Jerusalem
Not a holy city, THE Holy City, with more prophecies and/or religious pronouncements directly concerning it than any other location on the planet. Religious and political capital of the State of Israel as well as its largest city, Jerusalem is home to about 700,000 people depending on where your favorite fringe political faction draws the city limits. Everything is built of a very pretty limestone known as Jerusalem Stone so that the New City in Western Jerusalem can match the appearance of the comparatively small Old City.
Known for its wide variety of religious figures, ranging from too many kinds of ultra-Orthodox Jews to describe here to Franciscan monks to robed-and-veiled Sunni Muslim Arabs. Everyone wants to own it, and a fair number of those who don't own it have shown themselves willing to blow bits up to acquire it. As a result the city is divided into quarters to help keep everyone from doing so; Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Armenian [1] There was also a "Moroccan Quarter", a part of the city adjoining the Muslim and Jewish Quarters inhabited by Moroccans both Muslim and Jewish; it was demolished a few days after the Israeli seizure of the Old City for being too close to the Western Wall and absorbed into the Jewish Quarter. Unfortunately for many who want to own Jerusalem, property prices have been driven up by foreigners buying themselves combination vacation-homes and pilgrimage lodges in the form of apartments in some of Jerusalem's better neighborhoods.
Major sites include the Dome of the Rock, where Islam holds Muhammad ascended into heaven, which is also built on the Temple mount where the Second Temple was built. This is a bit of a issue as that's the holiest site in Judaism. Christians have the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Jesus was buried before His resurrection. This, too, is divided, as the various Christian churches kept fighting over who could run the church at the site; different pieces of the church are controlled by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox Churches, with some parts under joint custody. There's still some squabbling about repairs in the common areas—which have to be agreed to by all five of the aforementioned churches—but it's not as bad as in the past: they used to argue about who would get the keys and open the door to the place, a problem eventually solved by Saladin, when he just gave those responsibilities to a pair of Muslim families (responsibilities they execute to this day).
Fun fact, Jerusalem Syndrome is where persons with no previous mental disorders enter the city and proclaims themselves a prophet or Messiah.
Probably one of the few cities on Earth containing shopping malls, walking promenades, and old-style suqat. Speaking of the suqs, cut whatever price someone wants to charge you in half and drive a hard bargain from there, except on food.
Despite being a holy city, Jerusalem also has a large, thriving secular population. If you look hard enough, you can find businesses open on the Sabbath, cheeseburgers, and numerous cultural festivals. The city will also receive its own light rail system and a terminal station of a high-speed rail line Real Soon Now. It also contains Israel`s most prestigious higher education facility - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Is the capital of the State of Israel, though some people use a different definition of 'capital city' for Israel than for everywhere else.
- ↑ Which is basically like a second Christian quarter, but with Armenians. They got their own quarter by moving in a few hundred years before everything got divided up.