Thursday – October 12, 2017
Today was my day to explore Jerusalem on my own! I wanted to visit the Armenian Quarter in the Old City, so I set off walking down the hill from the Dan Boutique Hotel along King David Street. I passed the Montefiore Windmill built in 1857. It’s a small museum today.
I also saw the Lion’s Fountain in Bloomfield Garden which symbolizes peaceful coexistence between the many diverse populations of Jerusalem. Designed in 1989 the sculpture features the Tree of Life in the center with a dove on top, surrounded by lions.
Further down the street was the Jerusalem International YMCA built in 1924. It is an Art-Deco historic building designed by Arthur L. Harmon, who also designed the Empire State Building.
Rafi had told us about emergency scooters which are called as first responders to accidents or other emergencies when ambulances aren’t fast enough to get through heavy traffic. I saw one outside the King David Hotel. Great idea!
I turned right onto Yitzhak Kariv Street and I could see the walls of the Old City and King David’s Tower.
“Jaffa Gate” is more of an large opening in the wall big enough to allow cars and many people to enter the Old City, rather than a “gate.”
As I walked through Jaffa Gate I felt like I was in a medieval European city. There’s a small hotel on the left of the gate. Further on there are cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops, and many people.
I remembered the location of the Armenian Quarter from our previous walk in the ancient city. I stopped into one of the ceramic shops and asked for directions to St. James Church. The soft-spoken woman was very helpful but I learned that the church is only open from 6:30-7:00AM and 3:30-4:00PM.
I went across the street to the seminary and spoke to the guard. He accompanied me into the peaceful garden and showed me the beautiful stone “khachkars.” These are large Armenian memorial stones carved in the shape of a cross.
The seven khachkars were memorials which represented different regions of Turkey where the Armenian Genocide occurred in 1915. The second from the left was from Sebastia where my grandparents were born.
The poster in the photo above shows a map of Turkey with red dots representing the number of Armenians massacred or deported from specific areas. Sebastia is the largest red circle on the map.
I wanted to see the interior of St. James Armenian Church, so I had to wait a couple hours. I decided to explore the Old City of Jerusalem. I walked through the Jewish Quarter but it was mainly closed due to the holiday of Sukkoth. I continued on to the Muslim Quarter. Despite the labyrinth of narrow streets, the Old City is easy and fun to explore.
I walked all the way to the Christian Quarter and followed signs to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was not as crowded as it had been on my previous visit, so I went in to take better photographs.
I was able to take a picture of the side of the marble shrine which holds the empty tomb and the front entrance. The line was a lot shorter than the previous day.
I walked back to St. James Armenian Church and waited just a few minutes for the priest to open the doors of the sanctuary. It was built in the 12th century and named for James, the brother of Jesus. I entered through the hand-carved portals with a few tourists and some local parishioners.
The interior was incredibly beautiful. The sanctuary had no electricity and was illuminated by the many lanterns which hung from the ceiling. Ancient paintings depicting early Christian scenes decorated the walls. Beautiful Armenian carpets covered the marble floors.
At exactly 3:30 one of the priests read the bible from an elevated booth. Afterwards, several Armenian Bishops, priests, and a dozen seminarians processed into the sanctuary and performed the service. The seminarians chanted and sang religious songs and prayers, their voices resonated throughout the church.
It was incredible to experience a service at St. James Church. I happily went back out into the brilliant Jerusalem sunlight and walked back to the Dan Hotel.
Another fantastic day in Israel!