Jerusalem: Roman Cardo

The Roman main street beneath the Old City. The Cardo was rebuilt after the Jewish revolts and extended by Byzantine emperors. Today, you can walk the excavated colonnaded street, shop in ancient vaults, and feel Jerusalem's layers of history.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Stand on the Street That Erased a City History · Free

   The Cardo wasn't just a Roman road. It was a declaration that Jerusalem no longer existed.

   Where: The excavated open-air section of the Cardo Maximus in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter. Enter from Chabad Street or HaYehudim Street — you'll descend about 2.5 meters below modern street level. Open daily except Saturdays. Free admission.

   What: In 135 AD, after crushing the Bar Kokhba revolt, Emperor Hadrian did something unprecedented in Roman history: he didn't just conquer Jerusalem — he erased it. He renamed the city Aelia Capitolina. He renamed the province Syria Palaestina. He forbade Jews from entering on pain of death (they were permitted one day per year — Tisha B'Av — to weep at the ruins). He built a Temple to Jupiter directly over the site of the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount. And he bulldozed the streets and laid a new Roman grid. The Cardo you're standing on right now is the backbone of that grid — the main north-south colonnaded street of a city designed to make the words 'Jerusalem' and 'Judea' disappear from the Roman world. By 398 AD, Saint Jerome confirmed an equestrian statue of Hadrian still stood "on the site of the Holy of Holies." For 260 years, a Roman emperor's horse stood over the holiest spot in Judaism. You're standing on the street that led there.

   How: Five original columns still stand to their full height — touch the stone. Look at the replica of the Madaba Map displayed at the site: a 6th-century Byzantine floor mosaic in Madaba, Jordan showed this exact street, and when archaeologist Nahman Avigad excavated here in 1969-1982, he found the Cardo precisely where the mosaic said it would be. A 1,400-year-old floor map proved accurate to the meter. The street was 22.5 meters wide — wider than a modern dual carriageway. Five of the original columns still stand. Walk the full excavated 150-meter stretch.

   Backup: If the covered shopping arcade section is closed (Saturdays), the open-air excavated section remains accessible. The columns and pavement sections are visible even from street level on Chabad Street.

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2. 2 Touch the Stone Rome Could Not Move History · Price: low

   Herod moved a block of limestone so massive that Roman engineers — who built the Colosseum — couldn't demolish it 90 years later.

   Where: Western Wall Tunnels, accessed via the Western Wall Heritage Foundation entrance at the Western Wall Plaza (31.7765°N, 35.2337°E). MUST be booked in advance — thekotel.org or call +972-2-627-1333. Cost: 38 NIS (~$10 USD). Tours run Sun-Thu 7:20am until late, Fri 7:20-12:00; ~90 minutes.

   What: In 19 BCE, Herod the Great needed to double the size of the Temple Mount platform to build the most magnificent Temple in the world. His engineers moved the Western Stone — a single block of limestone 13.6 meters long, 4 meters wide, weighing between 250 and 570 tons (estimates vary; the high estimate makes it the third-heaviest object ever moved by human hands without machinery). There is no mortar. No cement. No glue. The stones hold by gravity alone — interlocked courses of perfectly cut limestone supporting a platform that has stood for 2,044 years. When Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, his legions burned the Temple above. But the platform Herod built? Hadrian left it. The Romans didn't have better engineering. The platform still stands. The Temple is gone. The foundation that held the Temple is what remains — and the biggest stone in that foundation, the one that proved even Rome couldn't do better than Herod, is in the tunnel below the prayer plaza, north of Wilson's Arch.

   How: The guided tunnel tour passes directly alongside the Western Stone. Your guide will stop here. When they do, place your hand flat on the stone. The same stone Herod's workmen laid using wooden rollers and human muscle around 15 BCE. The Arch of Titus in Rome shows the Menorah that once stood roughly 70 meters east of where you're standing. The Menorah went to Rome. The stone stayed.

   Backup: If tunnel tours are fully booked, the open-air Western Wall plaza shows the top courses of Herod's retaining wall. Less dramatic but the same stones — and the plaza itself is free.

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3. 3 Hold the Coin That Proved Judean Wine Was Worth Conquering History · Price: moderate

   Rome minted gold, silver, and bronze coins for 25 years to commemorate one conquest. The image they chose was a weeping woman under a palm tree.

   Where: The Israel Museum, 11 Ruppin Blvd, Hakyria neighborhood, Jerusalem (31.7718°N, 35.2042°E). Hours: Sun/Mon/Wed/Thu 10am-5pm; Tue 4-9pm; Fri 10am-2pm; Sat 10am-5pm. Admission ~60 NIS adults (~$16 USD).

   What: After Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD, Emperor Vespasian launched a coin-minting campaign that lasted 25 years and outlasted three emperors (Vespasian, Titus, Domitian). The Judaea Capta coins — struck in gold, silver, and bronze at mints across the empire including in Judea itself — show a Jewish woman weeping at the base of a palm tree, sometimes with a bound captive, sometimes with Victoria holding a trophy of weapons. The inscription: IVDAEA CAPTA. 'Judea Captured.' Rome put this on its money for a quarter century. Think about what that means: of all Rome's conquests, this one needed 25 years of advertising. Judea was famous enough — for its agricultural wealth, its wine, its religious fanaticism, its sheer resistance — that the Flavian dynasty used it to legitimize their right to rule. The province that Rome had to mint coins about for 25 years is the same province whose wine you'll drink this afternoon, on the same slopes, 2,000 years later. The Israel Museum also houses the Pontius Pilate Stone — the ONLY archaeological artifact ever found bearing Pilate's name, discovered in 1961 in Caesarea. And the Holyland Model: a 1:50 scale reconstruction of Jerusalem in 66 AD, the city as it looked four years before Titus destroyed it.

