Old City Jerusalem

Much of what we saw in Jerusalem was inside the walls of the Old City.  This area has changed over thousands of years, ruled over by many different groups of people.  Today it is shared by the Jews, Muslims, Christians and Armenians.  And much of it is dedicated to souvenier shops.  But, we spent a day and half exploring the area and learned alot about the history and the important events that occurred there.

A view of the Old City

Dome of the Rock on the left

Where Muhammed ascended to heaven

and Abraham sacrificed the ram instead of Isaac

A mural depicting life inside city walls in Roman Period

Our kids kind of blend right in!

Dome of the Rock framed by Hassidic Jews

Western Wall and the Temple Mount

Western Wall is the only remaining portion

of the 2nd temple built by Herod

Small church dedicated to St Peter

stands where St Peter denied Jesus a 3rd time

A portion of original stone wall where Jesus stumbled

while carrying the cross.  His hand left imprint.

Here Simon was pulled from the crowd to help

carry the cross.

The spot of the crucifixtion

now inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The actual top portion of Mt Golgotha

is visible and accessible below the shrine

The stone on which Jesus' body was laid to 

prepare for burial

Also inside Church of Holy Sepulcher

 The shrine surrounding the tomb

which is now encased in marble

also inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

I would like to go back to Jerusalem someday because you really need more time than a day and half to explore the old city well.  We sped through many sites and did not have time to wait in the lines to view the crucifixtion site or the tomb.  I'm sure we only saw about a 1/4 of the whole walled city.

Someone out there is not paying attention!!!

I just got to the blog without a proxy, without a VPN.  Better hurry before someone figures it out.

Shmuel Browns - Jerusalem Tour Guide

I think our guide in Jerusalem deserves a post of his own.  Perhaps others searching for guides will come across this blog and we can help further his business.  If you are ever going to Jerusalem, we highly recommend Shmuel as a guide.  He is extremely knowledgeable about the history, architecture, and the archaeological sites in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas.  He is religiously unbiased in his presentation and politically neutral in his presentation of Israeli/Palestinian relations (and we really pushed him on the issue a few times.)  He made sure we had a balanced itinerary with plenty to keep the kids entertained and the adults educated and a good mix of natural and historic sites.  He went beyond the call of duty with long hours, helping with taxi arrangements, recommending restaurants (and pubs) and being flexible with our big group (which included sometimes cranky kids).  He has a good heart, an intellectual mind, and alot of energy!  You can read more about him on his own blog: http://israeltours.wordpress.com/

Giving us an archaeological intro at a digsite outside the Old City

Explaining the layout of the Old City during the Roman Period

Pointing out the sites at Masada

Singing a Psalm for us in Hebrew inside St Anne's church in the Old City

Thank you, Shmuel for a great week in Israel.  You made it memorable and we are eager to return!

Hezekiah's Tunnel

Hezekiah was a Judean king around 700 BC.  In preparations for war with the Assyrians he dug a 1700 foot tunnel through the bedrock around Jerusalem to protect the water supply to the city.  Just recently, they opened this tunnel to tourists and you can walk the length of it underground through the spring water which still flows.  Of course, we did this.  The kids knew we were going to do this and looked forward to it the whole day, as it was the last thing we did.  I was a bit nervous about being in a small space underground but it wasn't too bad.  The water was freezing but mostly only calf deep but at the start it was quite deep and most of us got wet.

The water at its deepest wasn't quite this deep but close!

Heading underground

Olivia and Courtnie lead the way.

Tiny flashlights were our only light source.

Emily, Tyler and Shmuel (our guide) behind me.

Of course, Emily screamed alot - she lost her shoe, the water was cold, it was scary, etc.

Amazing that this was carved out of the bedrock in 700 BC.  How did they do it?  How did they know what path to take? How did they engineer it so the water would flow through it?

Dig!!

Our guide made arrangements for us to participate in the Temple Mount Sifting Project.  The Temple Mount is where the original Jewish Temple was and where now stands the Dome of the Rock and an Islamic mosque.  Several years ago the mosque got permission from the antiquities authority to build a new entrance to the mosque.  In fact what they were doing was digging underground to expand the mosque.  They were secretly dumping truckload after truckload of dirt from this ancient area.  A group discovered what was happening a acquired authority over the dump soil.  It was transferred to donated land and now they have been sifting the dirt for more than 5 years.  And we got to have our chance at being amateur archaeologists.

One of the volunteers showing the kids how to sift

Archaeologists in action

Mostly we found bits of broken pottery and pieces of mosaic but there were also some bones (most likely from animal sacrifice), glass, and metal.  Emily hit the jackpot when she found a small orange bead.  It was assumed to be a glass bead from jewelry but after it was cleaned off and examined closer they decided it was made of some precious stone used 1500 years ago!  Her find got it's own little labeled ziplock bag for safe keeping and they took her name and email so she can get credit for the find should it be determined to be significant.

The kids definitely could have stayed here all day digging in the dirt.  I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of them adds archaeologist to their list of "what I want to be" after this experience.

Ein Gedi Oasis

I was most surprised by the landscape of Israel.  I guess it can best be described as rugged desert.  There is not much greenery and alot of rocky hills and canyons.  Here are a few views:

There are natural springs scattered throughout the country and are the only reason that Jerusalem was able to thrive.  We got to visit one of the natural springs called Ein Gedi - or Goat Spring - named after the ibex (goats) that thrive in the area.  We took a short hike in to get to the spring and spotted some ibex and hyrax, a rodent-type animal that lives in the area.  You can see that even the hike in is still pretty "brown".

We arrive at the upper spring where the water is cool

and there is a cool.....

waterfall!!

The Everetts brought a Nerf football and Frank and Chris played catch.

Our guide said definitely a first that he knew of!

This was definitely another popular stop for the kids.  They would have liked to stay and explore for alot longer but the reserve was closing.

Dead Sea

A favorite stop for all but Marcy - a float in the Dead Sea!  The salt levels are so high that any little cut or abrasion on your skin burns pretty badly.  Marcy felt like her whole body was burning so she kept having to get out and rinse off in the showers.  But, it was truly an amazing experience.  You literally can't make yourself sink and the water forces you up as soon as you lift your feet.  Everything just above the water level is crusted with salt crystals.  There wasn't much mud where we were - that would have been fun as well.  And best of all - the water was warm!

A boat out on the Dead Sea - 

a very rare sight according to our guide

Salt encrusted rock on the shoreline

FLOATERS!

I would love to go back some day and spend a day at one of the nice resorts on the sea.  Maybe slather myself in the mineral rich mud and see if the health benefits of the Dead Sea are true!