Feet On Ancient Ground: Jerusalem

Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

(Don here) This was the most packed day of the cruise. The guided tour on this day took ten hours, and involved much walking on uneven surfaces, awkward stairs that were difficult to climb or descend, and on a couple of occasions climbing through small openings. In addition, these were the most popular attractions, so we were always in a sea of people. One of the challenges was keeping track of our tour guide, so we wouldn’t get separated and lost. The tour guides carried various forms of signs, and Viking tours also used ‘Quiet Vox’ systems, where the tour guide had a transmitter, and each of us had receivers and head sets, so we could hear the guide easily. A nifty system. The guide did not have to yell and we could all hear. The challenge again is to pick a reasonable number of pictures to represent what we saw. We saw so many things, and often at a fast pace. We’ll do our best.

We arrived in Jerusalem’s port of Ashdod early in the morning.

Looking from our balcony

Following an early breakfast, we boarded a bus for Jerusalem, which took about an hour.

We took a WC (water closet) break before going into the city at the "Elvis American Diner"

Jerusalem is a big city and all of the buildings are made of limestone giving the city a white sheen.

The hillside is filled with Jewish graves.

We drove to the Mount of Olives, a mountain ridge east of and adjacent to Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive groves that once covered its slopes. It gives a view of the walled old city. The golden dome is the Church called the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City. It was initially completed in 691. It is a shrine that contains the Foundation Stone that marks the spot where it is believed Muhammad ascended into heaven. On the hillside we walked by the Garden of Gethsemane.

Monks were tending the garden.

Olive trees gain beauty with age and some of there are believed to be 2,000 years old.

Next we visited the Church of All Nations, near the foot of the Mount of Olives. It is built over the rock where Jesus is believed to have prayed before he was crucified.

A beautiful fresco adorns the front

And a beautiful dome is inside

We went through metal detectors when we went into the Old City

Once inside we went to The Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. We encountered a group of Jewish youths there. Not sure what their activity was about. The Wall has a ‘women’s’ and a ‘men’s’ side. I went to the men’s side, put on a complimentary Yamaka, and walked down to the wall. I found touching the wall to be a strong emotional experience for me. This wall dates back to near the birth of Christ. Millions of hands have touched it. People doing so pour out their emotions with their prayers and wishes. Cracks in the wall are filled with hand-written prayers. I silently wished for PEACE.

The men had a much larger portion of the wall then the women

The Western Wall is all that remains of the ancient Jewish Temple destroyed by Rome in 70 AD. It is considered by some to be the holiest place in Judaism.

We then walked along the narrow streets of the old city. We walked along the very crowded Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows), the road Jesus walked bearing the cross, toward the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. These streets are filled with little shops selling souvenirs. Markers identified nine Stations of the Cross, each focusing on an event in Jesus’s last day before his crucifixion.

Jerusalem is split into four sections and many of the Christian sites, including the Via Dolorosa, are in the Muslim section.

Our guide points out one of the markers for Stations of the Cross.

We finally reach the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The little ladder below the window has been there for years because a 1852 rule still stands that nothing in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre can be altered without the consent of each of the churches represented there agreeing. The Roman Catholics, the Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Apostolic are the three biggest groups, and they often are in competition more than agreement.

Pilgrims and tourists pour into the church

The Stone of Anointing is believed to be the stone on which Jesus's body lay to be anointed prior to burial. It is believed that prayers are answered and items are made holy by placing them on the stone.