   How: Ask at the entrance for the archaeology wing and the Second Temple period galleries. The Holyland Model is outdoors (look for the dome structure). The Pilate Stone is in the Archaeology Wing, early Roman period section. The Shrine of the Book (Dead Sea Scrolls) requires the main admission.

   Backup: If you cannot reach the Israel Museum (traffic, time), the Burnt House Museum in the Jewish Quarter (Tiferet Israel Street) contains the remains of a wealthy Jewish family's home destroyed in 70 AD — first-hand archaeology of the Roman destruction, 5 minutes from the Cardo.

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4. 4 Taste the Wine Rome Erased for 2,000 Years Wine · Price: moderate

   In 135 AD, Hadrian expelled the Jews and Judean wine vanished from history. In 1988, a Jerusalem restaurateur planted grapes in his backyard. This is what came back.

   Where: Jerusalem Wineries visitor center inside the Montefiore Windmill, Yemin Moshe neighborhood, Jerusalem (31.7732°N, 35.2262°E) — 10 minutes' walk west of the Jaffa Gate. Booking recommended, especially evenings. Check jerusalemwineries.co.il.

   What: The Judean Hills wine story is the longest interrupted story in wine history. Ancient limestone wine presses carved into rock litter the slopes around Jerusalem — archaeologists date some to the Iron Age, 2,600 years ago. Roman-era wine presses are everywhere in the hills you drove through to get here. Pliny and Athenaeus praised Judean wine; the Romans traded it across the empire. Then in 135 AD, Hadrian expelled the Jews, and Judean wine ceased to exist as a commercial entity. For nearly 2,000 years — through Byzantine, Arab, Crusader, Ottoman, and British rule — these slopes produced nothing of note. Then in 1988, Eli Ben Zaken, a Jerusalem restaurateur with no winemaking training, planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in his backyard at Moshav Ramat Raziel, 20 minutes from where you're standing. His first proper vintage: Castel Grand Vin 1992. Today Domaine du Castel produces 100,000 bottles a year and is considered one of Israel's finest wineries. Tzora Vineyards, 30 minutes from the Cardo, grows its 'Shoresh' wine on the ancient stone terraces of the Shoresh vineyard. The Judean Hills Blanc from Tzora (Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc) has received 90+ points from Wine Spectator. This is what Hadrian tried to erase. Here at the Montefiore Windmill, with the walls of the Old City glowing in front of you, you're drinking the wine that came back.

   How: Order the 6-wine tasting flight for the full range. Ask specifically for a Judean Hills red and white side-by-side to compare. The cheese and bread platter is standard. The windmill terrace faces the Old City — time it for late afternoon light on the walls. The tasting includes the winery's production story and the history of Israeli wine.

   Backup: B'Shaarayich restaurant at 64 Chabad Street in the Jewish Quarter (directly overlooking the Cardo excavation) offers a wine list with Judean Hills producers — dairy menu. You can drink Castel or Tzora wine with the Roman columns 5 meters below your table.

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5. 5 Drive the Slopes That Pliny Wrote About Adventure · Price: high · Optional

   The ancient wine presses are still there. The same limestone terraces. Same southwestern-facing slopes. This is not a metaphor — the geology is identical.

   Where: Tzora Vineyards, Kibbutz Tzora, off Route 38, ~20km southwest of Jerusalem (31.6745°N, 34.9876°E). Drive time: 25-30 minutes from the Old City. Hours: Sun-Thu 10am-4pm, Fri 9am-2pm. By appointment only — book via tzoravineyards.com or +972-2-990-8261.

   What: As you drive Route 38 from Jerusalem into the Judean Hills, you pass through the same landscape that Roman legions marched through in 70 AD on their way to besiege Jerusalem. The southwestern-facing limestone slopes — ancient terraces carved by hand into the hillsides — have been farmed for wine production on and off for 5,000 years. Tzora's 'Shoresh' vineyard sits on these ancient terraces at elevation; the winemakers will show you the shallow, rocky soil where vines struggle for nutrition and produce concentrated, complex fruit. Their Shoresh Red (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc) and Shoresh Blanc (Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc) are direct heirs to the wines Rome minted coins to celebrate stealing. The guided tasting — 4 wines, artisanal cheese, fresh bread, olive oil — takes place at the winery overlooking the vines. Ask them to show you the ancient wine press near the vineyard. It's there. They know where it is.

   How: Rent a car or take a tour taxi from Jerusalem. The appointment-only system means you'll have a guide's full attention. The drive itself (Jerusalem to Kibbutz Tzora via Route 1 then Route 38) passes through the Sorek Valley — this exact valley appears in the Samson stories in the Book of Judges. Pair the tasting with the historical context from the Cardo and Western Wall Tunnels visited earlier in the day: the coins, the erasure, the 2,000-year gap, and now the living wine.

   Backup: Domaine du Castel in Moshav Ramat Raziel is even closer to Jerusalem (15-20 min, GPS: 31.7860°N, 35.0680°E) and is also family-run and bookable. Eli Ben Zaken's family still run it. The Grand Vin is their flagship — Cabernet-dominant, age-worthy, internationally awarded.

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