An Excerpt from Sam's Journal: The Old City of Jerusalem

Tuesday 7/27/10
Day 6
Jerusalem: Old City

We had to wake up super early to get ready for our tour of the Old City. I was really tired. However, at breakfast at Cafe Cafe we saw old Washington friends Leslie, Nadav, and Ori. Then me, my parents, sister, uncles, Aunt Mary, and Mark, met our tour guide, Moshe, at the Old City's Jaffa Gate. 

We walked until we reached the Tower of David.  Inside is a full history of Jerusalem from the Canaanite period to the birth of the State of Israel. It was one my favorite parts of the tour.

View of the Dome of the Rock from the top of Tower of David

We then walked across the Roman-Byzantine ramparts that were not only a defense mechanism for that period, but a battleground in the Six Day War's fight with Jordan for Jerusalem (You can see all the cool bullet holes in the wall at Zion Gate.)

The Mount of Olives from the top of Tower of David

Church of the Holy Sepulchre from top Tower of David

Our little "clan" in the Jewish Quarter (you know how those Jews can be)

Later, we went through Zion Gate to the spiritual home of King David's tomb. (I don't really think he's in there, but it was still a cool experience.) Then we walked to the room of the Last Supper which was fun to walk through. Then we had a falafel lunch (but I had pizza.) After that we went to the Western Wall (the Kotel) and my note was still there! I've heard that others clean out some of the notes in the Wall, so I didn't expect it to be there. We also saw the original depth of the Wall in an inside chamber. We had then gone up to the legendary Temple Mount [Al Quds in Arabic], which in Jewish belief is thought to have been the spot where Adam was created, as well as where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac. We saw the Dome of the Rock which is so big and beautiful even though we couldn't get in [because it is closed to non-Muslims]. According to Muslim belief this is the spot where the prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven and where Abraham nearly sacrificed Ishmael, rather than Isaac.

We then walked to the Via Dolorosa (the path on which Jesus carried the cross), to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Honestly, I thought the Church was sort of creepy.  It made me feel at bit small. Although there was a lot of cool stuff, like the rock where Jesus's crucifix was, the slab of rock where he was prepared for burial (I thought I could see his blood stains!) as well as the structure where his tomb is held. We saw some pretty mosaics too.  I also lit a candle of prayer there.  Moshe showed us the spot where his wife, also a tour guide, thinks tha actual tomb of Jesus is. The Church also had a possible grave site of Adam because Christian belief states that when Jesus was being prepared for burial his blood seeped through the cracks in the ground and "purified" Adam's blood below (I'm pretty skeptical about this though.).

Ella on the Temple Mount. Dome of the Rock in the background.

The tomb of Jesus

Then, we walked through the Cardo (ancient main Roman road through the Old City) and saw the Broad Wall, the only remaining wall from the First Temple. At that point, our day-long tour was over. We all went home to get some rest. Later, we went out for dinner.

Next: The City of David

Sam

P.S. Seeing the Dome of the Rock was another favorite part of mine during our tour.

4,000 years of history in 8 hours can really tucker-out a guy!