Jerusalem, Israel and Bethlehem, Palestine

It is difficult to write a travel blog focusing on the history and culture of places we have visited, without also commenting on the political situation. This is not a political blog and every side has its own story to tell. However after this visit we felt more informed about the conflicts and tensions between Israel and Palestine - context that we could not have gained from watching the news on TV. The complexity of the issues - religion, land ownership, economic status, revenge for past grievances, and desire for peace made us wonder whether these differences could be put aside anytime in the near future.

Arrival in Jerusalem
We arrived at the Jerusalem Gate Hotel in the evening and pondered on the news filtering in from concerned friends and family that a van had driven into a light rail station in East Jerusalem, killing one person and injuring many others. This information made us nervous but we decided to head out as a group into town for a short walk and to grab a kebab for dinner. We passed through the local market but all the shops were closing up, so we ended up buying snacks and headed back to the hotel.

City market

Mount of Olives

After an early breakfast, we met with our guide and boarded a mini-bus for our first stop at the Mount of Olives - a mountain ridge that overlooks the Old City of Jerusalem. Our guide pointed out the key landmarks - the walls and gates dating back to the 16th century, Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock.

View of the Old City

Dome of the Rock

The thick Ottoman walls built by Suleiman the Magnificent

Garden of Gethsemane
Our next stop was at the Garden of Gethsemane, land purchased by knights in the 17th century and donated to the Franciscans. This was the location according to biblical history where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before his crucifixion. According to our tour guide, the olive trees in the garden are some of the oldest known in the world, dating back over 1000 years.

Ancient olive trees

Sign stating the donation of the land by the knights

Church of All Nations
The Church of All Nations (also known as the Basilica of the Agony) has been built over the rock that Jesus prayed before his arrest. The current church was funded by donations from many different countries, replacing two older churches that dated to Crusader and Byzantine eras. The mosaics of the older church were recently rediscovered and are visible on the ground under a glass section.

Outside of the Church of All Nations

Columns inside the church

One of the decorated interior domes

Rock of the Agony (where Jesus prayed)

Tomb of the Virgin Mary

Our third stop was the Tomb of the Virgin Mary. Over history, a church on the site has been destroyed and rebuilt, but the crypt itself was untouched. As with many sites within the Old City, ownership is held by one or more religious orders who take turns in managing it. This is part of the Status Quo. The Tomb is owned by the Armenian Apostolical Church of Jerusalem and Greek Orthodox Church.

The steps leading down to the Tomb

Orthodox decorations

One of the altars inside the Tomb

Entering the Old City
As it was a Friday, tensions in the Old City were high as the police were anticipating that issues may erupt after midday prayers due to the week's events. Over 2000 soldiers were stationed in the Old City, roughly the size of the City of London and we had to cross through a number of checkpoints before entering via St Stephen's Gate, Olie found himself being questioned and asked for ID as he lagged behind the group.

One of the checkpoints before the Old City

Police blocking all side streets

Via Dolorosa

The 'Way of Sorrows' is a Christian pilgrimage route that follows the path taken by Jesus as he carried the cross prior to his crucifixion, and the route of his body prior to burial. As the soldiers were blocking off all the side streets, we followed the Via Dolorosa, passing sites such as the Birthplace of Virgin Mary and the Ecce Homo Church - a site of an arch built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

Via Dolorosa

Church of the Flagellation

This site was previously believed to be where Jesus was judged and flogged by Roman guards due to the presence of a Roman era pavement. However, in 2001 (reference: Wikipedia), Herod's Palace was rediscovered on the Western Hill near the Jaffa Gate and this is the location where archaeologists now believe 1st century criminal trials and judgement would have taken place.

Outside the Church of Flagellation

Stained glass windows inside the church

Model of the Old City and its walls

Prison of Christ

The location of the Prison of Christ is disputed among the religious orders present in the Old City. The Greek Orthodox Church refer to an ancient cistern on the Via Dolorosa, the Franciscans worship a cell at the rear of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Armenians believe it is at the Convent of the Olive Tree. We visited the Greek Orthodox one and were taken into an underground area where rooms were scarcely large enough to accommodate a few visitors at a time. 

