Bright and early, at 9am, our tour guide Yaron showed up at the apartment. We first journeyed into the Old City, where parking is hard to come by. The grey van on the left is our van, and Mike is in the process of squeezing into a space. We were so close on the right side, that the passengers had to exit the car before it was parked.
Inside the city, we began walking through the Armenian and Jewish quarters. As my pictures a few weeks ago also revealed, the streets are often too narrow for vehicular traffic, and pedestrians dominate.
Flowers occasionally dotted the walls.
In the Jewish Quarter, I noticed several street signs were the Arabic translations had been vandalized. In many cases, the black graffiti had been removed, but in other cases, it remained.
As we walked toward Jaffa Gate, we passed by King David's Citadel, a fortress that was last occupied up until 1968, most recently by Jordan.
Kim and Humberto in front of Citadel
Flowers occasionally dotted the walls.
In the Jewish Quarter, I noticed several street signs were the Arabic translations had been vandalized. In many cases, the black graffiti had been removed, but in other cases, it remained.
As we walked toward Jaffa Gate, we passed by King David's Citadel, a fortress that was last occupied up until 1968, most recently by Jordan.
Kim and Humberto in front of Citadel
We exited through a breach in the wall next to Jaffa gate. Jaffa gate is known as the kind of the "main entrance" to the city, especially for tourists. However, vehicular traffic actually travels through a breach in the wall that was created in 1898 to accomodate Emperor Wilhelm II. The true Jaffa gate is an L-shaped gate just to the left of the breach, and it is only open to pedestrians.
As we walked through the Old City, we spent some time walking through the shouk. The shouk, located in the Muslim quarter, is a series of alleyways forming a large and seemingly endless market. We were only in the shouk briefly before exiting to the roofs, but I did notice an interesting shop.
Didn't catch what was so interesting? Pro-Palestinian apparel adjacent to Pro-Israeli apparel.
To get a new view of things, we headed up to the rooftops. The Old City is built in many layers; partially because it is so old, partially because it's been conquered, destroyed, and rebuilt so many times, partially because space is so tight. Above the market shops are homes, and above those homes, the rooftops are considered proper pedestrian thoroughfare.
We reentered the lower level, made silly faces to mimic a fountain, and then entered the Holy Sepulchre.
As we walked through the Old City, we spent some time walking through the shouk. The shouk, located in the Muslim quarter, is a series of alleyways forming a large and seemingly endless market. We were only in the shouk briefly before exiting to the roofs, but I did notice an interesting shop.
Didn't catch what was so interesting? Pro-Palestinian apparel adjacent to Pro-Israeli apparel.
To get a new view of things, we headed up to the rooftops. The Old City is built in many layers; partially because it is so old, partially because it's been conquered, destroyed, and rebuilt so many times, partially because space is so tight. Above the market shops are homes, and above those homes, the rooftops are considered proper pedestrian thoroughfare.
We reentered the lower level, made silly faces to mimic a fountain, and then entered the Holy Sepulchre.
The Holy Sepulchre aka The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, aka The Church of Resurrection supposedly marks the site where Jesus was crucified and buried. (Sepulchre means 'burial chamber'). The Church itself was built around 325 AD or so, and has been deconstructed and reconstructed to various degrees since then. Currently, it houses a variety of Christian sects, including: Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic.
We entered, and immediately happened upon the 13th Station of the Cross, the Stone of Annointing, the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial.
(I had heard about the "stations of the cross" before, but never knew anything about them. Going to the Holy Sepulchre, combined with Wikipedia, provides the wonderful information related here...)
We then wandered up the stairs to the 11th station of the cross, the Nailing of the Cross. This site is maintained by the Roman Catholics.
Immediately adjacent is the 12th station, the Rock of the Calvary. It is maintained by the Greeks and supposedly contains the rock where the cross was raised.
[stuff i will fill in in the future.]
