Jerusalem day 1

Tour day 5 - 1st April

Our first full day in Jerusalem was wet and cold, so it was coats, scarves, and umbrellas at least for the first part of the day. We spent the morning in the Old City, entering at the Dung Gate - the gate closest to the Western Wall and the Jewish Quarter - and then following our tour guide through a rabbit warren of streets, passages and alleyways.

We walked through the Rabbinical Tunnels, dating back to the Second Temple period, including a Herodian water tunnel, paved road and quarry.

The “tunnels” aren’t really tunnels at all, but were originally streets and are now covered with vaulted arches.

Pavers from the Second Temple Period

At one point we were the closest we would get to the "Holy of Holies" - albeit beneath it - on the Temple Mount, that hotly contested little piece of real estate topped by the iconic gold dome. It was a little hard to get our bearings being under rather than above the ground.

Yakov pointed out the various levels of building as they related to the first and second temples and the Western (Wailing) Wall. Even though we were walking below ground and on the inside of the Wailing Wall, there were still little alcoves where people placed their prayer notes, and occasionally we saw people praying at the wall.

Next we followed Yakov into the grounds of the Church of Saint Anne, located at the start of the Via Dolorosa in the Muslim Quarter. The church, built in the 12th century over the grotto that was believed by the Crusaders to have been the childhood home of Mary, the mother of Jesus, boasts some pretty gardens. The stone interior of the church has exceptional acoustics, and apparently a visit is not complete without each group standing in front of the altar to sing for all those gathered. We chose the first verse of Amazing Grace. Our harmonies weren’t a patch on the previous group, but we did okay.

Down the steps we went for a quick peep into the grotto, then it was up and out into the cold again.

Within the grounds of this Roman Catholic Church are the Pools of Bethesda, and as we viewed the excavated pools from above, we read the passage from John 5 about Jesus healing the invalid of 38 years.

It was a game of “keep up”, with Yakov striding ahead and everyone else following quickly along, trying to keep this little Jewish man in our sights as he held his water bottle in the air amidst the sea of people!

Along the way we passed other significant sites, such as the Judgement Hall of Pilate, and several stations of the cross along the Via Dolorosa - those stops that commemorate the events during the torture, sentencing, carrying of the cross, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus (though the current Via Dolorosa is based on tradition rather than archeological evidence) - as we wove our way through the old city.

The Armenian Catholic Chapel at the site of the third Station of the Cross.

The Armenian Church of Our Lady of the Spasm, the fourth station, where tradition holds that Jesus
encountered his mother, Mary, and her unimaginable grief over his torture and execution

The Franciscan Chapel of Simon of Cyrene, marking station five, where Simon was
commanded to help Jesus carry His cross up the hill of Golgotha.

The ancient flagstones along the way were quite amazing too, and many of them would have dated from the time that Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem.

There was unexpected excitement too at one point, as Yakov got into an altercation with a man in the Muslim Quarter, who had asked him to move our group to the side. When Yakov asked him to “be quiet” (but we’re pretty sure that’s NOT the terminology he used here......) things got a little heated. There were raised voices, aggressive stances, lots of gesticulating and threatening gestures. We were all looking at each other, wondering how much further things were going to escalate, but Yakov wisely backed away and we moved on down the street. Phew!! It was easy to see the underlying tension between these two ethnic groups in such a hotly contested part of the world.

Our next stop was the Wailing Wall itself - men to the left, women to the right. There was a lot of barriers and hoardings up, apparently because of a visit by the President of Brazil, so it was difficult to get a real feel for how the area would normally look. The women’s area was quite small, very quiet, and somber. Apparently (so I’m told) the men’s side was quite celebratory, as there was a Bar Mitzvah taking place. As we waited to meet up with the men again, the gold Dome of the Rock could be seen peeping above the walls.

What she saw.......... the women's little section

Solitary woman, praying to the side

What he saw....... the men's area

Nope, I didn't get to see this view of the men's section of the Wailing Wall.
But I did get to take a photo of this lovely poster showing it at its busiest!!

The iconic gold Dome of the Rock, peeping tantalisingly above the walls, and probably the closest view we would get!

Outside we encountered another Bar Mitzvah celebration in the street, which was fun to watch. There were Orthodox Jews walking around, as you would expect, and it was tempting to try to photograph them, but unsure of the etiquette we tried to do so discreetly!!

Bar Mitzvah - let's celebrate!

Snapped discreetly from a good distance. Gotta love zoom!

Next up was a visit to the Archeological Museum, where we got to see the many layers of the Old City. Two of our group had worked here on the archeological dig in the 1970s, so it was a walk down memory lane for them, although the change in the area from then to now was dramatic. The enormous blocks used to build the walls of the old city could be clearly seen in this site, and we’d watched a short movie earlier that showed the methods used to move these massive blocks and lift them into place. Very impressive.

Among the collapsed stones was one, of which this is a replica, that bore a partial Hebrew inscription: "to the place of trumpeting to......". In the Second Temple days this stone probably marked the place at the top of the south-west corner of the Temple Mount, where the trumpeter would announce the inauguration and the close of the Sabbath.

View of the Mount of Olives, from the Old City

Out the Dung Gate again, and we waited for our driver on the steps to the old temple. Once again it was quite an experience to stand where Jesus quite likely would have stood at some point during his ministry years.

Our driver, Nidal, then took us up to the Mount of Olives, for the great view over the Old City. This is the hill to which Jesus retreated after he visited the temple at Passover.

View of the Old City, from the Mount of Olives, tombs and graves in the foreground

Our afternoon was spent at Genesis Land, outside of Jerusalem, and this turned out to be a lot better than anticipated. The lunch was quite late, but the food was authentic and amazing, our “Abraham” was an Aussie from Melbourne (what else?), and the whole experience - complete with camel rides for those who were keen - was lots of fun, learning about life in the time of the patriarchs. All in all the day was a great start to our 3 days in and around Jerusalem.

Looks friendly enough...............

Our Aussie Abraham!

Delicious Israeli cuisine, and plenty of it!