I took my kids up to Nazareth this last weekend. To be honest, as I headed for the back streets of the old market, I wasn’t expecting them to enjoy themselves too much. And as expected, the cheap clothes and shoes and scarves and fruit and sandwich bags and batteries, and even candies, passed them by as they held on tightly to my hand as we walked through the thronging mass of Saturday shoppers, the haunting wail of the muezzin’s call to prayer echoing down the market alleyways.
But with a vast array of kids toys on display (and cheap too!), they soon got into things. My three year old daughter settled on a poodle cum-fluffy handbag, while my four-and-a-half year old son went for a fishing magnet game. Happy as Larry they were. And after a couple of felafels they were really buzzing. The clincher was when they were handed some freebie promotional balloons for a local restaurant.
So, to let off some of that renowned Toddler Steam, I sent them off to chase each other in a forecourt of the Basilica of the Annunciation.
I think you can guess which of me or the kids had the better day out…
