City of David

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Geo: 31.7738, 35.2252

We were up early for breakfast in the hotel and to continue our tour of Jerusalem. Zibet asked the hotel to give us all wake-up calls for 6:30 not taking any chances that someone would oversleep. She had everyone ready and on the bus by 8:00. We had a lot of places to go and had to be back at the ship by 2:30. During the night while we were at the hotel, the ship moved from Haifa south to the port at Ashdod. It is closer to Jerusalem—only an hour's drive away.

During the day today, we saw panoramic views of the new and old cities stopping at Mount Scopus for pictures. It is adjacent to the Mount of Olives, another place that was on the original itinerary, but changed because of terrorist activity there. We did see the Mount of Olives from the viewpoint and throughout the drive. We drove to Mount Zion to see where the Last Supper took place. "Tradition says" it was over the tomb of King David, but the room that is there now was added later to protect the site. The current building there was built long after the Last Supper.

Next, we walked back into the Old City entering through the Zion Gate. We walked down the Roman/Byzantine Cardo in the restored Jewish Quarter to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to see the last five Stations of the Cross, the route that Jesus took to his crucifixion. We did not follow the entire route for two reasons: part of it runs along the edge of the Muslim Quarter which Seabourn was not going into, and because we just did not have enough time for everything so we skipped to the end.

On the way to the church, we walked through a narrow market street lined with lots of tourist shops. Zibet took us to one shop that she recommended for fair pricing and honest dealers. We bought a few items to take to the church to be blessed.

The first Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built in 335 by Emperor Constantine on the site of the crucifixion. It was destroyed by the Persians in 614, then rebuilt and destroyed many times throughout the Crusades and the wars between Christians and Muslims. The current structure is in a Romanesque style with elements reflecting six Christian denominations: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Abyssinians, and Copts. Protestants do not believe it to be the spot of crucifixion, but believe that it is on a rocky hill just north of the Old City outside the city walls. There was a long line to get into the larger Orthodox section of the tomb. We went around to the head of the tomb which is controlled by the Copts and were able to see the tomb easily. The church is taken care of by a Muslim family that was selected so that none of the different Christian sects would have more control of the church than any of the others. Someone from that family unlocks the church every morning and secures it each evening.

The Stone of Unction, the place where Jesus' body was anointed, has a prominent position in the church. Zibek told us how to bless the icons we bought as souvenirs there. You place the items on the stone and kneel and say a prayer and kiss the stone, if you like. It's okay to take a photo of the items, too.

Continuing, we walked farther through the Christian quarter and the bazaar to the Jaffa Gate to go back into the Old City. We visited the Davidson Center and the Jerusalem Archaeological Park and walked around the temple grounds more. From where we were and from most any point on the tour, we could see the Temple Mount capped by the Dome of the Rock.

After walking and walking and going up and down hills and stairs (my Fitbit says over 20,000 steps and over 200 stairs), we went into the Armenian quarter for lunch. Other groups from Seabourn, some doing the same tour we did and some doing different ones, were there at the same restaurant at the same time. Full and somewhat rested, we got back on the bus for the one-hour drive to the port.

This overnight tour turned out to be a good choice. It is such a long distance from the ports to the historical and religious areas of Israel. Making only one round trip rather than doing that on both days allowed us to use the time most efficiently. Seeing the Western Wall after dark, was especially nice.

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Photos

Beautiful Window in the Room of the Last Supper
During the 16th century the room was used as a mosque and the windows altered.

Temple
The four cubicles along the wall are thought to be where the money changers worked. As people would come to the temple from all around, they needed to get some local currency. Men would be here to change their money. It is believed that this is where Jesus threw the money changers out of the temple.