The Old City - Jerusalem - Day 2

The following day, we explored the Old City and all the religious and historical sites it contained. The Old City is actually a labyrinth of cobblestone alleyways, small stone roads, shops of all types, surrounded by a huge stone wall. The city itself is divided into four quarters, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Armenian. We started off the morning visiting the Jewish quarter and the Western Wall (otherwise known as the Wailing Wall).

Both men and women were so focused on their prayers they hardly noticed my presence. I was surprised to see they divided the sexes with a 6 foot wall. I, of course, being of curious mind HAD to see the other side, so I peeked over the wall by standing on a nearby chair. Keep in mind, other ladies were doing it too, so it wasn’t just little ole me peeking over. The difference between the two sides was very obvious; the men were praying loudly rocking back and forth very intently while the women were serenely sitting reading the Torah and they say women are more excitable. From there we took the wooden, raised tunnel up to the Temple Mount to see the Dome of the Rock in the Muslim quarter. I quickly threw on my scarf to cover my arms and we headed in. The Temple Mount area was much larger than I had expected. I guess it could hold well over 500 people during prayer time but today it had a quiet stillness about it. As we walked around the corner, you could see the gold top glowing in the distance.

We sat for a while just taking everything in before heading off to see the Mount of Olives. As you can imagine, the Mount of Olives is, you guessed it on a mountain nearby, so we decided to take the bus up to the top. Thankfully we did so, because it was a steep climb even for our small bus. Once on top, we overlooked all of Jerusalem and could see the entire Old City. To think of what has happened in this city and surrounding areas, is so powerful. As we walked down the road, we ventured into a few nearby churches. My favorite was a Russian Orthodox church that has now turned into a convent. We walked up right as it was closing and we persuaded the nun to let us in. She advised I needed to cover with a garment but I was so confused as to what I needed to cover…arms, hair? Turned out, my pants. Who knew?

I tied my wrap around skirt on and we explored the grounds filled with flowers and plants. The church itself was amazing. Our final destination on the Mount of Olives was Mary’s Tomb. It was probably the most “tomb like” with stairs leading down into a dark cavernous area with an actual tomb of rock guarded by a church deacon. As we headed back to the hotel, it was time to celebrate Rob’s birthday properly with a great meal.