Holy City

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Jerusalem is a very spiritual place, where religions from all around the world meet and share a common interest in the holy land. you sense a wierd tension in the air, and some people even fall into what they call "Jerusalem Syndrome", where they get overwelmed by the spritualness of the place and find their whole life adopts a new direction inline with their calling from God. I loved it. not only are there people from all over the world and a lot of history and culture and things happening... but it's a beautiful city built entirely out of Limestone blocks(its law) so even the new buildings look like they'd fit into any scene from a biblical movie. everyone seems to be in a good mood too, which is always nice. I couple of weeks for Israel is not enough, if you come - bring lots of money and try and stay for a month atleast. it will welcome you with open arms

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Photos

Muslims pray at the "Dome of the Rock"
this Islamic Mosque is built upon the foundaitions of King Herod's and King Sololmon's Temples inside the old city of Jerusalem. this was a s close as I could get because they're not keen on visiters during the holy month of Rammadan

the Western wall
they say that this is an origonal part of the wall of King Solomon's Temple, and so it attracts religous Jews from all over the world who come and pray in front of it.

Torah Scrolls ritual at the Western wall
because I was here during all the Jewish festivals, I got to see all sorts of Jewish rituals

view of the "Dome of the Rock" over the Western wall

Jewish lesson
I met this Rabbai who was on his way to give a class explaining the history of "Succot", and he invited me to join. real nice guy, and they all said I could come back for another class but I never found the school again - doh!

Palestinians play Backgammon
in the Arabic quarter

kids learn young in the Arabic quarter
they love their guns. every other night you'll hear spiratic bursts of gunfire echoeing into the night from the Arab neighbourhoods, because they shoot their guns off into the air as part of the celebrations for weddings.

tough job
Buddie has to sell bread all day, but he cant eat any of it untill the sun goes down because the holy month of Rammadan, and they're forbidden to eat, drink, smoke, have sex or do anything during the day

fruit market
most of the Arabic quarter of old city Jerusalem is made up of markets.

me outside the city walls
that shirt I'm wearing, was given to me by a Christian Palestinian in the Arabic quarter, who thought I looked too hot in my long sleeved shirt. praise the lord!! :)

breath of fresh air
it was nice to get out of the city the next day, when the guy at the end from my hostel took me along with some of his buddies to a secret pool up in the hills not far from Jerusalem.

holy water
well it felt like it that day. it was so hot that swimming in this pool actually felt like a holy experience.

shortcut through the West Bank
I wanted to get up north for a friend Amy's Baptism in the Galilee, but since there was no bus services on the Sabbath I thought I'd take a short cut through the West Bank.

good start
these kids saved me from the "full sh*t" guys who were trying to bunddle me into their taxi vans and showed me through this gap in the wall. on the other side I found a ligit van thing that took me into the heart of Ramallah