I know, there’s a war going on in Gaza and the Israel/Palestine situation is hostile, but I’ve been drawn to Jerusalem, a city that has been at a crossroad of the world for millennia, and when I saw how close it was to where our tour ended in Jordon, how could I not go? I’m an intrepid explorer even when I’m not on an Intrepid tour! More love, less fear!
I also like being guided, so I booked transportation, hotels, and a couple tours with Tourist Israel, and it has gone swimmingly. Of course, we drove an extra two hours to get to a more swim-worthy border crossing (albeit there was a bridge over the Jordan river), and the Israeli security was super-tight. But the guys with the machine guns were nice, and I had great conversations with both my Jordanian and Israeli drivers. More on the differences later!
This first batch shows a bit of the border crossing, the fences separating Palestine from Israel on the West Bank, my Israeli driver Isaac, a Bedouin encampment just outside the city, and my hotel, where I love to stay, at the YMCA!
In fact, the YMCA Three Arches Hotel is a beautiful building and great location. I went for a stroll around town, dipped into the old city, had a great dinner at Mojo, and took in some night life…
The next morning before 8:00, I walked to another hotel to meet my Jerusalem walking tour guide, Omer. As it turned out, it was a private tour, the only other prospective customer had cancelled. Great for me, not for the tourism business, but Israelis seem not so concerned.
This first batch starts at the Jaffa Gate, an entrance to the Old City. Note the stickers on these two doors commemorating those killed on or since the Hamas attack on October 7th. We first went to the Jewish Quarter where there is a great display explaining the history.
Interestingly, the mosaic map on the floor of the church in Madaba, which I had just been in (and is under reconstruction), is key in understanding the geography of the region. Note the other mosaic images depicting life in Jerusalem. Consider that the current restorations started after 1967…!
Most of this batch is of, from, or around the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. (BTW, we actually started in the Armenian Quarter and some of those pix are mixed into these first batches.)
Next, we went to the Western (Wailing) Wall. Lots of history, lots of prayers. Note the bits of paper tucked in the cracks. Note the division between men and women. Note the books nearby. Note the rest of this batch…
From there, we headed to the Christian Quarter. This batch shows some of the streets (alleyways), including the Via Dolorosa, which features several spots in Jesus’s route to his crucifixion. Note my hand on the stone where Jesus put his hand, then thousands of others for many years. Note Veronica! And there’s a lot more as we eventually made it to the actual churches…
Friends, ya need to read the details. (Thousands of years to different religious traditions!) I’ll just summarize what’s here. First we went to the Ethiopian Coptic church (underfunded). Then we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which has various chapels, features, and artwork. It is under a long and arduous refurbishment, the dust and drilling not providing the most spiritual ambiance, but still a profound place of pilgrimage. Note the many crosses carved into the walls by generations of pilgrims over hundreds of years.
One can only go to the Temple Mount, next to (part of) the Muslim Quarter during certain hours – not prayer times. So we walked quickly back to there to visit the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. Ironically (& historically) one gets another view of the Western Wall when walking the ramp up to the Temple Mount…
Here’s the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. Interestingly, since the current leadership in Israel is religiously conservative, they’re allowing Jews to pray to their destroyed temple from the other side of the Temple Mount. Apparently, this was not allowed before, and Omer was somewhat uncomfortable with the situation. He had said that the area at the Western Wall, adjacent to the Temple Mount is the most volatile place in the Old City.
After leaving the Temple Mount, we left the Old City and headed out into the rest of Jerusalem walking up Jaffa Street to the Mahane Yehuda Market (AKA the Shuk), dipping into some neighborhood common areas along the way. This batch starts out with an artistic depiction of Jerusalem as the center of the world, it also has some soldiers doing a scavenger hunt, and some street art…
It was a long day, walking one of the world’s most fraught and fascinating places. The history, the religions, the conflicts, my aching feet – oy vey. I went and did some of it again the next day, but this is enough for now.
May peace come to the Middle East. May all our prayers be answered. And may you stay tuned for more randomvail…
Amen!