Day 7 - Jerusalem and Bethlehem

Jerusalem is the birthplace of 3 monotheist religions sitting on Mt. Moriah among the Judean hills.  To Jews it is the symbol of their past glories and the hope of the future.  To Christians it is the city of Jesus’ last ministry and to the Moslems it is the city where the Prophet Mohamed is believed to ascended to heaven.  Jerusalem has been besieged more than 50 times, conquered 36 times and destroyed 10 times. 

The second day started at 7:30 am by going to the Gethsemane Church and gardens.  Here Jesus spent his last night in Gethsemane praying (this was after the Last Supper which will be viewed later).  The Gethsemane Church was built in 1919-1924 by 16 different nations who contributed to the construction it is also knows as the “Church of All Nations”.  It is marked by a garden filled with olive trees which are back 1-2,000 yrs old.  Here we saw our first camel as depicted below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went then went to the Western Wall (which we viewed last night) and saw it in daylight.  At the Western Wall there is armed military at the security area to enter as this is one of the holiest areas of the Jewish World, revered as the relic of the last temple (Solomon’s second).These walls which are 21 miles in circumference and 40 ft. tall had 34 towers and 8 gates (New, Damascus, Herods, St.Stephens, Golden, Dung, Jaffa and Zion). 

 

 

People put prayer requests in the cracks in the Western Wall.  Below are pictures which were taken at night of this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Western Wall, we walked to the Old City of Jerusalem which is divided into 4 quarters – Muslim Christian, Jewish and Armenian.  The bazaars of each quarter are located underground and while I took some pics which you see below, I used the flip video camera to shoot the underground street scene.  The Jewish section contained a mosaic map of Madaba which was found in 1884 when the Greek Orthodox church was erected on the ruins of an earlier church.  The mosaic depicts the Tower of David, Holy Sepluckre church Mount Zion, the Damascus Gate and the Pillars of Cardo built by Hadrian.

 

 

 

Part of the 14 Stations of Christ (Via Dolorosa (“way of sorrows”) lie in this underground city area and are marked at each station.  We picked up the stations at number 5 and continued them through 14 where they ended in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is the most sacred place of Christianity, standing over Golgotha, the place of the Crucifixion and where the body of Jesus was laid.  This area was originally outside the walls of Jerusalem and moved inside in 44 AD,  In 135 AD Hadrian wanting to root out the Jewish and Christian religion destroyed the temple. The current church was restored by Helena, mother of Constantine in 1049 AD.  The church is divided between 6 Christian communities as decreed by the Turkish decree of 1852 One can touch the rock upon which the cross stood at Golgotha. 

 

 

 

 

The other holy place in near proximity is the gilt-plated Dome of the Rock which covers a slab of stone sacred to both the Muslim and Jewish religions as it was here Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son and from which, according to Islam tradition, the prophet Mohammed ascended into heaven.  It was constructed in 688-699 by a caliph anxious to have a structure paralleling the Holy Sepulchre.  Every Friday thousands of Muslims come to pray in the mosque.  Tourist hours have decreased of recent and the mosque is only open 2 hrs a day for tourists and we unfortunately were not able to visit the mosque.

Our next stop was at Mt. Zion where again holy sites exist for the different religions.  For Christians, David’s tomb and Jesus’ Last Supper are located here.  More recently Oskar Schindler grave is located here.  The Zion Gate is one of the 8 in the walls of Jerusalem.  The room where Jesus had his last supper (Coenaculum in Latin for dining room)  is viewed as the 4^th holiest site in Christianity and was the site of the first Christian church, rebuilt twice and most recently was renovated as a mosque. 

 

 

While there is much more to see in Jerusalem and the Old City, we went to Bethlehem located in the West Bank, 5 miles south of Jerusalem.  We had to pass through checkpoint and did not “sail” through this one as our guide, Orith, is an Israeli and Israelis are not allowed in the West Bank (unless they are a tour guide – it is for the Israelis safety).  Once we got through the checkpoint, a Palestinian guide (who is Christian) took over the tour.  We saw The Wall Israel constructed recently to protect themselves from attacks – the Wall has guard towers which make the area look like a large prison camp.  The atmosphere in the West Bank is very different than the other places we have been – bleak looking, lots of young people and adults hanging out in the streets.  The West Bank consists of 3 different areas and one can see villages as well as biblical cites galore.  Some of these areas are under Palestine Authority control and others under Israeli control. 

It is here in Bethlehem the birthplace of David that Mary and Joseph travelled to be registered as Mary was with child.  It is here that Jesus was born – more in a cave-live structure than a typical manger scene.  The caves were extensive allowing for multiple churches to be built on the caves and claim to be on top of the birthplace of Jesus.  We visited the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches and I went underground to view both of Jesus’ birthplaces.  The guides point out that it doesn’t matter if this is the exact spot of the biblical event or it is located within miles, it is the representation that counts. 

 

 

 



After a full day we drove the 2 hrs back to Haifa to catch our ship, passing through modern, vibrant Tel Aviv on the way back.  Thank God tomorrow is a sea day as we travel to the island of Crete.