It’s a Small World

We saw a bridge in Jerusalem that had some decorative lions on it and someone had kindly stuck masks over their noses. Very thoughtful.

Today started early because we didn’t want to fight traffic going into Jerusalem. We had an 8:45 tour at The Western Wall tunnels and hoped to visit the Dome of The Rock before that. It all worked out smashing and we rocked right up to the Dome without having to stand in line even a minute. Pretty much only Americans and Canadians are left here so that’s interesting. For whatever reason it was a fair bit busier in Jerusalem today than yesterday. It’s also Purim here, so perhaps there’s more Jews out and about.

The Dome area was very quiet, but there was tremendously many security personnel up there of every variety. They didn’t just tote guns, they also had rocket launchers. Non Muslims are not allowed inside the Dome proper, but we got to stare into it when the door opened. It’s really a gorgeous building! The outside is full of mosaics in brilliant colors.

It was only after we’d left the area and headed back down for our tour that Heath remembered he’d left his money/passport/keys bag at the Security Checkpoint going onto the Mount. He dashed back to retrieve it while the rest of us Western Wall watched. That is a never ending source of interest! Its so unbelievable to see the hundreds of Jews at prayer, rocking back and forth, their tassels and prayer locks waving as they earnestly beg God for mercy. You see every variety from ultra orthodox to the average guy on the street.

The Western Wall tour takes you in a tunnel down under the city, right along the temple wall from Herod the Great’s time. When Jerusalem was destroyed that was all filled with rubble, and subsequent rulers built over top of the rubble for convenience sake. The Jews have dug out some of that rubble and now you can walk under the city and see the actual walls and one section of floor that would have been there in Jesus’ time. It’s a pretty cool tour! Very educational.

From there we strolled over to the Garden Tomb, a small garden just outside the old city that has a “place of the skull” and a tomb from the time of Christ. It’s a very peaceful setting where you can perhaps envision a little better what the setting would have been at that time.

After lunch in a cave of a restaurant in Old City we headed off to Beit Guvrin National Park to explore some caves and ruins and eat snacks and frolic a bit on the flowered meadows. But we couldn’t frolic far cause the area is full of caves and you can by accident fall into them if you aren’t careful. And in some of them it’d be a pretty long fall!!!

We ended our day with the Old Jaffa port, where a cold breeze was blowing and the waves were a bit substantial. It’s beautiful to walk and watch the sea.

Stay healthy!