Stations of the Cross

Shrines have been set up at specific numbered locations on the Via Dolorosa that are of religious significance to pilgrims, such as the point where Jesus first fell when carrying the cross; where he met his mother, and where Simon of Cyrene helps him carry the cross.

Abu Shukri Restaurant
For lunch, we stopped at the 'most famous' hummus restaurant in the Old City of Jerusalem, located opposite Station V. The menu was simple - pickles, tomato, bread, chili sauce, falafel and lots of hummus.

The condiments to eat with the hummus

Tour group photo

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Our next stop contained the final four stations of the cross, including the Calvary (Golgotha) where Jesus was crucified, the place where Jesus was buried and where he resurrected. 

The Church contains many chapels belonging to different religions, dating back to the foundation of Christianity. 

Monastery dating back to almost 1700 years

View of the Dome of the Church

Mosque of Omar

As told by our guide, co-operation between the different Christian orders has not always been immediate over history. The 'Immovable Ladder' was first mentioned in the 18th century and has remained on a ledge at the front of the church, as a single cleric of the six ecumenical Christian orders cannot move, rearrange, or alter any property without the consent of the other five orders.

Entrance to the church with the 'immovable ladder' visible
below the top right hand window

The front of the Church dates back to the Crusader period, where graffiti from various periods is visible on the pillars. 

Calvary (Golgotha) 

Our first stop was located up a short stairwell to the Calvary (Golgotha). The queue was unusually short and we were soon in front of the main altar - the Rock of Calvary (12th Station of the Cross), most known as the site of Jesus' crucifixion. Access to the rock is under a material shroud and there is an opportunity to touch and say a prayer at the site.

The main altar, station 12

Olie touching the rock

Next to the main altar, is the 13th Station where the statue of Mary marks the spot where Jesus' body was removed from the cross and given to his family.

The 13th Station

Rock visible next to the Calvary

Chapel of Adam

Immediately below the Golgotha is the Chapel of Adam, where according to tradition, the skull of Adam was buried. The chapel is next door to empty graves of four 12th-century crusader kings—including Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin I of Jerusalem.

Christ Pantocrator mosaic

Stone of the Anointing

On entering the Church, the Stone of the Anointing (or Unction) is located directly ahead and marks the location where Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea prepared Jesus' body for burial. 

Mosaic of the anointing

First-century tombs
Our guide explained that we would not be permitted to take photos of the Tomb and at most only have 30 seconds to visit the chapel. To give us an indication of what a 1st century tomb would have looked like, a nearby chapel (badly damaged by fire) had a small opening where two stone cut tombs had been found and we were free to walk through and gain an understanding of the size and shape.

Stone tombs dating to 1st century

Edicule of the Tomb
The Edicule chapel is located under the Rotunda - largest dome of the Church; and contains the Holy Sepulchre. The outside of the building is decorated with a painting of Jesus' resurrection. A queue of approximately 20 minutes duration had formed outside and our guide was willing to wait for us to view the inside of the chapel. Per protocol, we were not allowed to take any photos of the interior. Once it was our turn to enter, we waited in the Chapel of the Angel (contains a fragment of the stone that sealed the tomb) before entering the room of the tomb. A security guard maintained the time, allowing about 30 seconds for each person to spend time in front of the marble slab that housed the rock where Jesus was buried.

Exploring the Cardo

Our next stop was the Souk (Arab Market) that had been set up along the Cardo - the main street of all Roman cities. We recalled the picture of Old Jerusalem on the Madaba Map (see earlier blog post) and it was the thick horizontal line that divided the city into two.

Madaba Map - a representation of Old Jerusalem

Street-side stating that we were walking on the Cardo

At the end of the Cardo, we emerged into a modern courtyard within the Jewish Quarter - a complete contrast in architectural style compared to the other buildings we had seen in the Old City.

The modern looking part of the Old City

Western Wall

A 57m wide section of ancient wall on the western side of the Temple Mount is known as the 'Western Wall'. It is a place of pilgrimage and prayer for Jews who believe it to be the closest accessible point to the holy site where Solomon's Temple once stood.

