Tunnels, Walls and Market Stalls

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Dear Blog Readers,



Alarm clocks were set and breakfast was chowed down to make it out of the hotel for 8am. The plan was to get to the Western Wall as early as we could in order to beat the queues to head up onto the Temple Mount above it - one of the most sacred place for Muslims and Jews in the world. For it was here that the large slab of rock under the golden Dome of the Rock is where Muslims believe Mohammed made his ascent and where Jews believe Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son.



Once we paved through the old city, we cut across the area of the Western Wall and were surprised to find no queues. The security guard there just shook his head and said, "Ramadan". Damn! After a lull of disappointment, we now had some time on our hands so we first went to the Western Wall. This is the closest point to the sacred rock above it and is essentially an open air synagogue. Many practicing Jews congregate the area and pray at the wall and it is separated by men and women areas. There was a real buzz in the area and one ceremony involved bringing out the scrolls. Some people write prayers on notes and push them into the cracks in the wall too.



We then headed towards Jaffa Gate and were some of the first people into the Citadel - a huge elevated palace overlooking the city built by Herod and incorrectly called the Tower of David (the Byzantines mistook the area for Mt Zion). We ended up getting in for free as a tour group was going in just as we were. The area was great, plenty of interesting rooms and a pleasant walk around the walls and ruins. The highlight was the amazing views across the new and old city from the top of the Tower.



We'd booked online to go on the tour of the Western Wall Tunnels. When these first opened a few years ago, the waiting list was months but now it is only a few days. The tour guide, as has been the case throughout out trip, was superb. The tour starts with an overview of the area which the tunnels sit under and the pinnacle is seeing the wall at its original street level having been excavated by archaeologists. The huge wall we had experienced earlier in the day was only about a third of the full height! Some of the foundation rocks are the size of a bus...made me think of Stonehenge.



Once finished, we got some lunch - Laura making a big claim that the chips she had with her chicken pitta were the best she'd ever had! We hopped onto the bus outside the old city and headed to the Israel Museum about 30 minutes away. To be honest, we could have spent an entire day here and still have things to see so we had to be selective. We first headed to the Ai Wei Wei exhibition which was fantastic. The Chinese activist artist has produced some thought provoking work on a grand scale - one of them had been in the turbine hall at the Tate Modern. We then had a look around the fine arts wing which had some great pieces by Picasso, Monet and Warhol. To finish the trip, we went on a free guided tour of the Jerusalem model and the dead sea scrolls. The tour guide was excellent and filled us in on the history of the city in front of a massive model that had been built. It was especially interesting having done the Western Wall earlier in the day. We were with an old American couple who were equally as fascinated. The guide said, "the British have a habit of excavating here and naming everything after themselves," I responded, "quite bloody right too!" Even the Americans laughed.



The Dead Sea scrolls are perhaps the museums's most famous artefact. Found accidently by a shepherd in a cave near the Dead Sea, inside some urns were the most historic written scripts of the Bible in ancient Hebrew. At the centre of an impressive building is one of the scrolls rolled out on display. It was fascinating and an amazing place to put such an historic document. Having the tour guide explain the ins and outs made it even more interesting.



Things took a sombre turn as I got the tram up to Mt Herzel overlooking the city and home to Yad Vadesh holocaust museum. As the Sun was setting, the sunlight shone through the prism like building which took you from the foundation's of anti-Semitism through to the end of the war. At the end was a spectacular room called the hall of names which the museum has tried to document everybody who had been killed. Upon leaving the museum, the Sun was just dipping below the hilltop on the horizon with amazing views which made it feel extra special.



We decided to have a nice meal out in the city centre which was a fitting end to an amazing holiday. Already agreeing we are coming back at some point in the future, our list of things to do so far is:


• Temple Mount
• Museum of Psalms
• Haifa
• Tsfat
• Music Museum
• Ruined Synagogue
• Massada
• Qumran


Looking forward to it already! Tink and Laura x

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