a stunning 45-minute sound-and-light pageant of historical images played onto the ancient stone walls and towers. The event runs throughout the year, but days and times change with the seasons. Reserve in advance.

Set just west of Jaffa Gate next to Hutzot Hayotzer Artist Colony compound is Teddy Park, named for Teddy Kollek, the popular mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993. On the park's upper terrace, a small mirrorlike globe is designed as a jigsaw of the continents. Entering the globe through the "oceans," you encounter a floor engraving of a famous Renaissance map that shows Jerusalem as the center of the world. The middle terrace boasts an intriguingly innovative sundial that not only tells time, but also tracks the solstices, equinoxes, and a few memorable dates. In the summer, a large square platform on the lower terrace becomes a cool children's playground when multiple water jets spurt unpredictably into the air for 20 minutes, four times daily. At night, the fountain plays to an orchestration of light and music.