During our Holy Land cruise, one of the places we were most excited to visit was Jerusalem. We had originally planned to breeak up into two gorups to also visit Bethlehem since my parents amd sister were travelling along with us and I wasn’t too keen on taking my girls (who were only 3 years and 15 months at the time) in Palestinian territories. Unfortunately though we were not able to dock in Ashdod as we were supposed to, instead staying in Haifa, and the drive was too long to allow time for both the city of Jerusalem tour and Bethlehem.
So we spent the day just doing a walking tour of Jerusalem with a local guide. Like we had done in St. Petersburg, we arranged a private tour since we already had a larger group and we were able to do our own thing at our own pace and have one on one interactions with our guide rather than being among a huge group of tourists.
We entered through Damascus Gate and were instantly immersed in the culture of the city. We wandered through the narrow streets, taking it all in.
Our first stop was at the Austrian Hospice which has views wide over the city. Our guide gave us wonderful insight into Israel’s history and cultural diversity of Jerusalem and the four quarters (Jewish, Catholic, Muslim and Armenian). We could see many of Jesusalem’s great sights from the top of the hospice like the Dome on the Rock and the Temple Mount.
We then traveled down Via Dolorosa, seeing many of the stations along the path where Jesus walked with the cross on the journey to his crucifixion.
We stopped in for lunch in an awesome local restaurant that had not only oodles of cultural character as well as delicious local cuisine. Our guide ordered a variety of local favorites for us to try and arranged for a “special” per person rate though I’m not sure we got the best deal!
We then continued to the Western/Wailing Wall which is only remnant of the Holy Temple and the closest Jewish people can get to the Temple Mount which holds the holy Foundation Stone. The day we were there they were setting up for a military graduation and the plaza was filled with young soldiers praying at the wall and preparing to begin their military duties.
There are many sites around Jerusalem where ancient ruins have been excavated. It was fascinating to see layer upon layer of history. One era literally built on top of another.
Our last stop in Jerusalem was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which is built on the site where Jesus was said to have been crucified and buried. In the church are the Rock of Calvary where Jesus’s cross was raised, the Stone of Anointing where Jesus’s body was prepared for burial and the Aedicule which is where the tomb is located.
