We checked into our hotel, the Grand Court Hotel in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening. It has been a struggle ever since as it seems their internet is a bit tempermental. Finally today, Saturday morning, I am able to get on-line and haven't encountered any major issues with the internet. Because these postings are a couple of days late, and my memory isn't as good as it used to be, I am going to offer this disclaimer: the dates and places are only accurate to the best of my recollection.
Where do you start with a city that has thousands of years of history? Our guide thought it best to take us to an overlook where we could see much of the walled city and the valleys on 3 sides. In retrospect, this was a great decision because it gave us a much better idea of where we would be walking in the coming days.
And walk we did. Up hill, down hill, across roof tops, through cobblestone and rock streets. This is a quite tiring trip but I am amazed at how well everyone is doing. Virtually everyone in the group has been able to handle all of the walking and we haven't had to wait along the way for people to catch up. That is with the exception of people that have gotten lost in the souvenir shops along the way.
The overlook chosen by our guide was at the house of Caiaphus, outside the old walled city of Jerusalem. Caiaphus was a Jewish high priest and took part in the trial of Jesus. Under the house of Caiaphus is was is thought to be a jail of sorts and Jesus spent 3 days there. Today there is a church and monastery built on top and you walk down many flights of stairs into the ancient ruins.
Also located up on this same hill, outside the walls of the old city is the tomb of Soloman. Because this is a holy Jewish site, the men and women of the tour group had to visit it from two separate sides, with men covering their head with a kipa, the small circular cover worn by Jewish men when not wearing hats. Because this is a tourist destinaton, the kipa I was given was much like a cardboard french fry container and it blew off or slipped off every time I moved my head. I hope I didn't desecrate the tomb of Solomon.
Since this area of Jerusalem was where the wealthy of the day lived, it is also the purported site of the Upper Room and the last supper. There is very little archealogical evidence of this and many of the buildings have been rebuilt so it is unlikely that the room we visited was actually the Upper Room of Jesus day.
We now ventured into the old walled city of Jerusalem and climbed up on some roof tops for a view of the 4 different quadrants of the city - the Jewish quarter, the Armenian quarter, the moslem quarter and the Christian area. Obviously these areas developed in the generations after the time of Christ. From the roof top we got a good view of the Western Wall, which is always shown on the nightly news programs of today. (More on the significance of the Western Wall in tomorrows blog)
After going through a security checkpoint we were allowed to go up to the Western Wall. Again women only on one side and men only on the other. At the Western Wall the jewish people place prayer requests on a slip of paper and jam them into the cracks between the blocks of stone. From time to time these prayers are cleaned out of the cracks but not destroyed or burned; they are collected and buried with other holy books.
We left the old city for lunch but returned to walk the Via Delarosa, (the way of the cross) and tour the church of the Holy Sepluchre. This church is purportedly built over 3 holy sites - Mt. Calvary, the site of the cruxifiction, the annointing rock, where Christ's body was wrapped after being removed from the cross, and the tomb of Jesus. The church was jammed with pilgrims from throughout the world, with the longest lines in the portion of the church with the purported tomb of Jesus.
Continuing down the Via Delarosa we passed crowds and shops until we arrived at a small, French convent. During recent renovations of the convent they discovered the street from the time of Christ. This level is much lower than the current Via Delarosa and was identified by some carvings made by the Roman legion that was stationed in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. The carvings supposedly describe the "King's Game", which they think might have been used as the soldiers cast lots for Christ's cloths.
I should comment a bit about the meals on our trip. Breakfast and dinner have been included each day. Lunches have been a mix of local buffets, including salads and hot meat - chicken, beef or lamb, or local "fast food" like schwarma (grilled lamb or turkey with vegatables, tucked into pita bread) or fallafel ("meat balls" made from chick peas, fried and then tucked in a pita pocket with vegtables.) The local food has been great and I doubt that anyone has lost any weight in spite of all our walking.
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