Israel - Holy Cultures Day 10

Day 10 - Sunday, October 24, 2010 - Western Wall Tunnels/ Israel Museum/ Optional Bethlehem Tour

Our alarm went off at 6:00 because Ran had scheduled our tour of the Tunnels and Western Wall at 7:00. We had another cool day; the temperature was 67º and the humidity was 79%.

Everyone gathered early and we rode our bus to the site of the ancient first and second temples, King Herod’s castle, and now the Temple Mount and home of the Muslim Mosque.

Ran gave us an excellent overview of the history of the area with the help of a diorama that showed exactly which buildings were situated on this hilltop. We began the tour with the tunnels that were excavated in 1967 and only 12 years ago opened to the public.

The tunnels were dug by the Jews to get closer to the revered Second Temple and also for purposes of archeological excavations. Walking on the original stones of the days of Jesus and his followers was very interesting as well as seeing the well preserved stone constructions of the Herodian period.

The next discovery was the Wailing Wall for Jews. The remaining exposed Western Wall is only 230 feet and a plaza was made for Jews to pray after the 1967 take over of Jerusalem.

There is a large section for men and a smaller section for women to worship and many pilgrims have left little prayer notes in the cracks of the walls. Gennie wrote a little note and put it in a very tight crack, as the legend says prayers and wishes will be granted.

After our visit to the Western Wall, we came back through the lines of people wanting to get in to see this sacred place. We now know the importance of Ran’s timing in getting us there early!

We had a late breakfast and then went to visit the Israel Museum. We went right to the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls which were found in 1947 and written in perfect Hebrew that can be translated today.

We also saw an incredible scale model of Jerusalem that was helpful in visualizing all of holy places in the Biblical times. There is a newly remodeled museum containing artifacts from ancient times all the way to a section of modern art.

We had an hour to discover as much as we could – a very well done museum! At this time we discovered that our GPS was no longer working so our readers will not have a detailed map of our ramblings.

After meeting at 12:00 we walked to the Parliament – The Knesset and the Supreme Court and then met our bus. Firas drove us back to the hotel and we had an hour for lunch.

Taking advantage of all of the open shops and cafés, we had pizza and then hurried back to the hotel to join the others for our optional trip to Bethlehem.

We left at 2:00 but Ran could not go with us as we were going into the Territory of Palestine and we would have a Palestinian guide.

There was no problem entering the gates of the Palestinian Authority and going over the border; we did not even have to show our passports although we had brought them along.

It was just a 30 minute drive to Bethlehem where we met Nael, our guide for the afternoon.

We walked right to the Church of the Nativity that is being renovated and restored. The church was constructed by St. Helena, the mother of Constantine 300 years after the birth of Jesus.

The original church was built over the stable where Mary is believed to have given birth to Jesus. Long lines of pilgrims were there to see the “exact cave”, but Nael told us that no one knew for sure which of these underground grottos was the true site.

Avoiding the lines we went to the church next door, the church of St. Catherine and went down under that church to connecting grottos below. Our afternoon tour also included a visit to Shepherd’s Field, in a near by village where an angel is said to have announced Christ’s birth.

Our last stop of the day was a visit to a traditional olive wood carving shop that turned out to be another Stop & Shop. We returned to the bus and left Bethlehem.

On the way back into Jerusalem we had to stop and an Israeli solider stepped on the bus and looked at us and passed us through. In about 40 minutes we were back at the hotel just in time for happy hour.

Instead of going out for dinner we had gone to the supermarket and bought bread, cheese, and meat so we had a little snack, finished the journal and called it a day.

Accommodations: Harmony Hotel, Jerusalem, IL- - - Meal: B

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