Gallivanting Grandma

Friday, October 13, 2017

We checked out of the Dan Boutique Hotel in Jerusalem and drove a short distance up and down hills  to the Mount of Olives.  We were on a hill opposite the wall surrounding the Old City and we had a great view across the valley.

We entered the Garden of Gethsemane and admired the ancient olive trees. Gethsemane means “oil press” in Hebrew.  This is one of four locations claiming to be the biblical place where Jesus prayed before the crucifixion. 

The Basilica is also known as the Church of All Nations because it was completed in 1924 with donations from different countries.  It was built on the foundations of two earlier churches from the 12th and 4th centuries.  The current church is known for its magnificent mosaic on the facade above the pillars.

The interior was awash in soft lavender light from stained glass windows.  A large rock in front of the altar is preserved as the place where Jesus prayed.  Arrangements of stones under an olive tree in the garden:

We drove out of Jerusalem and it was amazing how quickly the terrain changed from green trees to dry desert.

On our way south along the Jordan Valley, we stopped at a shop called Ahava, to stock up on lotions and other cosmetic products made of minerals from the Dead Sea.

We continued driving south to Masada.  This is the ancient fortification located on top of an isolated rock plateau, overlooking the Dead Sea.  In my photo below, which I took from the bus, you can see the zigzag walking trail (known as “the Snake Path”) on the side of the mountain.

There’s a cable car system which runs from ground level all the way up to the top providing spectacular views of the surrounding region.  We looked down on people walking up on the path.

The view is breathtaking across the Dead Sea and the mountains of Jordan on the other side.

We ascended and walked among the ruins of the hilltop fortress which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  King Herod the Great built the palace for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada in about 35 BC.  The model below shows what historians believe Masada was like during this period.

After the destruction of the Second temple in 70 AD, a group of Jewish rebels, called Sicarii, settled on the mountaintop.  Three years later, the Roman legion surrounded Masada.  They built a siege ramp against the western side of the plateau.  The Romans breached the wall of the fortress to find all the food storerooms set on fire and 960 dead people.  They had committed mass suicide or killed each other as a better alternative to being captured and enslaved by the Romans.

The Masada site is huge and it was very helpful to have Rafi describe and interpret the historical ruins.  Among the many buildings, there were two palaces, a swimming pool, bath houses, barracks, many storerooms, water cisterns, and residential areas.

We descended via the cable car and had lunch in the cafeteria at the tourist center at the base of Masada.  We drove to the Spa Club Dead Sea Hotel for the evening.

This is a resort area for tourists who want to bathe in the extremely salty waters of the Dead Sea.  The hotel was located along the beach and there were two pools for guests: one with salt water and the other with fresh water.  Many tourists are attracted to the Dead Sea for its health and healing properties.

I thought it was strange to see many people walking around the hotel in bath robes.

Wednesday – October 11, 2017

We drove slowly around the  wall of the Old City in rush hour traffic.  It was a glorious morning with a bright sun and cloudless sky.  Although my brain was focused on history and archeology, modern Jerusalem was always there reminding me that the city is vibrant, fresh and continuing to evolve and very contemporary.

The bus parked on the road under the silver-domed Al-Aqsa Mosque, on the southeastern side of the Old City, near the entrance to the City of David excavation site.  We began our tour high above the ruins overlooking a large Palestinian neighborhood.  The City of David is controversial for its location in the Arab territory and is seen as an attempt to establish an Israeli presence in East Jerusalem.

I remembered the geography of the site from our visit yesterday to the Israel Museum.  The Model of Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period showed buildings in this area.  The City of David is the walled strip of buildings leading down from the Temple Mount in the center of my photo below.

The biblical City of David is supposed to be the original ancient settlement in Jerusalem attributed to Judean kings.  Excavations have found shards of pottery and other early artifacts from about 4000 BC.  It is an important archaeological site which provides more historical information about the early development of Jerusalem.

After we climbed around the excavation site, we crossed a street to another dig which had been the former Giv’ati parking lot.  Among discoveries at this site was an ancient building believed to have been a first century palace, a hoard of 264 gold coins minted during the Byzantine period, and a Roman onyx cameo.

