Jewels of Jerusalem

We travelled by boat from Egypt to Haifa and took the bus to Jerusalem. It was hard to believe we were in Israel.

It was even harder to believe how cold it was — 8°C. This was our coldest day in over two years of travelling across Asia-Pacific. December usually comes with a high temperatures of 14°C in Jerusalem. On the plus side there were not many tourists. In fact, October-November is the peak season and should be avoided.

The places we describe in our blog can be seen in our Israel-Palestine Map.

The Old City

When we approached the Jaffa Gate to the old city of Yerushalayim (which means means “city of peace” in Hebrew), the immensity of thousands of years of history hit us. Belief in one God started here and spawned three of the world’s major religions. It didn’t matter that the massive walls were built only 500 years ago during the Ottoman Empire. Everything felt thousands of years old.

Western Wall of the Temple Mount

Needless to say, our first stop was the oh so symbolic Wailing Wall, the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. It is a 44 metre (144 foot) retaining wall for a gigantic land fill built by King Herod as a base for the Second Temple.

For 19 years until the capture of Jerusalem during the Six Day War, Jews were banned from visiting the Western Wall. The army failed to get through Zion Gate, which is pockmarked with many bullet holes.

Now people were praying and squeezing written prayers into gaps in the wall. Thirteen year old boys were celebrating bar mitzvahs. A very enthusiatic Sephardic family danced and played instruments. They made us feel included in their celebration giving us mint liquor and sweets as if we were members of their family.

Dome of the Rock

Dome of the Rock is certainly the most beautiful building in Jerusalem. It was built after the Moslem conquest in 692 CE as a shrine for all pilgrims since Abraham’s Rock of the Sacrifice is sacred to both Moslems and Jews. During the Crusades the mosque was converted into a church. Even though the dome collapsed and was rebuilt in 1022, it is still one of the oldest works of Islamic architecture.

The beautiful blue, green and gold tiles in geometric patterns were lit by the soft morning light. However, unlike today, we were able to visit inside and spent 2.5 hours exploring the Temple Mount.

The interior dome was covered in mosaics by Byzantine artists as the early Islamic era did not have skilled artisans. The tiles display never-ending lines, fruits, flowers and vines since human figures are not allowed in Islam, the same as in Judaism.

Model of Jerusalem

Holyland Model of Jerusalem is a good place to see what Jerusalem used to look like. The Holyland Hotel spent $3.5 million to cut the model into a thousand pieces and rebuild it at the Israel Museum.

The gold-trimmed Second Temple sat in the same position and dominated as much as the Dome of the Rock does today. This 1:50 scale model was based on the writings of historian Flavius Josephus and other sources. The city is shown in the year 66 when the Great Revolt against the Romans started.

General Titus destroyed the city in 70 CE and carted to Rome treasures from Herod’s long rectangular palace. In commemoration of their victory, the Romans constructed the Arch of Titus (81 CE) as the triumphal entry arch to the Roman Forum. The arch includes a bas relief of the procession of treasures into Rome.

The menorah in the bas relief was the model for the emblem of the state of Israel. The arch was the model for other triumphal arches like the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Jewish Quarter

Jewish Quarter has many reconstructed buildings using traditional stone but clearly more modern. After Jerusalem was taken from Jordan during the Six Day War (1967), people wanted to reconstruct the quarter’s focal point, the Hurva Synagogue‎ that was destroyed in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. After years without agreement, one of the four stone arches that had originally supported the synagogue’s monumental dome was recreated in 1977.

We visited an Orthodox family for Shebat meal. The mother came from our birthplace city! We also did some tours such as Sabbath in Mea She’arim, with Hassidic singing and dancing. Mea She’arim, established in 1874, was the first neighbourhood to have street lamps. It is also a Hassidic shtetl. You could almost be in Eastern Europe a century ago with the men wearing long side curls and dressed in black frocks and hats, and the women wearing scarves to cover their hair. Everyone spoke Yiddish as they believe that Hebrew is only for religious purposes. We also went to their synagogue where there was a lot of dancing by the men. The women watched from the upper storey.

You can spend days walking through the alleys of the old city. Suddenly you come across Roman columns below modern street level. The 6th century columns are Roman since there never was a Byzantine Empire. The Roman Empire moved their capital to Constantinople in 330 CE well before Rome the City fell.

This is the Cardo, the main north-south Roman street that leads to the Damascus Gate. This was a covered arcade to protect shoppers. So today it once again has shopping stalls. Some things never change.

Damascus Gate

Damascus Gate was a good location to buy Middle Eastern snacks and crafts.

36% of the population of Jerusalem are Moslem. The Moslem Quarter felt much older and poorer. At a cafe several men are smoking nargilehs (water pipes).

One of the best walks was on top of the walls from Damascus Gate to Lion’s Gate at sunset with glorious views of the Mount of Olives and the silver dome of the Al Aqua Mosque on top of the Temple Mount.

Qidron Valley

Qidron (Kidron) Valley on the way to the Mount of Olives contains some ancient tombs and monuments. Absalom’s Pillar supposedly built by King David’s son, who wanted to become king but was rejected. The memorial was carved in Hellenistic style in the 1st century BC. The Israelis did not have theeir own architectural style and just borrowed the designs of the leading nations. There is an unusual rock-cut Tomb of Zechariah, a prophet, with Ionic half columns and egg and dart decoration topped by an Egyptian-style pyramid.

Mount of Olives

Mount of Olives has a massive cemetary for Jews rich enough to pay for the million dollar plots. The Book of Joel states that the Last Judgement will take place here when the Messiah will resurrect the dead from this spot.

From high up the hill there are spectacular views of the walls of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock. A description of the churches on the Mount of Olives will be described in Christmas in the Holy Land post.

Book: Footloose in Jerusalem (Sarah Kaminkar) provides many self-guided walks with detailed descriptions

Last Post: Masada to Sinai