Day Three: Jerusalem

The Tour Itinerary:
Today is free for private activities. Later in the day transfer on your own to Bethlehem and check-in at your hotel where you'll join the other member of your group who are arriving this evening.

The Hacheys and I met for breakfast at 8:00 in the hotel's dining area. Breakfast was buffet style, and there were a great number of choices all of which were good. Although we were going to be in Jerusalem all day, we had to pack up and check out of our rooms since we were moving on to Bethlehem that evening.

The Old City of Jerusalem is completely enclosed by walls. The city can be entered through one of the eight gates that pierce the walls. The Jerusalem of Jesus's time was smaller than it is today, but some of the walls that existed then still exist today. A map of the Old City is on the previous page. Our first objective was the Dome of the Rock (picture below) which is accessed via the Dung Gate. We were told the Dome was open to non-Muslims until 10:30 after which the area would be cleared for late morning prayers but learned the cut-off time was 10:00. Since we didn’t arrive on site until 9:45, we didn't have much of a stay there. The quick walk-around was probably adequate although we would have liked more time. The Dome sits atop the Temple Mount which is buttressed by the Western Wall, also called the Wailing Wall because some of the people who pray there wail when praying (picture on page 7). We passed by the Wall after leaving the mosque area.

We got a cab to the New City which is west of the Old City in order to get to the Israel Museum. Recognizing that we were Americans, our driver asked us how we liked our new President, Mr. Trump. We were surprised to say the least and some thought the cabbie was kidding. The museum grounds are large and contain galleries, educational facilities and various outdoor and indoor exhibits. One of the major exhibits is on the Dead Sea Scrolls. The exhibition area is very nicely designed and offers much information on the people, mostly or maybe entirely men, who lived at Qumran around the time of Christ. I later learned that the portions of the Scrolls on exhibit are copies so that the originals don't sustain any damage. Close to that exhibit is a very large outdoor model of Jerusalem as it was laid out around the time of Christ (picture on next page). After seeing the Scrolls and the model, we spent the remainder of our time in the archeological and historical sections of the main gallery. Canaanite, Egyptian, Hebrew,

Roman, Byzantine, and successive Muslim periods are well represented to show how they influenced the development of the culture of Jerusalem. It was well done. Pictures of some museum exhibits are on page 9.

We cabbed back to the Tower of David Museum located just inside the Jaffa Gate. Again we got the question on how we liked our new President and began to realize that Trump really had won the election. The museum is housed in a citadel some parts of which precede the Babylonian exile. At the time of Jesus, Herod the Great used it as his headquarters when in Jerusalem. Its main tower is the highest in the Old City and affords panoramic views of the surroundings. It is a castle-like structure with an open area in the center where a little bit of an archeological dig is in process. There were few exhibits none of which were noteworthy. The main attraction is the building. Pictures are on page 10.

From there we took a slow walk back to the Damascus Gate which was the nearest gate to the Grand Court Hotel. We walked through the narrow, twisting streets lined with markets selling all types of goods from clothing to home decor to food. It reminded me of the Grand

Bazaar in Istanbul although with much more variety. We had walked a bit through a different section of the Old City with the same type of markets between our exit from the Dome of the Rock and our ride to the Israel Museum. We stopped for drinks and a needed break during our late afternoon market walk. We got the Trump question a couple of times from store keepers, and I started claiming that I was Canadian to avoid questions. A picture of the Hasheys in one of the Old City streets is to the right.

After we exited through the Damascus Gate, we returned to the Grand Court Hotel. We got their dinner buffet which was the equal of the morning buffet. We then claimed our bags and got a taxi to Bethlehem. We arrived at the Mount David Hotel about 9:00pm only to find that I had a reservation but the Hacheys didn’t. The staff provided the Hacheys a room. We learned the next day that George’s Tours had provided the hotel with incorrect names for the one triple room booked. The rest of our tour group got in about 1:00am which I noticed because of the noise they made. The hotel staff is very friendly, but the hotel doesn't deserve the ratings it got.

Jerusalem is a fascinating city. It is much hillier and greener than I expected. Almost all the buildings, particularly those closer to the Old City, are done in Jerusalem Stone, a whitish limestone. Newer

buildings are built of concrete or other material but all are clad in Jerusalem Stone. It makes for a pretty city. The distances between many points mentioned in the Gospels are much less than I had imagined. The many hills, however, must have made for slow going if one had to walk them.

Accommodations: Mount David Hotel
> Manger Street, Bethlehem, Palestine
> Phone: ++972-2-2766511
> Highly rated, free WiFi