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Published: December 13th 2007
Hello everyone! I hope everyone is starting to get into the Christmas mood. I am getting in the mood in Jerusalem as all the lights are up and quite often groups of people burst into Christmas songs in the churches which is nice to hear.
Since writing last, I went to Mary's tomb which was really good. It was in a massive church and I had it (and the tomb) all to myself. It was next to the church of Getheme - which is where Jesus went to pray after the Last Supper and got arrested. Again I had that to myself and so that was good too. I then found the energy to walk up the biggest mountain in Jerusalem (Mt. Olive). Along the way I went to two more churches which were stunning (see picture).
The next day I went to Bethlehem. I got on a dodgy bus which dropped me (and two other tourists) far away from the centre. Luckily they let me share their taxi (and cakes), which took a detour to some important sites where Mary ran to with Jesus to hide from King Herod. We ended up at the Nativity Church - where
I saw the 'precise'' spot where Jesus was born and where he was laid in a manger. I then parted company with the tourists and took a wander around the town and visited more churches.
I went to the Garden Tomb the following day - which is an alternative site to where some people think Jesus was crucified/burried/resurected and spent the rest of the day going around the Old City with Eva (a lovely Australian tourist from my hostel) - and we saw the Wailing Wall and Jesus's tomb at the Holy Sepulchre.
We then both went to the Dead Sea the next day and luckily the weather was warm enough to tempt me to go in. I floated like Ive never floated before. It was so relaxing (and salty).
The weather was lovely and sunny on the following day so I revisited Mt. Olive and I managed to get closer to Temple Mount (Mosque) which was stunning (see picture). In the afternoon I visited Yad Vashem, which is a free Holocaust museum/memorial and it was a massive. It was presented really well and made me teary.
I then headed to Eilat at 6am and got
a bus to Taba - where I crossed back into Egypt and that went fine. I then had a long bus journey back to Cairo and arrived at 11pm. Since being back in Cairo, I have shopped for the first time since being away and that has been a lot of fun. And it hasnt just been looking at sovenirs, but looking at food. I found my first proper supermarket yesterday and I spent most of day there. In the evening, Ahmed (the hotel owner) bought me a Pizza and showed me around Heliopolis (the nice part of Cairo) which was great. I only have a few days left now and I plan to continue blobbing out. I cant wait to see you all!!
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The Benjies
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Such memories
You certainly will have some wonderful experiences to look back on. Was that legs we could see in the dead sea? We are knee deep in family history at the moment - such amazing discoveries. It is lovely for you to do such a trip at Christmas time. Are you going to do a presentation/film show at the Benjies when you get back. Happy birthday to the other Bobby today. Makes your Auntie J feel very old!!