-
Day 10 — Walls, Tunnels, Dungeons, Ramparts, the Jewish Quarter, and Hospitality
Today’s images actually start with last night’s Sound and Light Show. Since picture taking wasn’t allowed during the show, I had to be content with some wall areas lighted as we walked into the “theatre” (actually a place inside the wall). The show was excellent, really well put together and executed, but the ordinary lights at strategic places within the walls were pretty impressive, too.
This morning, our first stop was the tunnels that run inside the Western Wall. Didn’t know there were tunnels? Me either! But now I do. But to get to the entrance, we passed first through a security checkpoint, then the famous portion of the wall where you always see people praying. We didn’t stop, but I grabbed a quick shot.
The Western Wall Tunnels were constructed through several occupations of the city. The temple and Jerusalem were the site of many conquests and habitations, with building “improvements” going on continually. In the “arch” picture, you can see several of these levels, with different methods of construction appearing above the previous level.
In small openings in the wall, it’s the custom for people to leave prayers or messages written on small slips of paper. Some also pray along the wall, especially at the places considered closest to the “holiest of the holies,” the portion of the temple reserved for the spirit of God and only entered once a year by the chief priest.
In places, we walked on the original stones — the ones there at the time of Jesus. Things around this time are called “Herodian,” after the Herod who ruled then. The building done at this time was with huge slabs of stone, often weighing hundreds of tons. What a massive feat this building effort was!
At one end of the tunnel, we saw a pool of water. (I only included the picture in the slide show because I thought it came out really well.)
Next we walked out of the tunnels and to the courtyard of the Church of Saint Anne, by tradition considered to be the mother of Mary, or Jesus’s grandmother. Passing the courtyard, we came to the area of the Pool of Bethesda. It’s pretty hard to imagine how it looked in Jesus’s time, but past some columns we could see steps. Maybe they were the very ones the crippled man was waiting by — remember the man who said he had no one to put him into the water so he could be healed? But Jesus healed him without him having to enter that water. Remember that this Pool of Bethesda was there for travelers to the city to use as a water supply, so it would be perfectly natural for Jesus to have been there, and to have encountered the crippled man along his way.
We backtracked a few steps and went into the Church of St. Anne. This was built by the Crusaders and is a relatively simple church, but the acoustics are great. Our little group sang Hymn #1, the Doxology, and it sounded wonderful! After we’d begun, I realized if I’d been recording with the video camera, I’d have the sound. So the group was nice enough to sing again. I’d love to get the audio uploaded to you can hear it. I’ll work on figuring out how to do that sometime later.
Next it was off to the traditional site of King David’s tomb (but probably not the real site, since the Bible says he was buried in his city, which is not where this area is). Then we went into a “Room of the Last Supper.” Very ornate, and either constructed or reconstructed by the Crusaders. Though this is the right area for the event to have taken place, there’s apparently no evidence that any one room is “the” place.
Some of the views in this area are excellent. I took a picture of a building that looked like it consisted of buildings from different eras. Don’t know if that’s true at all, but I liked the picture.
A short walk away we went to the Church of St. Peter (I think). There are several layers here and you can visit all of them. At the very bottom is place (again, according to tradition) where Jesus was kept and tortured before his crucifiction. If not the actual place, it’s similar in style; enough to imagine how being kept in a dungeon would feel. Sobering thought.
Here I waited for the others to leave so I could take a couple of pictures. When I came up the stairs, I couldn’t see the group anywhere, so I just walked back to the bus and waited for them. I was pretty tired by this time, so this was a welcome respite.
That didn’t last too long, however, before we were off again. This time we got a special treat — we walked the ramparts along a good portion of the wall in the Armenian Quarter. When we came out, we did a short walk through the Jewish Quarter, just to get a flavor of it. A portion of the olden area is there to see, but the “new” area includes a bunch of stores; an underground shopping mall.
About to drop from exhaustion now, our ragged bunch headed out to another special treat. Mishi’s wife Avigail had invited us to stop by, so we visited them in their home. We were welcomed with cool drinks, brownies, and other goodies. It was truly a pleasure to meet Avigail and see Mishi’s family. We even got to look at pictures from their courtship and marriage. It’s obvious they have a very special relationship, and they’re about to celebrate 42 years of marriage. Congratulations to you both, and thank you for your hospitality today!
Well everyone, tomorrow is our last day on this trip. We check out of our hotel, spend the day sightseeing in Jerusalem again, then head for Joppa. After dinner there, we head for the airport to go through all the necessary security checks and ensure we’re there in enough time to catch our 1:00 AM flight back to JFK. I hope we get there on time, because I have to make it over to La Guardia in time to catch my flight back to Texas.
Then it’s one more plane ride and an hour or so drive to back home. I’ll be happy to spend the night in my own bed and cuddle with my cats. And to not have to get up early and head out for another long day of sightseeing! This trip has been great, but we’ve been so busy that I think going back to work on Monday will seem like a vacation! 😉
I won’t be able to recount our last day in Israel until I get home, but I’ll do that pretty soon. So, more later!
