Solo trippin' in Israel and Jordan: Day 4: Jerusalem

Tower of David

I went to join a 9 am Jerusalem introductory tour. The tour was tip based only and was by the same group of people who did the Amsterdam free tour. Long story short, the tour was terrible and I was glad it only lasted two hours. What the tour covered was the four quarters of Jerusalem: Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Armenian. The tour guide very briefly covered the history of each quarter and then goes in depth about the development of each quarter. I didn't remember much of it because he just went on and on and it was obvious that no one paid any attention to him. The thing that I disliked most was that it was secular. How can you tell the secular side of Jerusalem when it is probably the holiest city in the world for many? Well, the highlight of the tour was probably the beginning of the tour: the Tower of David.

The tour ended at around 11:30 am and so I went to join a paid ($20) tour called the Temple Mount tour. The tour was advertised to show the holy sites of Jerusalem, with the highlight of the tour being the Temple Mount area, which is the area where the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is considered to be the 3rd holiest site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina, and the Dome of the Rock is located. Historically, the Temple Mount is where the Jewish Temple was believed to be located. To my surprise, the same tour guide from the 9 am tour is leading this paid tour. I took the tour anyways because I have nothing else better to do and I came to appreciate this decision.

Entrance to the Church of Holy Sepulchre


The site of crucifixion.

The tour started in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This particular church is considered to be the holiest site for Christians because it holds the tomb of Jesus, as well as the area where he was crucified. Pilgrims would come to do the Via Dolorosa and follow the entire 13 stations of the cross so this place is very packed most of the time. Of course the one thing that I disliked about this place is the disrespect that some non-Christian tourists showed. For example, look at the lady in the white shirt in the picture of the slab. She was posing for a picture and then shortly after posed for another picture of her kissing the slab. Obviously, the lady was oblivious as to how special that stone means to certain people. Total disrespect in my opinion, just for facebook pictures.

The slab where the body of Jesus was anointed and wrapped for burial

This Church is actually occupied by five different Christian denominations. The areas are divided and tensions are high in this Church. Any change in the state of the Church has to be approved by all five parties. For example, if you click on the picture of the entrance to the church, you'll see a ladder underneath a window. That ladder has been in that same position since the 18th century because they haven't agreed to remove the ladder!

A dome overlooking the tomb of Christ

We exited the church early because one of the group member was lost and we wasted a lot of time trying to find him. We had to go to the Temple Mount Entrance because the Israeli authority only allow non-Muslims to enter the Temple Mount for 1 hour during noon on certain days. We also had to go through a special entrance where the Israeli police will check your bags for items with any religious symbols and remove them. They also check your attire to ensure modesty (covered chest, shoulders, and knees). This is of course because since the Temple Mount is a holy site for Muslims, the area is very sensitive. In fact, the entire Jerusalem is sensitive and the only way peace is kept is by strict laws and police with machine guns patrolling the place.

The Western Wall

The Temple Mount is located above the Western Wall, which is arguably the holiest site for the Jews. The Western Wall is the last remains of the Jewish Temple. The Jewish Temple was said to be the most beautiful building to ever existed and so the Romans destroyed it out of jealousy when they conquered Jerusalem. The Temple is a very significant part of the Jewish religion. According to the guide, Jews pray three times a day, reciting the sacrifices that were made in the Temple. I don't really know how much I could trust the guide because he did say that Herod was a Jew, which is incorrect...

Temple Mount area

Al-Aqsa Mosque

The entrance to the Temple Mount is right next to the Western Wall. The lines were long and it took about 30 minutes to get pass security. Upon entering, the area of the Temple Mount was relatively free of people because most of the tourists flocked to the Dome of the Rock and totally ignored Al-Aqsa Mosque. According the the guide, again with a caution for facts, the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is where Mohammad, the last and most important prophet for Muslim, dismounted from his Pegasus. Mohammad then walked to the site of the Dome of the Rock and started his ascend to heaven. While he was ascending, the rock that he was standing on rose with him. After a while, an angel came to him and told him to stop his ascend. Hence, there is a rock formation inside the Dome of the Rock and the Dome is actually on top of the rock.

The Dome of the Rock. You can see its golden dome from most places in the old City of Jerusalem

Magnificent decorations. Islam prohibits images so Muslims use geometric patterns to decorate the Dome of the Rock.

Mini-Western Wall

A Jordanian kid wanted his picture taken. He's straight up G.

We exited the Temple Mount area and went through some network of alleyways including a small tunnel and we arrived at the mini-Western Wall. This side of the Western Wall is probably inaccessible by Jews, I think, because we came in through the Temple Mount area, which is a forbidden area for Jews. At this mini-Western Wall, we get to see up close the prayers that were written on paper and then stuffed into the walls. We also learned that the original stones are the large stone blocks that you see in the picture.

We took a quick lunch break at this time. The tour guide took us to a local restaurant and we had local hummus there. Local hummus is something like yogurt, whole chick peas and olive oil without any seasoning, I think, because it was quite bland. It's eaten with bread, pickles and raw onion. Tourist hummus is blended hummus aka processed hummus.

Excavations showed cities upon cities. (sorry for the finger)

After the break, we went to see a place in the Jewish quarter where they did excavations. The excavation shows layers of roads, 25 to be exact. This means that Jerusalem is a city build upon a city that was build upon a city... 25 times. Thus you have a very unique situation in Jerusalem with Jews, Muslims, and Christians coexisting with the town being built by many different rulers. There are even some Roman roads and columns in Jerusalem, but I did not take pictures of them.

The gate leading to Mount Sion, covered with bullet holes.

We then head over to our last destination: Mount Sion, which is known as the place where the Last Supper was held. Mount Sion is actually outside of Jerusalem was was occupied by the Jordanians until the Israeli took it over in 1967 (I think). After this, we went to see the Tomb of King David, which was nothing special to be honest. We couldn't take pictures of it and had to wear a cap to respect Jewish customs.This was where the tour ended. And subsequently, where we part. It was 6 pm, so I just went back to the hotel and went to book a day tour to Bethlehem for tomorrow.