Tag: personal experience travel

We entered the walls of Old Jerusalem through the Dung Gate. Not sure how it got its name, but the gate was built in the 16^th century. In the 20^th century it was enlarged to allow vehicular traffic. The plaza for the western wall is a short distance inside of the gate. We were visiting the portion of the western wall known as the Wailing Wall. It was the Sabbath, however, so no photography was allowed. We also needed to write down any prayers on slips of paper in advance. Men and women were in separate sections.

One of the other women in my group and I walked over to the wall and placed our hands on it while praying. We both swore afterwards that we could feel a vibration coming from the wall. We asked a few others if they felt it, but they said they didn’t. Tol said that he has had others say they have experienced the same thing. Usually just a few within the group.

We walked from there up El Wad Road to the Third Station of the Cross. We were unable to gain entry to where the first two stations were located, so we started with #3. Although I did take photos at each station, there really wasn’t much there other than a disc marking the location. Can’t say that they make for fascinating photography, but I have included one of them here with the Via Dolorosa street sign. The Ninth Station is just outside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with stations 10 through 14 inside of the church.

As we progressed through the stations, we seemed to pick up a few more people here and there along the way. By the time we reached the church, we had a pretty good crowd. Inside of the church, it was once again supremely crowded. After Bethlehem, I was prepared for that and knew I needed to concentrate on what I was doing in order to keep safe. I don’t recommend this for children. As a short adult, it was very easy to get shoved around. Staying on my feet and being able to breathe when sandwiched between two much larger people were my goals. For the most part, people were fairly respectful of where we were. But then there were those who definitely were not. These were the ones doing most of the pushing and shoving as opposed to just quietly waiting their turn as the crowd inched along.

As we climbed up towards the summit of what is believed to be Golgotha, we could see the actual rock through the glass, including the split, which took place at the moment of Jesus’ death. Despite the reflection, I did get a photo. At the top was another star that we needed to crawl to and place our hand inside. After that point, the crowd eased up a bit until the tomb. Then it became crushing again.

A project to refurbish the tomb took place a few years after my visit in 2010. During that refurbishment, the archeologists involved found that there was a second marble slab beneath the one that had been visible since about the 1100s. The mortar for this slab was dated to the 4^th century. Beneath it was the original limestone slab upon which the body would have been laid out. This slab and the remnants of the rock-hewn cave around it (which remains enclosed within the shrine, but with the top sheared off) were dated to the 1^st century. So this means that the dates are correct. It seems that Hadrian built a pagan shrine over this too, which was there when Constantine’s mom, Helen, arrived to try to find it. The location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was outside of the city in the 1^st century.

After leaving the church, we walked through the Jewish Quarter to the Armenian Quarter. Then we went through the Zion Gate to Mount Zion where we visited the Upper Room. Unfortunately this location has been found to not be old enough (12^th century) to have existed at the time of the Last Supper. However, it is likely near the original site and it is above what is considered to be King David’s Tomb (although it is hotly debated by some as to whether the tomb is here or in Bethlehem).

I have always liked David. He made a lot of mistakes and was far from perfect, yet he loved God and God loved him. I was really looking forward to seeing the tomb. But, there were separate sections for men and women. The men could view the tomb head on, while the women were to the side of the tomb and gated off from it. I wanted to get as close to the gate as I could and didn’t notice the step just in front of the gate. I fell off the step and smacked into the gate, bruising my hand. I had a dollar bill in that hand to buy a bottle of water when we returned to our coach, which shot from my hand and landed on the floor just in front of the sarcophagus.

Once Tol determined that I hadn’t seriously injured myself, he began to tease me about it. For the rest of the time we were in Israel, whenever the subject of David came up, he would say something like, “Trisha tried to join David in the tomb,” or “when David wakes up (when the Messiah comes), he’ll have a dollar for a bottle of water,” or “now other tourists will think you’re supposed to toss money into the tomb.”

Because of the Sabbath, we had lunch at a kibbutz just outside of Jerusalem. Then we visited the Mount of Olives to get a panoramic view of the city. There was a camel hanging out there who was relatively friendly. I did not try to pet him, however. Although I was tempted, I restrained myself. We could look across the Kidron Valley and see where David’s son, Absalom’s tomb was located.

When we came down from the Mount of Olives, we visited the Garden of Gethsemane. I was glad to see that part of it was still a garden with olive trees. Some of the trees were really old too, which added to the atmosphere. Inside of the church is what is called the “Rock of the Agony”. This is the rock upon which it is believed that Jesus prayed on the night of His betrayal.

