The Old City

Today was a whirlwind tour/marathon walk through and around the oldest part of the city of Jerusalem, the part that was walled in by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. We had many brief stops in historically significant places: Gethsemane, the Church of All Nations, the Grotto at Gethsemane, the church of St. Peter Gallicantu (on the site where Peter is said to have denied Jesus), King David’s tomb, an (the?) upper room, the Jerusalem Archaeological Park, the Western (or Wailing) Wall, the Via Dolorosa, the Arab street markets, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (which some say is the site of Christ’s tomb) and the Garden Tomb (which some other people say is the site of Christ’s tomb). It was a very full (and very hot) day.

Some highlights:

Have you ever heard that Jesus prayed on the night of his betrayal, not in a garden, but a cave? A good case can be made that the grotto or cave of Gethsemane is where Jesus and his disciples spent that night. An adult education class anyone?
At the Archaeological Park, Mom and I saw the first century steps leading up to the temple mount. Jesus and the disciples would certainly have walked here, and Jesus may have taught here. The first century stones are the worn ones right behind us.

The traditional site of Christ’s tomb has been turned into a church, and the space inside is hotly contested by 4 very old denominations: the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Church and the Coptic Church. It is not unusual for fistfights between clergy to break out in the church on Easter Sunday. Here’s another example: in the photo below, , if you look closely, you can see a ladder resting on the large, upper window on the right hand side. That ladder has been there since at least 1852, because the groups cannot agree on who has the right to move it. You can read the full story at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre#Status_quo.

As a nation, Israel is very much focused on security and religion, as the t-shirt below attests.

Christa wanted me to take pictures of the food we’re eating, to remind her of the great meals we had on our trip to Turkey two years ago. This is one of the salad bars. I won’t torture you with the pictures of the dessert table.