Western Wall

King David's Tower and the Cenacle
Our last stop in the Old City was King David's Tower and the Cenacle - traditionally believed to be the site of the Last Supper. The view from the top of the Tower gave us a panoramic overview of Jerusalem, although the serenity was disrupted by an explosion in the distance and later we were informed by the news that small amount of rioting had broken out in parts of the city.

Jerusalem on a Friday night

Before we returned to the hotel, our guide warned us that all public transport in the city would soon shut down (after 4pm) and it may be difficult to find places to eat outside of the hotel due to Shabbat. We decided to head into town to find a shop selling supplies and by chance passed by two backpackers carrying bottles of soft drink. They told us of the existence of a 24 hour supermarket a few blocks away. Next to the supermarket we discovered a bar and enjoyed a few drinks before considering where to venture next. As our options were limited (the entire city was empty except for the odd bewildered tourist seeking out something to do on a Friday night), we voted to stay at the bar. As one of our group, Lucy had stayed at the hotel, Olie and Mei took a round-trip cab back to the hotel to pick her up and discovered a McDonalds in the process, solving the dilemma of where to eat dinner at the end of the night.

Found a bar open in Jerusalem on a Friday night

Dinner at McDonalds

West Bank Barrier (Wall)
A physical wall was built to separate Israel from the Palestinian West Bank from the year 2000, argued by Israel as a defensive means of protection. The wall contains many checkpoints and watch-towers, which we needed to pass through in order to visit the town of Bethlehem in Palestine.

The wall encircling the assets it was built to protect

Watch Towers on the Wall

International artists have decorated the wall with messages of peace
and protest

Olive wood factory

Once inside Palestine, our first stop was to visit an olive wood factory where staff were busy engraving artifacts for sale using machinery where they could manufacture multiple copies of statues concurrently.

Using machinery that allows multiple copies of statues to be made

The finer details are carved by hand

Bethlehem, Palestine
Our next stop was the Church of the Nativity, birthplace of Jesus and popular pilgrimage destination for Christians. The site is part of UNESCO's World Heritage List and attracts millions of visitors every year.

Courtyard of the Church

The Church dates back to the 4th century, commissioned by Emperor Constantine over the site believed to be where Jesus was born. The main building (currently in the process of being restored) has been built over several Grottos. When we arrived, the queue to enter the site of Jesus' birth was long and estimated to be close to 3 hours. Luckily, our guide knew of a way to get 'small groups' in with priority entry. This reduced our waiting time down to 20 minutes.

Stained glass windows inside the Church

One of the altars in a cave under the Church

Grotto of the Nativity
Entry into the Grotto is strictly regulated as the underground space is limited and large groups of pilgrims were pushing forward towards to the two sites - the place where Jesus was born (marked by a silver star) and a chapel where Jesus lay in the manger.

Inside the Grotto of the Nativity

The entire place was crowded with people

The star marking the spot where Jesus was born

Qaser El Yahud - Baptismal Site
There were two more stops left before we had to cross the border back into Jordan. The first was at the Baptismal site at the River Jordan - a popular site for pilgrims, although the surrounding area is a 'no mans land' mine field with visible yellow danger warning signs.

Seemed like a good place of a photo, until the guide told us
that mines can get moved if it rains heavily

Pilgrims entering the River Jordan

The Jordanian side of the Jordan River, patrolled by
soldiers with very large weapons

Jericho
Our last stop and lunch destination was at the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world - Jericho. Archaeologists believe that they have found evidence of settlements over 11,000 years old.

Behind the palm trees are the remains of the ancient city of
Jericho and its famous walls

According to biblical tradition, Jesus visited Jericho and on his visit he met a tax collector, Zacchaeus who had climbed a fig tree in order to see the procession. The fig tree still lives.

Zacchaeus' fig tree in Jericho

Travel back to Amman
The border crossing back into Jordan was straight forward and required payment of entry tax at the checkpoint immigration building. Our driver delivered us back to the hotel in Amman where we had started our tour. The end of a ten-day eye-opening, enriching cultural trip to Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

Next blog post:

Regensburg and Nuremberg, Germany

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