We walked carefully around the dig and entered the Central Drainage Canal which dates from the end of the 1st century BC.  This is an underground tunnel connecting the west side of the Temple Mount with Shiloah Pool (a ritual pool).

When Herod rebuilt and enlarged the Second Temple, this drainage facility was constructed to drain runoff rainwater.  Today, tourist can walk the entire 650 meter length of the tunnel.

The tunnel wasn’t too creepy, except for the damp moss-covered walls.  That’s Alon, the tour guide, behind me as we carefully walked through the tunnel.

The tunnel actually continued to the foundations of the Western Wall.  We recognized King Herod’s beautifully crafted blocks of stone.  A sign said the Wall was set on natural bedrock.

Surprise! Surprise!  I was surprised to recognize the location of where we were when we climbed the stairs up to ground level.  We were inside the wall of the Old City.   I remembered it from the model at the Israel Museum when I took photos of the Temple Mount.  Also, Rafi pointed out the arches on the model.

We were just under the Temple Mount facing another part of the Western Wall which was just beyond a high barricade.  Opposite was the modern Jewish Quarter.  

Notice the arches in the center of my photograph.  Today we were standing just under the Temple Mount wall near the place where the arches had been 2000 years ago.

There had been a wide walkway above the place we were standing to allow people, horses, and wagons access to the Temple.

Rafi explained details of the site and then we walked around the corner to the southern side of the Temple Mount wall.  As you can see from the silver dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, we were almost back to where we started this morning

A little further on and we came to the “Southern Steps” also known as the Ophel Ascent. This is a set of stairs which led into the temple and an open space with ritual baths where pilgrims entered the Temple Mount 2000 years ago.  Rafi said it was a holy place to some Christians.

We walked toward the modern Jewish Quarter and out through the Dung Gate and back to modern Jerusalem traffic.  We drove to Machaneh Yehuda Market for an interesting lunch.

Larry caught a ride on a small beer delivery truck near the market:

The market, also known as Mahane Yehuda or The Shuk, was established on Jaffa Road in 1887 and named after one of the founder’s brothers, Yehuda.

Most of our group had lunch with Rafi and Alon and then took the bus back to the hotel.  We had a free afternoon.  Doris, Ruth, Cathy and I stayed in the market to explore and have lunch on our own.  I love these outdoor markets, so this was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Many locals were shopping for the Sukkoth holiday.  We walked around the crowded market and explored the alleyways and interconnecting streets.  Ruth had several restaurant recommendations and we found one of them: Azura.   There was a long line but our patience was rewarded by a delicious lunch.

After lunch, we shopped for some munchies for a picnic supper tonight with our group members.  Then walked through the busy market back to the main street and back to our hotel.  It was a long walk and it took a while, but it was fun seeing modern Jerusalem on our own.

This had been another amazing day in Jerusalem!

Tuesday – October 10, 2017

I negotiated with a desk clerk at the Dan Boutique Hotel to have my laundry done at a reduced rate, so I was happy.  Then we went out into another brilliant  sunny day; 19 degrees C and breezy.  Our destination was Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center.

“I will put my breath into you and you shall live again, and I will set you upon your own soil….” Ezekiel 37:14  Carved in stone, the statement greeted us as we walked into the reception building.

The Holocaust Museum was designed in the shape of a triangular prism and built into the top of a hill known as the Mount of Remembrance.  Yad Vashem is Israel’s memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. The museum was dedicated in 2005 and consists of a long corridor connected to 10 exhibition halls, each describing a different chapter of the Holocaust in chronological order.

Photography was not permitted inside the museum.  One million visitors go the Yad Vashem annually to learn about the deplorable events of the Holocaust and remember people who died under tragic and horrendous circumstances.  The exhibits in the museum are excellent with videos, memorabilia, artifacts, and maps.  Walking slowly through the chronological events was extremely sad for me.

After going through the museum, we met with a survivor of the Holocaust.  She had just published her memoirs and related the story about her childhood in Poland, losing her parents and siblings, and finally being rescued from a concentration camp when she was ten years old.  She had lived in Denmark before moving to the United States.  She eventually married and had four children, twelve grandchildren, and now has 22 great grandchildren.  She is a true survivor!