After leaving the Old City, we headed up to the Mount of Olives. I've mentioned previously that the Mount of Olives is mostly a massive cemetery, because in both Judaism and Christianity, when the Messiah comes/returns, he will resurrect the dead, beginning at the Mount of Olives.
Our tour guide took us to a restaurant at the top of the mount with an amazing atmosphere. (And according to Yaron, it has been in the same family for 300-400 years.) We sat around low tables, and enjoyed a large meal that left no one hungry.
[stuff I will fill in, in the future]
We returned to the Old City a little after 5pm to visit the Western Wall. The Western Wall is an ancient wall that forms part of the western side of the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount contains a site known as קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים or the "holy of holies", the most sacred site in Judaism. The Western Wall is the only remaining wall of the Second Temple, which was destroyed in 70.
The wall is separated into a men's and women's section. Women to the right, men to the left. To the right I went. A bookshelf full of Hebrew prayer books stood near the wall, and chairs were provided as well. Women recited or read prayers. Some swayed back and forth, some placed their hands on the wall, some wept.
There is a tradition of placing prayers in the cracks of the Western Wall, thus the papers just in front of the wall, as above, and the papers in the cracks, as below.
Next Post: That Time We Had A FREEEEEE Day?!?!?
We entered, and immediately happened upon the 13th Station of the Cross, the Stone of Annointing, the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial.
(I had heard about the "stations of the cross" before, but never knew anything about them. Going to the Holy Sepulchre, combined with Wikipedia, provides the wonderful information related here...)
We then wandered up the stairs to the 11th station of the cross, the Nailing of the Cross. This site is maintained by the Roman Catholics.
Immediately adjacent is the 12th station, the Rock of the Calvary. It is maintained by the Greeks and supposedly contains the rock where the cross was raised.
[stuff i will fill in in the future.]
After leaving the Old City, we headed up to the Mount of Olives. I've mentioned previously that the Mount of Olives is mostly a massive cemetery, because in both Judaism and Christianity, when the Messiah comes/returns, he will resurrect the dead, beginning at the Mount of Olives.
Our tour guide took us to a restaurant at the top of the mount with an amazing atmosphere. (And according to Yaron, it has been in the same family for 300-400 years.) We sat around low tables, and enjoyed a large meal that left no one hungry.
Post-lunch, we went to Pater Noster, a convent which has the Lord's Prayer in 1442 languages/dialects. We walked through the gardens which held a small fraction of those languages written on tiles.
like... Greek
like... Greek
JAVAnese
and GUJARATI!!! (Seema's language!)
and GUJARATI!!! (Seema's language!)
[stuff I will fill in, in the future]
We returned to the Old City a little after 5pm to visit the Western Wall. The Western Wall is an ancient wall that forms part of the western side of the Temple Mount. The Temple Mount contains a site known as קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים or the "holy of holies", the most sacred site in Judaism. The Western Wall is the only remaining wall of the Second Temple, which was destroyed in 70.
The wall is separated into a men's and women's section. Women to the right, men to the left. To the right I went. A bookshelf full of Hebrew prayer books stood near the wall, and chairs were provided as well. Women recited or read prayers. Some swayed back and forth, some placed their hands on the wall, some wept.
There is a tradition of placing prayers in the cracks of the Western Wall, thus the papers just in front of the wall, as above, and the papers in the cracks, as below.
The top of the wall shows just how blue the sky is here. Ridiculous, eh?
We left the Western Wall, dropped of Yaron at a shuttle station, and returned to the parking lot near home. Everyone except Mike and I returned to the apartment. We returned to Mount of Olives to watch the sunset. It turned out to be a great decision for many reasons.
We left the Western Wall, dropped of Yaron at a shuttle station, and returned to the parking lot near home. Everyone except Mike and I returned to the apartment. We returned to Mount of Olives to watch the sunset. It turned out to be a great decision for many reasons.
1) CAMEL!!!
2) KITE RUNNER!!!
3) DESSERT FOLIAGE!!!
4) SUNSET!!!
Next Post: That Time We Had A FREEEEEE Day?!?!?
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