VIDEO: Jerusalem from above

A rooftop tour of Jerusalem provides new perspective on an ancient city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w7UVY2cEa0&feature=player_embedded

Jerusalem is often explored on foot, but another way to see the city is to climb to its rooftops and look down on some of its amazing sites.

Today's tour with guide Madeleine Lavine starts at the YMCA, an architectural landmark built in 1878 and well known for its vision of coexistence. Inside, there is a Jewish-Arab preschool, and a hotel and sports center with a mixed staff.

From there, we look due East across to the Mount of Olives and see the white dome of the newly reconstructed Hurva Synagogue in the Old City; the Windmill in Yemin Moshe, the Old Jerusalem Train station and Independence Park downtown.

We continue atop the Old City walls to the roof of Aish HaTorah Yeshiva, providing a close view of the Western Wall and the Temple Mount with its golden Dome of the Rock, Al Aqsa mosque and Wilson's Arch, and in the distance, the Orthodox Church on the Mount of Olives.

(Courtesy of the MFA Newsletter)