Travel to West Bank: Nablus

Although Ramalla is the functional capital of the West Bank, it's a new city--a product of the 20th century.  The only old Palestinian city of size north of Jerusalem is Nablus, built in the trough between two mountainous hills. It's not a great location, and floods have sometimes swept through, most recently in the 1930s. Like San Francisco and its earthquakes, this hazard hasn't had much impact on the determination of Nabulsis to rebuild.

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Nablus has a Roman theater, as you'd expect of a self-respecting second-century Roman colony--full name in this case, Flavia Neapolis. It's in poor shape, a sorry contrast to the carefully restored theater at Beit She'an, hardly 25 miles away to the northeast, but in Israel.

Unlike Bethlehem and Hebron, the streets of Nablus still bear some resemblance to the tidy grid laid down by the Romans. Upon it, the masons have gone to work with their arches and domes.

Hebron and Bethlehem don't have such street streets, let alone a grid.

Some of the passageways are phenomenally narrow.

An anarchist triumph: the archway is filled by a newer building, with barely enough space for cars to squeeze through.

Basic services, such as sanitation, are often poor.

Curious, since there aren't any supermarkets with carts to steal! Must have come from Israel.

Throughout the West Bank, playgrounds are non-existent: streets serve.

There's been some superficial heritage restoration, for example replacing asphalt with stone.

Rehabilitation is less spectacular than in Hebron or Bethlehem, but efforts are being made.

The new market in the old city.

A new roof: such a structure was contemplated for Hebron but raised such a storm of protest from architects that the idea was shelved.

Relic-Roman paving.

A patient tin-smith.

The competition.

Butcher block.