Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #40: Don't Fear Those New Prefab WCs, Pleasantly Surprised

Unlike my previous Pishers' Guides, the list can be found at the end of the post, not the beginning. 

A couple of weeks ago I was in Jerusalem and entered Machane Yehuda via Shiloh Street. I'm at that age when it's unwise to delay visits to the WC, but I was nervous about trying this prefabricated one. I also know that there aren't many "nice" public toilets in the open market. 

So, I figured that worse comes to worse I could "hold my nose" or flee and search for another one.

This funny looking prefab structure is on the corner of Agrippas and Shiloh Streets. No nauseating odor greeted me, and I found it easy to open the door. The "lock" was pretty automatic after I shut it.

As you can see the instructions are in three languages plus icons on the outside.

Inside it didn't smell either. I was impressed.

As you can see in the photo, the toilet is stainless steel, meaning that it should be easy to clean and relatively unbreakable. It took me a few seconds to realize how the sink worked. I was pleasantly surprised by the warm water.

Now I don't fear entering these WCs. Of course, there can always be problems. Cleaning staff isn't there 24/7. 

What's your experience with these public toilets? If you reply in the comments, then please indicated location and hour.

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #39, Wonderful Surprise-- WC at Bus Stop

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #38, Gan Sacher Room for All

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #37 Jerusalem's Safra Square's Renovated

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #36 Cinema City- Not Just for Intermission

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #35 Pleasant Surprise at the Jerusalem Central Bus Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #34 Binyan Clal Public Toilets Renovated

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #33, New Public Toilets Downtown

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #32, Har Chotzvim, Not The Gas Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #31, Good Deal in "Supersol Deal," Givat Shaul

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #30, Speedily Out of Order at New Train Station

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #29, Kotel WC, Prayer Come True

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #28, Machane Yehuda WC, Fright at First Sight

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #27, CBS Revisited, Worth The Shekel

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #26, New Kraft Stadium, Complaining May have Helped

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #25, New Park, New Loo

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #24 Horse Park WC Staff Horsing Around

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #23 For One Shekel in the CBS

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #22 "High Tech" Loo, Not for Use

Pishers Guide to Jerusalem #21, Perfect "Pit Stop" on Emek Refaim

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #20, Gan Hasus, Horse Park, Like Russian Roulette

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #19, Center 1 Has Gone Downhill

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #18, Shuq Loo for You Ladies

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #17, At Least It was Clean

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #16, Iconic Location-- Nauseating WC

Pishers Guide to Jerusalem, New Loo #15 Up Close

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #15, New Guy in Town

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #14, Mega Yuck!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #13, Hadar Mall: What Public Toilets Should Be

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem # 12, Center 1, Usually OK

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #11, Never Fear The Rami Levy WC

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #10, At Least There were Toilet-paper and Soap

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #9, Watch Out for Peep Holes!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #8, Kupot Cholim to The Rescue!

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #7 A Supermarket to Avoid. Plus WC Tips

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #6, Bring Your Own Paper

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #5, Mamilla Mall Where Modern Stinks

Don't Be Afraid, A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #4

Historic Jerusalem Building, A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #3

A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #2 

A Pisher's Guide to Jerusalem #1

Bus Changes, Again, Finding a New "Pit Stop"

Pishers' Guide to Ariel #2 Conveniently Close to University & Bus Stops

Besides my entire Pishers' Guide series, I reviewed the Super Sol Deal loo here.

On the street level floor of the mall across from Ariel University, where you'll also find a drug store, bakery, FOX Home, Super Sol Deal, Tamnun, Golda Ice Cream and lots of other stores, there are public toilets. One is "regular" unisex, and the other is "handicapped," meaning the door is wider, room larger etc. according to standards.

Everything was pleasant smelling and clean. There was toilet paper, soap, paper towels and a ritual hand washing cup.

I was there just after 7:30am Friday morning before catching my ride to a Jerusalem "Big Blue" Lions football game. It's a good thing I found that WC, because there wasn't any proper public toilet at the field in Ramat Hasharon. 

This shopping area is just a short walk to the bus stop to Shiloh/Jerusalem, which is also a popular trempiada, place to get rides.

It's always nice to be able to discover well cared for public toilets.

Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem #33, New Public Toilets Downtown

This is a continuation in my ongoing series about public toilets in Jerusalem. See #32,  #31, #30, #29, #28, #27, #26, #25, #24,  #23, #22, #21, #20, #19, #18, #17, #16, #15a, #15, #14, #13, #12, #11, #10, #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, Saved by The First Station aka #4a, #4, #3, #2 and #1.

I was happily surprised to discover a new prefabricated public toilet building on Rechov Yaffo near Kikar Davidka. That area has long been in need of a WC 00 or whatever you want to call it.

Though I wasn't in need of the facilities, this intrepid journalist bravely opened the door to the "ladies room." After I recovered from the strong smell of urine plus, I quickly surveyed and photographed it.

Thankfully, there was lots of soap in the dispenser, and I could even see toilet paper. Obviously, whoever is supposed to be cleaning it should arrive to work more frequently and with sanitizing detergent. But if one is in need of such facilities, soap and toilet paper are definite necessities. 

I was rather surprised and upset to see that the handicapped stall is part of the men's room. If a woman is in need, she'd have to have someone with her to make sure no urinal or man is there. There should have been a third door, special for the handicapped stall.

It's possible that placing the handicapped in the men's section was because the area of land is too small for a larger prefabricated public toilet. If that is the case, then I'd have preferred a "unisex" public toilet like the one in the First Station. Men and women use it, and there's a handicapped stall. Of course there isn't a urinal, which shouldn't be a problem, since homes don't have them.

Again, I'd like to thank the Jerusalem Municipality for adding these public toilets to an area of downtown Jerusalem, which had been needing them.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know, thanks.

Pishers' Guide to... Ariel Mall!

Just because I was in Ariel, didn't mean that I couldn't try out  and review their public toilets. The Ariel Mall aka Rami Levy Mall is at the "other end" of Ariel, not near the university. It's two floors, mostly outdoor, partially covered, and the two floors are connected by stairs, escalators and an elevator. Besides the large Rami Levy Discount supermarket, there are a great variety of stores, larger ones on the ground floor level and smaller ones upstairs. There are a number of strictly kosher restaurants, too.

I was there to have the phone store see if my smartphone could be repaired.  While waiting for the store to open, I checked out the facilities, aka WC, 00, yes the public toilet. Yes, I followed the signs, no smells.

They seem to be kept clean.  There are two stalls, one regular, for men or women. And the other is handicapped, which is set up according to Israeli standards.  See the bottom photo.


There were soap and toilet paper, too. Of course I was there pretty early in the morning, before most of the stores had opened. But in my experience, Rami Levy is pretty good when it comes to WC upkeep in his supermarkets.

handicapped facilities

I enjoy giving a good report, though my phone couldn't be fixed.