At the spiritual and cultural heart of Jerusalem sits the Old City of Jerusalem, a 0.35 square mile walled area known for its Muslim, Christian, Armenian, and Jewish quarters. I’m joined by author Sarah Tuttle-Singer, who wrote a book about her year living in each quarter. While we walked around Sarah introduced me to this complex, sometimes overwhelming, but always beautiful place where hundreds of people from different backgrounds come together daily.

When it comes to anywhere in the Middle East, kebab shops are plentiful and mouthwatering. After trying what must be thousands of kebabs in her lifetime, Sarah took me to one of her favorites in Old City’s Muslim Quarter – Al-Baghdadi Restaurant. Currently owned by Hassan Al-Baghdadi, the shop has been around for over sixty years. Between the kebabs and the hummus, Hassan makes everything fresh by hand, and the recipes have been in his family for generations.

No one in Jerusalem connects its three main faiths quite like Bilal Abu Khalaf. Located in the Christian Quarter, his fabric store trades with members of all three religions and has even seen the likes of Pope Benedict XVI. The trade has been in his family forever and it was his grandfather who purchased their first fabric shop in Old City.

Kunafa is one of those desserts you just have to try for yourself. It’s like no sweet treat I’ve ever had and is decadently delicious. We got our fix at Mr. Kunafa where the owner uses hot coals to get that perfect melted cheese and crunchy outer layer of filo. He learned this method while living in Syria.

You know, I’ve gone my whole life without a tattoo. However, when you visit the longest-running tattoo shop in the world… it seems wrong not to get something! Lucky for me, I was tattooed by the current owner, Wassim Razzouk, who is a 27th generation tattoo artist and has already been training his sons to be the 28th generation.

Nearly 1400 years ago, Omar, a Rashidun caliph, was invited to pray at the Church of Holy Sepulchre. In order to protect the church from being turned into a mosque, he threw a stone 30 feet away and prayed there instead. Today, mere feet from the holiest church in Christian faith sits the Mosque of Omar. With tour guide Mutassen Aweidah, I was able to learn more about prayers at the mosque and what this place in particular means to Jerusalem.

Fun fact, did you know Israel is on the main migration path for birds from Asia, Europe, and Africa? The Nili and David Jerusalem Bird Observatory was created to help research these migration patterns and to provide food for birds during migration seasons. Not to mention, it’s a wildlife oasis in the middle of the city to come for some quality bird-watching. I joined manager Alena Kacal to learn more about this observatory, the first of its kind in the country.

While Muslims have Mecca and Christians have the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jews have the Western Wall. Also known as the Wailing Wall or the Kotel, this wall has been around since 20 BCE. Many people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, visit the Western Wall every day to pray. However, did you know you can also go underground? Tour guide Hava Preil took me to the Western Wall tunnels where we went down to what would’ve been the city’s street level 2,000 years ago.