Returning to Jerusalem's Iconic Post Office

For those of us whose acquaintance with Jerusalem spans many decades, the big imposing and impressive post office building towards the beginning of Jaffa Street is one we'd all been in. It was where we bought our stamps for postcards, aerogrammes for long letters and made overseas phone calls to "home" there, too.

Nowadays, maybe tourists still buy stamps for postcards, and there are many who still mail wedding invitations, but I'm not sure anyone writes letters on aerogrammes. Most people communicate by phone, email, whatsapp, SMS, twitter, facebook etc. And you no longer need an operator for a long distance phone call. That, too, you can do on your smartphone, even for free via whatsapp.

Inside the post office, people were still waiting to pick up packages that had been mailed, and there were all sorts of other services being offered. I go to a post office every year to fill out a form to get what's known as "negative income tax." It's a "government gift for the working poor."

as you can see, it's an extraordinary building both inside and out

Compared to the smaller, neighborhood branches, I think the service was pretty fast. I didn't wait very long at all. You just take a number when you enter from the machine, and wait until you're called. It was much, much quicker than at the bank I had been to about a week earlier. I must remember that.

You may just want to look for an excuse to go, just to see the amazing mural and decor.