The House of Caiaphas is an ongoing archeological dig that is located partially under the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu, which was built where Peter denied Jesus three times. The House of Caiaphas was where Jesus was imprisoned before standing trial. We were able to go down into the dungeon and to the cell where Jesus was reportedly held. We were also able to walk on some 1^st century steps outside of the house where Jesus most likely walked when he was brought there and taken away later.

Next time – more of our adventures in Jerusalem.

The rocky plateau near the Dead Sea known as Masada was initially fortified by King Herod in 37 to 31 BC. He built two palaces there, parts of which can still be seen. In 70 AD, after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, several members of a Jewish sect called the Sicarii joined a settlement that had begun roughly four years earlier at the top of the plateau.

In roughly 73 AD, Lucius Flavia Silva, the Roman Governor of Judea, launched a siege against the Sicarii at Masada. Jewish prisoners of war were used by the Romans to build a siege ramp to allow the Romans access to the fortress. Because the Sicarii did not want to kill their Jewish brothers who were building the ramp, they did not stop them. Once the ramp was completed, a siege tower was pulled up the ramp and a battering ram and fire were used to breach the wall.

This was when the decision was made not to be captured and enslaved by the Romans. Suicide is very much against Jewish religious beliefs. All of the men were to kill their own families, while ten men were selected to kill all of the other men. Those ten men drew lots as to who would be the last man standing. He would then need to kill himself. Archeologists have discovered what they believe are the lots within the synagogue. Roughly 960 people ended up being killed. The story is known because two women and their children hid in one of the cisterns and survived.

Upon arriving at the visitor center for the site, we watched a short film before taking the cable car to the top. It is possible to take the Snake Path up instead, which was the path that the Sicarii used. Or one can go around to the other side of the mountain and walk up the siege ramp. I chose the cable car. I wanted to spend as much time as possible actually on the plateau as opposed to getting there. Otherwise, I might have tried the Snake Path.

At the end of the film, the narrator said, “We invite you to climb the mountain.” That got to me. I had watched a TV movie about Masada as a child and have long been fascinated by the story. On the way up, I stood at the front of the cable car with my video camera in hand filming. At the top, the presence of Masada’s prior residents was palpable. I was in awe.

Some parts have been restored and some have been left as they were found. I walked around, took photos and videos, and looked at everything. I stood and stared at the Upper and Lower Palace, the Synagogue, the cisterns, the Roman Army camps, the Bath House, and the ramp, as well as the remains of all of the other buildings.

It was possible to explore much of the remains of the Upper and Lower Palace. They had steps between the levels so getting up and down wasn’t too difficult. The Synagogue still had some of its walls as well as seating. The cisterns were in pretty good shape in addition to a couple of pools. The Bath House had enough of it remaining that I could get a good idea of what it was like when it was in use. Some of the paint was still on the walls. But the parts I found absolutely chilling were the remains of the Roman Army camps down below (roughly 10,000 troops compared to less than a thousand Sicarii) and the ramp. Looking over the wall and down the ramp was memorable and the pile of rocks that were not used against the builders of the ramp was poignant.

Sitting on the rock pile was a bird called a Tristran’s Raven, which is found only in the Dead Sea area and is quite prevalent at Masada. Another unique animal in the Dead Sea area is an Ibex (sort of like an antelope). We encountered several of them in Ein Gedi, where we had lunch. Ein Gedi was where David went to hide from King Saul in order to escape his wrath.

On the way to Masada, we had passed by Qumran, where many of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. But not all of the scrolls were discovered at Qumran. They were found all over the Dead Sea area, including in a small room in the synagogue at Masada.

After lunch, we went to a private beach and waded into the Dead Sea. The water felt very slimy to me. Although I could get it washed off of me pretty well, I thought my suit would never recover.

A few years back, I saw an episode of the television series “Ghost Hunters” in which they were investigating Masada. They captured a very haunting image of what appeared to be a lone, robe-clothed man next to one of the small buildings that had been there at the time and is still intact. Could he have been the “last man standing”?

Our morning visit was to the Garden Tomb. Although it gives a pretty good idea of what a tomb of a well-to-do person (Joseph of Arimethea) in the 1^st century would have looked like, it only dates to the 4^th century. It is in a beautiful setting.

Next we headed for Ein Karem (an ancient town roughly five miles outside of Jerusalem in the 1^st century) and visited the Church of Saint John the Baptist. It was necessary to make our way slowly down several steep stairs to a grotto. This was supposed to be the exact spot where Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, gave birth to John the Baptist.

On our way from the Church of Saint John the Baptist to the Church of the Visitation, we encountered what is known as Mary’s Well. This was where Mary is said to have stopped for a drink of water before making her way up the very steep, long road to visit Elizabeth. Both women were quite pregnant at the time. They don’t let anyone drink there anymore. So it was a good thing I had a bottle of water with me.

