Israel Part Four: Old City of Jerusalem

Whew, this post took a long time to make!  On Tuesday of our trip, we tried to fit in all the sites in the Old City in just one day.  There are so many things to see you really need two days to get through it all, but we only had one day, so we just tried to fit in as much as we could.  We visited dozens of things and took 183 pictures just in one day, so I will only be showing a few pictures and only highlighting the major sites we went to.  All my paring down still added up to 30 pictures, so prepare for a long post.

In the morning, we walked from our hotel to the Old City and entered through Jaffa Gate.  When we walked inside, we stopped to try and get our bearings, but we were immediately surrounded by peddlers asking if we wanted a tour, needed a ride, or wanted to buy something.  It was frustrating to say the least,  but luckily Darren had already been to Jerusalem before and is a quick map reader, so we were able to get on our way quickly.

The Old City is split into four quarters: the Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Armenian Quarters.  They are not equal in size, with the Muslim quarter being the largest and the Armenian quarter being the smallest.    However, this does not mean that there are exclusively Christian historical sites in the Christian quarter, etc., but the majority of the people from each ethnic/religious group do live in their particular quarter. 

Old Jerusalem up ahead as we walked from our hotel, Jaffa Gate is to the left

Just inside the city walls on the border of the Armenian and Christian Quarters

We were inside the Old City walls just after 10 am, when most things open in the winter, but the residents certainly weren't prompt about opening right on time.  We were going to visit a certain site by Jaffa Gate, but after waiting around, they still hadn't opened so Darren suggested we head over to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  This was a great idea because it is one of the most popular sites, so it got crowded very quickly.  I would recommend for everyone to make this their first stop.

The entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, look, finally some other tourists!

The Church is a holy Christian site where some believe the Crucifixion, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus all occurred.  The site was chosen by Emperor Constantine's mother, Saint Helena, who visited Jerusalem in the 4th century AD.  The church on the site has been destroyed and rebuilt several times, but the majority of the exterior has been around since the 12th century.

Even with some tourists around, still managed to get a shot with just me in it

There are six different Christian denominations that lay claim to different parts of the church: Armenian, Greek, Coptic, Roman Catholic, Ethiopian, and Syrian.  It's interesting that most North Americans (like myself) are totally unfamiliar with most of these Christian denominations represented in this church.  I have no idea what the difference is between the Coptic and the Syrian churches, etc., but it was still intriguing to see.  The separate denominations used to fight over space inside the church, but they finally made a truce in 1852 and supposedly everything that was inside the church had stay to exactly where it was.  Our guide book even described that a Muslim key holder unlocks the church every day in order to ensure no denomination has more power over the others.

We went inside the church and right at the entrance is the Stone of Unction.  This is where it is believed the anointing and wrapping of Christ's body after his death occurred, although the present stone dates from 1810 (assuming an older one was destroyed at some point).

Stone of Unction

Up the stairs and to the right is where they claim the Crucifixion took place.  The picture below shows a Greek Orthodox chapel that has clear glass over rock that they believe was where Christ was crucified.

Rock of Golgotha

Another highlight inside the church was Christ's Tomb.  This shrine is a replacement of one that burned down in 1808.  At the time we were visiting, some denomination was performing some kind of ceremony, so people were not allowed in.  We didn't have time to wait for them to finish, so we just snapped some pictures of the outside.

Christ's Tomb

The middle of the church, where some denomination was performing a ceremony

The Catholikon Dome, rebuilt in 1927 after an earthquake

We left the church and followed the Via Dolorosa into the Muslim Quarter, where the streets were lined with shops of people trying to sell you their cheap souvenirs among other things.  It was disappointing that we were in a city that is holy to so many people and we were being peddled knock-off t-shirts, socks, cheap jewelry, etc.  I'm just unclear on who would buy this stuff, but clearly there must be a market for it if they continue to do it.  Maybe other tourists aren't as cynical as I am. ;)

The sign marking the Via Dolorosa

One shirt we saw at a shop in Jerusalem

Apparently everyone knows about the BYU Jerusalem Center

When Darren visited Jerusalem before with work, they took him to the Austrian Hospice in the Muslim Quarter, which has a great view of the city from their rooftop terrace.  We also went up there snapped some pictures of the great view.  We recommend for everyone to find the hospice and go on the roof to get a great view for free.

