The City of David, meaning, the actual city of Jerusalem from the time of King David, can be visited here. Take a left outside of Dung Gate,cross the street and make your first right and you will find yourself at the City of David Visitors Center. For years neglected, this gem of a hill was finally cleaned up, dug out and made presentable to the public at large several years ago and is now a national park. Sites include Area G which includes Jebusite fortifications conquered by King David,three to four thousand year old homes, homes from the First Temple period and city walls from the Second Temple and Byzantine periods.

Next you enter Warren's shaft, a water system that supplied the city's residents even during a siege; Beit HaMaayan,where one can see the ancient gate to the Jebusite city, and perhaps the location where King Solomon was anointed; and the Gihon spring and Hezekiah's water tunnel. This is where water for the Simhat Beit HaShoeva celebration was taken during Temple times.

The end of the water tunnel leads to the Shiloah Pool where Old City residents go to perform the Tashlich ceremony on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

As with the Moslem Quarter, the City of David housed a thriving Jewish neighborhood until the riots of 1929. Much of the land had been purchased by the JNF but following the riots and Jordanian rule, became filled with squatters. Over the past decade over 25 families have moved back into legally re-purchased properties, there is a synagogue,yeshiva and day care center on the premises and the neighborhood has a branch of the Jewish Quarter Community Center (as does the Jewish community in the Moslem Quarter) to help organize activities for the many children living there.

The award winning website www.cityofdavid.org.il will keep you up the date of the myriad finds in the park including biblical seals and the Palace of King David.

The Israel Antiquities Authority has a video tour of the City of David on theri site (in Hebrew) which is highly recommended: http://www.antiquities.org.il/IRD_movie_heb.asp