The Church of the Visitation had a grotto where the meeting is reported to have taken place. This church (probably because of the long, steep climb to get there) was much less crowded than the Church of Saint John the Baptist had been. It also had a beautiful garden.

Bethlehem was in the control of the Palestinians. To go there, we needed to enter a secured area with walls, barbed wire and armed guards. There we left our coach, tour director, and driver to get on a different bus with a new driver and tour guide. Then, after we showed our passports and our hosts were satisfied, we drove into Bethlehem and had lunch at a place that overlooked Shepherd’s Field.

After lunch, Esau (our guide) took us to a gift shop which had several figures carved from olive wood. Then we were taken to the Church of the Nativity. At 5’3” I don’t usually have to duck when going through a doorway. But I did need to duck a little at the doorway to this church as it is less than five feet in height. Originally the door was much larger. But it was reduced in size initially to prevent theft and again to require people to bend down as they enter. It is called the Door of Humility.

The church was commissioned in 327 AD by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine. Back in 135 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian had a temple to Adonis built over the site because he wanted to obliterate the place where it was believed the Christ child had been born. Instead of destroying the site, Hadrian’s actions actually preserved it. In the 6^th century, the Samaritans destroyed much of Constantine’s church. So Emperor Justinian rebuilt it. Since then, the church has needed various repairs mostly due to earthquakes and the occasional fire.

We needed to wait in line for roughly an hour before we were able to make our way down into the grotto. The church was extremely crowded, but we took turns stepping out from our group to take some photos and explore. There were some doors over the original mosaic floors which were open so that we could see them.

When we finally got to the entrance to the grotto, there were some steps in a semi-circle leading down into it. Fortunately I managed to be right next to the wall and could make sure I kept my balance in the crowd by keeping my hand on the wall. I would have liked to have gotten a photo of the steps down, but I couldn’t even see them until I was on the brink of them. Then, I needed to concentrate on making my way down them before I was pushed or fell. Of course, I might not have been able to fall at all. I might have been simply carried down by the crowd.

At the altar, it was necessary to get on one’s hands and knees and crawl in. I figured out ahead of time what I wanted to do when I reached the spot with the star. That was important as I knew I wouldn’t have much time once I got there. So, the photo shows part of a man’s hand because I took it as he was backing out and before I crawled in. Once I was in there, I thrust my hand through the hole in the center of the star, patted the rock beneath, and prayed. Whether or not it is truly the exact place where Jesus was born, doesn’t really matter to me. It is what the place represents.

Backing out, I found that it was nearly as difficult to get out of the grotto as it was to get in. I definitely had no way of seeing what else was down there. I heard that the Altar of the Three Wise Men was just opposite of the main altar, but it wasn’t possible to get to it. I have heard from others who have traveled to Israel that they did not experience quite the crowds that I did. Apparently I happened to go at a very busy time, even though it was in the spring, not in what was supposed to be the heavy travel season of summer.

I was exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel. As an introvert, I find large crowds to be draining. But I had that whole suite to myself. So I stretched out and relaxed before I needed to get to bed in order to get up early the next day to head to Masada.

One of the things about Israel is that, wherever something important happened, they build a church on top of it. While it is true that doing that preserves the location, it also makes it difficult to use one’s imagination to picture what it looked like at the time of the event. The Mount of the Beatitudes, where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount wasn’t as much of a challenge as some since it was still a mountain. We got in line to see the interior and had some time to walk around outside.

At Tabgha, we visited a couple of churches. The first one was the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes. Under the altar is the rock considered to be the one upon which Jesus divided the two fish and five loaves of bread. A church was built there in the 4^th century, with a larger church and monastery built in the 5^th century. In the courtyard of the church was an ancient olive press.

The second church was a short distance away – the Church of St Peter’s Primacy. This was where Jesus revealed Himself for the fourth time after His resurrection. He asked His disciples who they said He was. Peter responded that he believed Jesus was the Christ. So Jesus declared Peter to be the rock upon which He would build His church. Inside the church is the actual rock upon which this took place. The church was on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, so I walked down to the water, removed my shoes and socks and waded in.

Capernaum is a fishing village on the shores of the Sea of Galilee that was lived in consistently from the 2^nd century BC to the 11^th century AD. Jesus preached in the synagogue there and it was Matthew’s home town. We explored the current synagogue, which dates to the 4^th century. We also viewed the excavations of ancient Capernaum. Underneath an octagonal church are the remains of what is believed to have been Peter’s house. The church has been raised up on stilts so the house can be seen. The older structures in the village were built from Basalt, which is a black rock native to the area.

