Giving Jerusalem a second try

I already wrote a little bit about our first day in Jerusalem, if you missed that post you can find it here.  Luckily even though our first 24 hours in Jerusalem were pretty terrible, the rest of the time there was much better.  We woke up our first full day in Jerusalem a little uneasy about what the day would hold, but we were planning to participate in a walking tour and felt like that would ease us into exploring the city.  The tour was recommended by our hotel and it was free, so we felt like we couldn't pass it up.  If you are ever in Jerusalem, I recommend taking the walking tour from Sandeman's New Europe.  So, after breakfast we made the long walk from our hotel to Jaffa Gate, where the tour was meeting.

We signed up for the tour and met our tour guide Naomi.  She assembled the group and we entered the old city walls to begin learning about Jerusalem and its history.  The old city of Jerusalem is divided into four parts the Christian Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, and the Armenian Quarter.  We started in the Christian Quarter and our first stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is the church built over the place of Jesus' crucifixion and burial tomb.  We didn't have time to go into the church on the tour, but Charles and I went back later that evening to see the different parts of the church.  It truly was amazing to be there and to be among all of the people visiting from all over the world.  After visiting the church we made our way to the Muslim Quarter, which is the largest and most populated section of the old city of Jerusalem with about 24,000 people living there.  Naomi pointed out that some of the graffiti we noticed the day before when we were wandering lost, was actually happy graffiti.  The tradition is to spray graffiti on the home of someone who has recently returned from their pilgrimage to Mecca, which is indicated by hanging a sign above the door of the home.  Next, we made our way to the Western Wall, also sometimes called the Wailing Wall.  Naomi explained that the reason it is so important to the Jewish people is that it is the closest that they can get to the Temple Mount that now lies under the Muslim Mosque called the Dome of the Rock.  The Dome of the Rock is built over the place where Muslims believe that Mohammed left earth and ascended to heaven.  It seemed that everywhere we turned all of the religions seemed to overlap in both history and time, all in this one small city.  After the Western Wall we continued into the Jewish Quarter, which was extremely quiet, since it was Saturday morning.  Naomi explained that this section of the old city looked entirely new because it was rebuilt after the Six Day War.  She also showed us where the new part of the old city is built over the roman ruins, you can see the main street below with Roman columns on either side of the wide avenue.  From the Jewish Quarter we made our way down Ararat Street and into the Armenian Quarter.  Mount Ararat is the mountain where it is believed Noah's Ark landed.  It used to be within the borders of Armenia, but now lies in Turkey, although the image of the mountain still appears on the Armenian crest.  The Armenian's claim to be the first nation to convert to Christianity and they have been in Jerusalem since the first century B.C.  There are very few Armenian's still living in the Old City, but we enjoyed learning about their history, and eating Armenian food for lunch once the tour was over. 

Outside of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Happy Graffiti and Sign of Pilgrimage to Mecca

Western Wall

Lunch - Armenian Restaurant

After our morning of touring Charles wanted to paint and I decided to stay with Naomi for a second tour of the Mount of Olives.  Charles and I went our separate ways agreeing to meet at the Austrian Hospice in the center of the Old City at around 5:15.  On the afternoon tour of the Mount of Olives we went to the following sites:

• Chapel of Ascension - which marks the spot where Jesus ascended into heaven (it is now a mosque)
• Convent of Pater Noster - the convent built where Jesus taught the disciples the Lord's Prayer, it includes the Lord's Prayer in hundreds of languages, it was wonderful
• Jewish Cemetery - which is where Jews believe the resurrection will begin when the messiah comes
• Church of Dominus Flevit - which is the place where the Lord wept and predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple
• Garden of Gethsemane - the place where Jesus was arrested the night before his crucifixion
• Church of All Nations - the place where Jesus prayed before his arrest
• Tomb of the Virgin Mary - believed by some to be the tomb of the Virgin Mary, there is some discrepancy here between the actual place and beliefs of whether Mary was buried before she ascended, or simply fell asleep and ascended to heaven. 

The tour was wonderful and Naomi did a fantastic job with the information about the Mount of Olives.  I also had the chance to meet some wonderful people on the afternoon tour - Mark and Jenny from London and Edwina from Australia.  I really enjoyed swapping travel stories and learning about what brought them to Jerusalem.  Believe me when I say I was overwhelmed in so many ways with all of the history in Jerusalem.  It is amazing to walk in the places where all of these biblical stories took place and originated.  Unfortunately, since I was on the tour by myself most of the pictures are just of scenery. 

Door of the Chapel of Ascension

The Lord's Prayer in Maori in the Convent of Pater Noster

On the Mount of Olives looking towards the Old City

Jewish Cemetery

Garden of Gethsemane and Church of Nations

After a long day of touring I met Charles at the Austrian Hospice and we found a spot for dinner.  His painting of the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock is beautiful and he had some great interaction with kids from the Old City who stopped to admire his painting.  Overall our second day in Jerusalem made us realize that coming to Jerusalem was not a mistake after all. 

The next morning we woke up and our hotel had no power....but we had a plan for the day so we just went with it.  We walked to the old city and got some breakfast (since our hotel didn't have power they weren't able to supply coffee) and then set off to walk the ramparts of the old city.  Walking the walls of the city was a great way to see Jerusalem and be away from all of the other tourists and vendors in the winding streets of the city.  In the afternoon we visited the archeological site of the City of David, the Church of  Dormition (the place where the Virgin Mary lived after Jesus was Crucified) and the place where the Last Supper took place.  All without a guide, which felt like a big accomplishment.  After our sightseeing we decided to find a place Charles could paint and we could relax before we went to mass that evening.  All in all a great day in Jerusalem. 

Charles with the Old City wall and a UN vehicle

Inside the room of the Last Supper