We were able to spend 1 1/2 days in the Jerusalem area.
What an amazing city!
First stop: Take a group picture overlooking the city:
Some people believe that a burial in Israel, above all on the Mount of Olives, ensures that they’ll be the first to rise from the grave. For the past 3,000 years, Jewish families have been bringing their dead to the Mount of Olives cemetery. A maze of hillside tombs, this graveyard is the holiest place for those in the Jewish faith to be laid to rest.
Many Jews believe that when the Messiah comes to earth riding on a white donkey, the dead will rise from their graves and walk to the holy Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. From the Mount of Olives cemetery, that’s only a few hundred meters. Everyone in that cemetery is buried with their feet facing the Temple Mount so they come straight up and don’t even have to turn around.
It is a sight to see!
Then we walked down the Mount of Olives over the same path that Jesus would have taken on Palm Sunday. We stopped briefly at the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden and were able to read some scriptures. Then on down to the Garden of Gethsemane. There were tons and tons of people and buses everywhere. It was crazy. No stopping or contemplating at the Garden. It was just go, go, go in a long line amid all the jostling of people and languages. To put a positive spin on this, it was heartwarming to see so many people who wanted to see those sites. There are still lots of Christians in the world!
We walked through a gate into the Old City along the narrow lanes with colorful vendors and onto the excavation site of the Pool of Bethesda where we stopped.
Then a long walk out to our lunch place. Back into the Old City to see the Upper Room, site of the Last Supper. It was so crowded that we just walked in and walked out. Dan got a couple of quick photos. On our previous trip our group was in there by ourselves for a long period of time to read scriptures and sing some hymns. So at least it was fun remembering that.
Then we walked over to the Jewish Quarter to visit the Western Wall. We waited in a long line but were able to spend some time there before driving to our hotel and having dinner. One of our fellow travelers said he had been keeping track of his steps through his phone and that we had walked over 5 miles that day.
Dan got some good shots from the bus.
This shows the BYU Jerusalem Center up on Mount Scopus.
Wish we could have stopped there but glad we visited there before as it is a special place!
Here is a shot up the mountain with all the tombs. Notice the line of buses midway up. I really couldn't believe all the buses we saw!
Guess what Dan and I did after dinner after that long day of walking all over Jerusalem? We went for a walk! We learned that just one block from our hotel was a fairly new area. In what is known as the Triangle, they have made an open-air pedestrian mall. There are lots of shops and cafés and people everywhere. It seemed like very few tourists at that particular time so it was good to get a flavor of the modern culture.
We had breakfast at the hotel at 6 AM. This was so we could get in line early for the Temple Mount or Dome of the Rock which is under Muslim control. We waited in line less than an hour which was considered a short wait. It's very interesting up there and our guide, Asher, explained through a drawing all that has happened up there over 1,000's of years including Solomon's temple and Herod's temple at the time of Christ. It's a sacred place to Muslims, Jews and Christians. (Later that day back on the ship we heard a lecture about how some archaeologists and historians believe that Solomon's Temple was not here but close by in an excavation being undertaken called the City of David. It is almost blasphemous to Jews to suggest this but the evidence is compelling. Interesting!)
Best part for me about Israel is the people. It is absolutely fascinating to see all the people from so many different cultures and beliefs and languages. We got to see two Bar Mitzvah's in progress--one was some Ethiopian Jews and the other a traditional Orthodox one. The man on the left is blowing a shofar.
I love the happiness you see in the faces of the boy and his parents.
Then on to Caiphas' Palace with the famous steps where the Savior actually walked. We walked on them 12 years ago but now they are fenced off. (Don't worry--we were not annoying travelers who always tell everyone how much better another trip was). We also saw inside where they held and tortured the Savior.
Last stop in Israel was the Garden Tomb. We were also able to meet as a group here and it is a special place. Guess what? There was a long line to see the Tomb but that just gave us more time to spend in the area!
Our leaders were concerned about getting back to the ship on time as there can be major traffic on that freeway. So after lunch and shopping off we left and made it back in plenty of time.
There is lots of olive wood for sale everywhere.
Here is The Last Supper we saw in a shop:
Final thoughts on Israel: It's very modern, clean, safe and lots of new buildings and agriculture everywhere. One man in our group said his testimony had not changed after being in the Holy Land but rather it added "color" to his previous thoughts. I agree!
After that busy, busy day and a half, time for a rest!