For lunch, we had St Peter’s Fish. It had been cooked whole. I’m not a fan of having my food stare back at me, which is why I get lobster tails and crab legs instead of the whole crab or whole lobster. The option was given to take the fish away, remove the head and debone it. I was happy to take them up on that offer, wimp that I am. It was a pretty decent tasting fish.

After lunch, we headed for the spot on the River Jordan where baptisms are currently done. On the way, we passed where the Jordan feeds into the Sea of Galilee. We also went by Kursi, were Jesus exorcized demons from some people and sent them into some swine.

The actual site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus is believed to be located at a part of the River Jordan that is down closer to the Dead Sea and in Jordanian territory. It is called Al-Maghtas. The site we visited is where modern baptisms are performed. They are full-immersion.

Once everyone in our group who wanted to be got baptized, we headed for Beit She’an. The location of this city has long been a strategic one. It is at the base of Mount Gilboa and at an intersection allowing access from the Jordan River to the Jezreel Valley and the Mediterranean as well as from Jerusalem and Jericho to the Sea of Galilee. At around 1004 BC, King Saul and three of his sons were killed while battling the Philistines at Mount Gilboa. Their bodies were then hung from the walls of Beit She’an. Saul’s successor, King David, captured Beit She’an back from the Philistines.

There have been settlements at the site of Beit She’an since roughly the 6^th or 5^th century BC. The ancient city was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD. Most of the excavations that can be seen when touring the site date to the Roman and Byzantine periods. The ruins are quite spectacular and are some of my favorite ancient ruins anywhere. We explored a theatre, gymnasium, bathhouse, some shops, a brothel, quite a few columns, mosaic walkways, and marble walkways.

I had hoped that we would visit Jericho, but it was in Palestinian hands and they weren’t allowing anyone else in. We approached Jerusalem from the East through the Judean wilderness where Jesus was tempted by Satan. It was pretty bleak, but there were people living here and there. They were quite isolated from any other civilization. At one point, we went down into a long tunnel. When we emerged, there was Jerusalem! We pretty much just sat there quietly staring out of the windows of the tour coach with our collective mouths open.

Our hotel was just across the street from the Great Synagogue on King George Street. I somehow had a suite with a couple of sofas, and a dining room table and chairs. Since we were going to be there for five nights, I unpacked and “moved in”. There was a grocers nearby, so I stocked up my little fridge with beverages and fresh fruits.

After spending the night in a hotel on Mount Carmel in Haifa during a 2010 tour to Israel & Jordan, we visited the Baha’i Gardens and the Shrine of the Bab in Haifa after breakfast. The Baha’i is another Muslim sect. The Bab was the founder of the Babi faith, which was the forerunner of the Baha’i faith. His remains are in the shrine. There are nineteen terraced gardens stretching down Mount Carmel from the shrine. The gardens are quite beautiful. The view of Haifa from the gardens is also gorgeous.

In addition to some amazing geraniums (which aren’t an annual in Israel as they are in Minnesota), there were some purple trees called Jacaironda. Since purple is my favorite color, I was especially enamored by those trees.

Our next visit of the day was Akko (Acre). An Ottoman fortress was built on top of the Crusader city. The Knights of St John built a fortress in about 1149. This was lost to the Muslims in 1187 and regained during the Siege of Acre by Richard the Lionhearted as part of the Third Crusade in 1191. Richard and the Templars made their headquarters in Jaffa. We visited vaults, the great hall, dining hall, latrine, and some ongoing excavations. Then we went through a very long tunnel, built by the Templars, which came out at a crypt for a former church. The church no longer exists as a mosque was built in its place. I was a little concerned at first about going down into the tunnel after the experience at Megiddo. But there wasn’t any deep drop under the see-through metal stairs, so no trauma there.

Cana was where Jesus performed his first miracle of changing water into wine at a wedding feast according to the Gospel of John. We didn’t have a long visit there, but stopped to see the church. That was the only special site there.

Tiberius is the largest city on the Sea of Galilee. We took a cruise on Galilee from there. We could see the Golan Heights from the boat. It was a very pleasant ride. The sun was shining and there was a balmy breeze.

 Afterwards we visited a Church of Scotland (Presbyterian)church dedicated to St. Andrew and had a nice chat with the pastor. This was my fault as I saw the church and wanted to take a look inside. The rest of the group followed me. I was kind of an impromptu tour guide.

Not far, in Ginosar, is a 2,000 year old boat. It has been carbon dated and comes from the same era when Jesus and the Disciples were in the area. It can’t be directly connected to them, but it doesn’t really matter as it is the same kind of boat from the same time frame.

We spent the night at Kibbutz Lavi (which means “lion”)where we attended a lecture on Kibbutz life. I could see the Mount of Transfiguration (Mount Taber) from the window of my room. Had a very tasty dinner with food that was grown right there.