It's mine, no mine, I take it, get out ... the story of Jerusalem

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There are many scary stories of people sitting in their underwear at the Israeli border for hours while being interviewed by the Israeli border guards. Luckily (or unfortunately as it would have been a great story) our Egypt - Israel border crossing was quite uneventful. I was asked lots of question (why do you want to come to Israel. Incorrect answer: to support the Palestinians, where do you live? Why do you live there? Do you want to work in Israel? Is this your girlfriend?) by a rather young Israeli woman behind the desk. She gave me the dreaded Israel stamp once she was satisfied that I am not an Arab trying to blow up the country or even worse want to illegally work in Israel. The Israeli entry stamp is dreaded (commonly known as Israeli stamp stigma) by most travelers. Once in your passport this stamp prevents you from entering many Arabic countries in the Middle East as they (lets put it bluntly) hate Israel. Luckily my passport will expire soon so I wasn't that worried. Kellie also got the stamp once she explained where she met me. That was all she was asked. I can just assume that the young lady wants to be invited to the same party next time 😉

Jerusalem must be by far the most holy and at the same time most disputed city in the whole world. It is the holiest place for the Jews, Christians and is also a very important place for Muslims. It was in many hands over the centuries but belongs to Israel since 1967 when it got "liberated" by them. That really didn't help with the relations with the Arab neighbours and the whole situation is rather complex and I could spend hours going into this. Lucky for you that I wont.

Jerusalem also happens to have a fantastically preserved old town, which must be one of the best I have ever seen. Scrooges as we are we joined a free city tour which gave us a first taste. The "original" Jerusalem was founded by King David a mere 3000 years ago albeit at a different location not very far from the current one. The "new" old town was build by the Romans and then later extended by the following generations and occupiers/owners. It is divided into the Armenian, Jewish, Christian and Muslim quarters. Quite astonishingly they do not try to kill each other on a daily basis but live rather peacefully next to each other (for now). The Jewish quarter was razed to the ground during the Jordanian occupation (as it is called in Israeli speak), which was a shame and an opportunity in one. As everything was destroyed they started to dig down a bit and did serious archaeological digs which uncovered some amazing ruins and also proved some stories in the bible to be true.

The three most famous icons of Jerusalem would be the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the Via Dolorosa. The Western Wall is sacred to the Jews and they come here to pray. The location is a bit delicate as the western wall is actually a wall belonging to the mount on which the Dome of the Rock stands. This is not a coincidence as before the Muslims built their Dome the Jewish build two temples there. Those temples are considered the most sacred buildings as it is supposed to be the place on which Isaac was asked to sacrifice his son for god. Both temples were destroyed over 2000 years ago then the place lay in ruins for hundreds of years before the Muslims build their dome.
The Muslims believe that Mohamed went to heaven from this place (on his horse with a human head!) to negotiate with God the terms on how humans would pray to him. He obviously wasn’t very good at negotiating (not like his modern fellows) and they now have to pray 5 times a day. Some of the very religious Jews propose to tear down the Dome and build the Third Temple instead. This would be important as the Old Testament says that the messiah’s returns when the temple stands. Razing the Dome and building the Temple would however most likely cause the third world war. I think we can wait a little bit longer for the messiahs if that doesn't mean war between Israel and the rest of the Muslim world.

The Christians keep out of this hassle around the temple mount and have their most important site in the Via Dolorosa. The Via Dolorosa is a series of alleyways, which are supposed to be the original route Christ took from being sentenced to the place where he died on the cross (so the legend goes). Apparently there is some truth to it as some archaeological digs in the Church which was build over his supposed crucifixion place and the cave in which he was buried showed that this site was in fact used for crucification during Roman times.

There are heaps more places in this city which are holy to the three religions and sometimes they share the same place. There are two places where the last supper happened and the place depends on if you believe the Catholics/Orthodox or the Protestants. Anyway way too much to list and you must be bored by now anyway.

The Tower of David is part of the wall around Jerusalem, which has been build by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1500, but parts of it have been around for a lot longer. This is the story of a lot in Jerusalem. It was conquered and everyone tore down and rebuilt sections of it while still using what was lying around. The first structure of the tower was build over 2700 years ago. Then King Herod extended it in 37 BC, then it was razed by the Romans, rebuild by the Muslims in 699, extended again in 1099 by the crusaders and so on. Now it houses a very interesting Museum, which explains the History of the country from 1000BC to the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. More to stuff into an already full brain.

Another interesting but a lot more depressing museum is the Holocaust museum. It is very well done and if anything is wrong with it then it’s that it contains too much information. We spend 5 hours walking through it and listening to our audio guide. Quite depressing.

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Photos

Me and Jesus touched this stone
Apparently Jesus placed his hand at this exact location and this stone when he needed to rest while carrying the cross. He must have been a tall guy as I needed to stretch a bit

Western Wall
The western Wall is longer than the piece you always see on TV. This one is inside a tunnel

Room of the last supper
If you believe the Catholics and orthodox Christians. The protestants have a different location. The only problem is that the building was build long after. Also note the alcove in the middle of the room. This is a feature of every mosque which is not surprising as it was a mosque at one time

Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The ladder stood in this place for over a century as the different Christian sects which share the church could not agree on what to do with it...

Soldiers
Are everywhere. These ones are just on a field trip to learn more about Jerusalem but they have to carry their gun at all times... even in the bus

Dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Which was build over the alleged site where jests ws put on the cross and was buried

Sweets
A kids dream

Beer!
Finally good German and Belgium beer. The happy hour lasted from 4-9...

View over old Jerusalem
You can see the golden dome of the Dome of the Rock from which Mohamed sprung to heaven to negotiate terms with God

Nice Church
Build by the German Kaiser Wilhelm

Bullet holes in one of the gates
From one of the many wars in the last few centuries. The bullets were extracted and molded into a religious piece which is now attached to the gate