Afterwards, we drove to The Israel Museum which is a huge complex of art galleries and archaeology museums.  Our first stop was the Model of Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period.  This is a scale model of the city prior to its destruction by the Romans in 66AD.

It was a fantastic model of Jerusalem, when the ancient city was more than twice the size of the Old City today.  After this time period, the Great Revolt against the Romans took place and Jerusalem was destroyed as well as the Temple.

The model was completed in 1966 and relocated to the museum in 2006.  According to a plaque, the model is continuously updated as more archeological excavations are uncovered and improve scientists’ understanding of ancient Jerusalem.

Entrance to The Shrine of the Book:

Then we crossed the street and went to the Shrine of the Book where select pages of the Dead Sea Scrolls were on display.  These are the oldest biblical manuscripts in the world, dating from 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD.  900 scrolls were discovered in 1947 in eleven caves near Wadi Qumran, 28 miles east of Jerusalem near the Dead Sea.  This was one of the most important archeological finds in Israel.

The Shrine of the Book building, opened in 1965, and was designed to resemble a pot in which the scrolls were found.  Two-thirds of the building is below ground level.  The scrolls are displayed on a rotating basis.  Also on display was the Aleppo Codex, from the 10th century, believed to be the oldest Bible codex in Hebrew.

Later in the evening, our group went to the home of an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish family for dinner.  We met the young couple, their two year old son, their rabbi, and other friends and family members.  They spoke openly about their faith and their roles in the family, their community, and in Israel today.

It had been another amazing day in Israel!

Monday – October 9, 2017

Today we entered the Old City of Jerusalem which is a walled city located within the heart of the modern metropolis of Jerusalem.

We entered through Jaffa Gate, which is one of seven gates, and walked through a labyrinth of ancient alleyways with other tourists, pilgrims, and local religious people.  The passageways opened to a wide plaza to reveal the Western Wall.  The wall was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple by Herod the Great in 19 BC.

The wall is the holiest place where Jews are able to pray in Israel.  We walked through security and our bags were put through x-ray machines.  Here is a view of the Western Wall from the stairs:

Men’s section:

The Western Wall of the Temple Mount is one of the most significant remnants in Jerusalem from the Second Temple which was destroyed about 2000 years ago.  Entrance to the women’s section:

Inside women’s section:

The family below flew all the way from San Diego, California to have Josh’s Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall.  The women of the family stood on benches to look over a barrier and watched Josh’s ceremony.

The Western Wall Tunnel is an underground tunnel and runs under buildings of the Old City of Jerusalem.   Walking in the Western Wall Tunnel:

Religious Jews have access to underground portions of the Wall and pray there:

The total length of the tunnel is 485 meters (1600 feet) which is significantly more than the 60 meters (200 feet) of exposed wall in the plaza at ground level.

It began to rain as we walked along the Via Dolorosa (Way of Sorrows). This is believed to be the path that Jesus walked on the way to his crucifixion.  The Stations of the Cross refer to a series of images depicting Jesus on that day.  We followed the 14 Stations of the Cross:

The Stations of the Cross are located primarily in the Arab Quarter of the Old City.  Walking through that quarter is fun because of all the colorful shops.  It’s a lot like any Middle-Eastern Souq.  

The church of the Holy Sepulcher also called Church of the Resurrection is located in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.  The church contains two of the holiest sites in Christianity:  the site where Jesus was crucified and Jesus’s empty tomb, where he is said to have been buried and resurrected.

There was a very long line around the inside of the rotunda to get into the Aedicule.  This is the marble chapel which encloses the tomb and a fragment of the stone that sealed the tomb.

Stone of the Anointing:

The church was very crowded and it was difficult to see very much or take decent photographs.  However it was a very interesting experience.

We had lunch in the Arab Quarter at a restaurant called Dajani as the noon Call to Worship was broadcast from a nearby minaret.

We walked through the ancient winding alleyways of the Old City and stopped by the modern Jewish Quarter.  We also visited the Room of the Last Supper and King David’s Tomb.

We left the Old City of Jerusalem by the Jaffa Gate and passed the Tower of David, also known as the Jerusalem Citadel, built in 1310 by  Mamluk sultan and expanded in 1547 by Suleiman the Magnificent.

At night we returned to the Tower of David to see an historical light & music show.  It was very well done.