Day 9: Jerusalem

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October 4, 2009

We gained an extra hour of sleep last night as either Israel does not observe daylight savings or they set their clocks back last night. Either way, we were up in plenty of time to have a sit down breakfast and find our tour car with time to spare. Gill, our tour guide from Avitours, is in his 50s, served in the army in a special forces group like the green berets, is a part time volunteer police officer and is now a full time tour guide. He's a stocky guy with a beard and what we would learn to be a strange sense of humor. Everywhere we went he knew the folks and talked to them like he was running for office.

We had joined another group of four for our two day tour of Israel. The six of us plus Gill loaded us up into his nice new van and drove south from Haifa to Caesarera to view the ruins of the ancient Roman port. The drive down took about 30 minutes. The countryside didn't look much different than say central California. There was lots of agriculture and most everything grown right there that they needed.

Caesarera was fairly deserted when we arrived. We started in the amphitheater that is still in use today. Scott from our group climbed up on stage and sang twinkle twinkle little star to demonstrate the excellent acoustics in the place. With all the concrete around us, it was warming up quickly with little shade to be found. We checked out the former palace ruins and swimming pool by the ocean. We all hopped back in the van to be driven down to the other side of the town. Gill talked his way into the first of many situations to drive us down close to our destination.

We learned that most larger tourist spots in Israel start with a multimedia presentation. We saw a nice film on the history of the port and how it changed hands several times over the course of history. There were remains of an aqua duct as well that carried fresh water from the mountains 8 miles away to town. After our fill of all that Caesarera had to offer, we drove on down the coastal highway to Tel Aviv where we then turned to the east to head to Jerusalem.

Our first stop was Mount of Olives, a point high on a hill that overlooks the Old City. There was a news crew there as well and it seems this is the place that reporters like to stand when reporting live from Jerusalem. We got the story from Gill on how the walls of the city have moved and changed over the centuries. After getting hassled by the street vendors to buy stuff we don't need, like a 4 foot poster sized panoramic view of Jerusalem, we drove down the hill to walk into the city. Gill had to talk his way through a police barricade to get to where he wanted to park.

The Old City is divided into four quarters. We entered through a gate into the Armenian Quarter, which was very quiet. Our first destination was the Holy Sepulchre.Church that was constructed on the very spot Christ was crucified some 900 years later.To reach it, we cut through the Muslim Quarter but stopped at literally a hole in the wall place to chow down on some shwarmas. It was very busy but Gill butted up to the front to place our orders and secured a table for the entire group somehow. The food was incredibly fresh and very tasteful. We all enjoyed our lunch while making a bit of a mess on the floor.

Fully recharged now we pushed our way through the Muslim marketplace, which was quite busy due to this being a Jewish holiday. Upon reaching the church, our guide started to explain the history of it to us when the call for Muslim prayer started ringing out drowning our conversation. It seems that a mosque somehow gets built higher than any other nearby place of worship. Inside the church we saw the 11th and 12th Stations of the Cross and were able to kneel down, reach into a hole and actually touch the spot that Jesus' cross was placed and where he was crucified. In an area below this but still within the church were the 13th and 14th Stations of the Cross where his body was purified and where he was laid to rest.

Exiting the church, we proceeded to view most of the remaining Stations of the Cross in reverse order. Seems 9 and 10 are in a different church or holy building that is off limits to the general public. We saw eight through five in short order on the same street. Each spot is marked differently from the other and if you didn't have someone who knew where they were they could easily be missed. At one point, a large group of Italian speaking people carrying a cross passed through singing and reading verses from the Bible. Jerusalem can be a very emotional place for some folks.

After seeing the remaining stations except for the first one, which is in an all boys school or something these days, we hustled off to meet our appointment for the tunnel excavation tour adjacent to the Western or Wailing Wall. To reach the Jewish Quarter and the Wall, we had to pass through a metal detector and X-ray machine. The Western Wall is an amazing place. The area was full of families and all type of people. A curtain separated the areas of prayer for men and women. Our tunnel tour though showed us how far down the Western Wall actually goes, which is another six or so stories below the current street level. Along the tour, we passed the foundation stone where one can be the closest to the Holy of Holies. That area now though is under a Muslim mosque named the Dome of the Rock and off limits to all but those of Muslim faith.

It got dark while we were under ground and after coming up we headed for our hotel for a well deserved night's rest. Gill suggested a place to eat a late dinner that was a 10 to 15 minute walk from the hotel that his friend owns. Turned out to be a 30 minute walk but was pretty good. Judy and I opted to take a taxi back to the hotel for $10. There was a party up in the square just above our hotel, the Harmony Hotel. There was an eight year boy belting out the songs with a live band behind. In front, was a large circle of men singing and dancing as well. Seems men and women don't dance together in this crowd. A good time was being had by all. By now it was quite late and we called it a night.

Tomorrow we travel to the Dead Sea.

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Photos

Mount of Olives
Overlook of the Old City of Jerusalem