The view of the Muslim Quarter, with the Dome of the Rock in the background

One of two pictures of us together from the whole trip

After walking around the northern section of the Muslim Quarter a bit longer, we took a taxi out of Lion's Gate and up to the Mount of Olives, which sits on the eastern side of the Old City.  The driver let us off at the top of a Jewish cemetery that sits on the Mount of Olives.  The hillside slopes down into a small valley, then rises up again to where the Old City is located.  In Old Testament times, this valley was known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is mentioned in The Bible as the place where the Messiah will appear (see Joel 3:12).  For this reason, Jewish people want to be buried here on this hillside.  Your gravesite definitely would definitely have an amazing view.  As you can see from the picture below, the cemetery is very crowded because of this belief and our taxi driver said it's more expensive to be buried in this cemetery than it is to buy a house.

The Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives

The valley separating Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, blue dome on the left is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Most of the sites close for an extended lunch (like two hours), so we weren't able to go inside many places on the Mount of Olives since it was lunchtime.  We just walked around, took some pictures, enjoyed the view, and then headed down to the southern part of the Muslim Quarter to see the Dome of the Rock since that is open briefly during lunch.

The Jerusalem Archaeological Park is just outside the Temple Mount complex, we didn't have time to visit it

The Dome of the Rock is located inside the Temple Mount that used to be the site of Solomon's Temple and later the Second Temple, but now is a Muslim holy site.  The complex contains mosques, monuments, and religious schools along with the Dome of the Rock.  Non-Muslims are not allowed inside the Dome of the Rock, so we just walked around the complex and took pictures.  The Dome of the Rock has a rocky ground where they say Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac.  (Abraham was instructed to sacrifice Isaac in the land of Moriah, and some believe this is the same as Mount Moriah, where Solomon built his temple.)  Jewish people do not to enter the Temple Mount area because they still consider it to be a holy site even though there isn't a temple here anymore and only priests would have been able to enter certain parts the temple area.

The beautiful mosaic patterns on the Dome of the Rock

We stopped and had lunch in the Muslim Quarter and then went over to the Western Wall, which is the beginning of the Jewish Quarter, just outside of the Temple Mount complex.  The Western Wall is Judaism's most holy site because the lower half of the wall contains the stones from the retaining wall of the Second Temple.  Jews come here to pray, recite scriptures, and leave written prayers in the cracks of the wall.  There are separate sections of the wall meant for men and women to worship separately.

The bigger stones on the lower part of the wall are from the Second Temple retaining wall

Darren went to the men's section and took some pictures up close

After visiting the Western Wall, we then wandered around the Jewish Quarter and explored Hurva Square, which is the heart of this section of Jerusalem.  The Jewish Quarter has been extensively reconstructed in the 20th century after several major wars mostly destroyed it.  This quarter is largely residential and much cleaner and more orderly than any other part of the Old City.  Even though there aren't as many historical sites, it was a breath of fresh air from all the chaos in the other sections.

Hurva Square

The Hurva Synagogue

After visiting the Jewish Quarter, we actually headed back out to the bottom of the Mount of Olives to visit the Garden of Gethsemane since it had been closed when we were over there previously.

The picture we took of the entrance before when it was closed

These olive trees are hundreds of years old

An American tour guide who was taking a break offered to take our picture

Our final stop was to visit a site just outside the city walls called the Garden Tomb.  In the 19th century, a British archaeologist claimed that a skull-shaped hill was the real location of Golgotha and was where Christ had been buried, not at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Shout out to BYU Jerusalem, we saw it on the way to the Garden Tomb

The entrance to the tomb

The garden tomb

After we finished touring the Garden Tomb, it was about 5 pm and most things were closing, so we stopped there.  We got back to our car and drove back to Tel Aviv that night.

Whew, we did a lot that day!  Only one more post to go.