Tour of Israel and Jordan
Mike and Judy Henderson
November 14-27, 2017
I'm going to leave this map up so that you can see where we are.
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11/19/2017 (Sunday) We go to the Western Wall today. I want to add a comment about Tauck before I go into the day's activities. Judy and I have done a fair amount of travel - land tours, small and large ship cruises, and independent travel. Tauck is certainly at the top when it comes to travel. I've been extremely impressed with the quality of the tour - the itinerary (getting to see interesting places in the area), the guides (very competent and knowledgeable), the hotels (good location, high quality - on the whole), the restaurants chosen (good food and representative of the cuisine of the area), and the Tauck Tour Guide (competent, knowledgeable, diplomatic - it's a difficult job herding cats:-).
We didn't see much of Jerusalem last night so we'll get our first look today. Our local guide today is Avi. Avi was born and raised in New York before emigrating to Israel so he speaks perfect English.
We began the day by walking to the Old City through the shopping mall, just as we did last night. In front of the Old City we posed for a group shot. I gave my card to the photographer, Ilan Kirmayer of Action Media Products, and he sent me a digital version of the picture. If anyone on the tour would like a digital version of this picture, send me an email.
Here's a beautiful woman in front of the Jaffa Gate.
That opening you see behind Judy is not the Jaffa Gate. - it's just an opening in the wall that was made so the road could go into the old city. Here's the real Jaffa Gate (next picture). In the picture of Judy, it's the structure directly behind her head. The gate is on the side of that structure.
From here we went into the Tower of David, also known as the Jerusalem Citadel, and climbed to the top of a tower where we could get a view of the Old City. Here's a panoramic view from there. The red arrow points to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the green arrow points to the Dome of the Rock.
Here's a closer view of the Dome of the Rock.
And of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
A panoramic view from the same tower towards the city of Jerusalem.
When we left this area, we walked through the Jaffa Gate towards our next destination, a synagogue. On the way, we came upon some Israeli soldiers and Joyce and Jacki had their picture taken with them.
We walked through the Armenian Quarter to the Jewish Quarter, and then to the Four Sepharadic Synagogues. As best I can tell, they are four adjoining synagogues - that is, essentially four different "rooms" that are connected. Here are two very interesting doors to the synagogue complex. We entered through a much simpler door to what I believe is the Istambuli Synagogue.
Here are Joyce, Stan, and Jacki in the synagogue.
I didn't really get good pictures of the synagogue but here's a picture of the tabernacle which houses the Torah, the Five Books of Moses plus more. The Five Books of Moses are read in their entirety over a year - a small amount each week, on Shabbat, Monday and Thursday.
After a tour of the synagogue, we sat in the main hall and Avi talked about Judaism, synagogues, the Temple, and the religious practices of Jews. Very interesting.
When we left the synagogue we walked through the streets of Old Jerusalem looking at various archeological digs until we came to the restaurant where we were having lunch.
Some of our tour group at lunch.
From the restaurant you could see the ancient Jewish cemetery. Jewish religious law requires that burials be done outside a city.
After lunch, we went to the Western Wall, perhaps the most holy site in Judaism. Men pray on the left and women on the right. The Woman's section is partially under the walkway to the Temple Mount where the Dome of the Rock is located.
This picture does a better job of showing the separation of men and women. You can see the barrier between the two sections.
Here I am at the Western Wall.
And here's Stan. I couldn't get a picture of Judy since she was in the women's section.
From here, we boarded the bus for the trip to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jeursalem.
Here's a view of the entrance hall at Yad Vashem. This is not the museum, itself.
This is an aerial view of the museum complex. The museum is the long structure that goes from corner-to-corner. The entrance building is at the top of the picture. There's a walkway between the two buildings.
They don't allow pictures to be taken in the museum so I don't have anything to show you.
After we completed our visit to the main museum, we went to the Children's Memorial. Here's the entrance.
A sculpture just outside the Children's Memorial.
Then we boarded the bus for the hotel. Most of us were pretty tired, having been on our feet all day, and emotionally drained.
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11/20/2017 (Monday) Today we visit the Temple Mount (known to Muslims as Haram esh-Sharif - the Noble Sanctuary) where the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are located. We were on the bus by 7am so that we could be one of the first groups to enter the Mount.
We arrived at the Dung Gate and cleared security, then took the ramp (that you saw in the picture of the Western Wall) to the Mughrabi Gate of the Temple Mount.
From the ramp we could see the men and women at the Western Wall performing their morning prayers.
In this aerial view of the Temple Mount, you can see the Western Wall (red arrow) and the ramp we came up. The Al-Aqsa Mosque is in the foreground and the Dome of the rock is obvious.
And then, we were on the Temple Mount, between the Dome of the Rock,
And the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
We sat between the two structures and Avi gave us a talk about the history of the Temple Mount, including the more recent political issues between the Israeli government and the Waqf, the Muslim organization that has responsibility for administering the Temple Mount.
There was a significant presence of Israeli police on the Mount.
Here are Judy and I, in front of the Dome of the Rock.
We eventually went to the area of the Dome of the Rock.
Non-Muslims can no longer enter the Dome of the Rock or the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but through the magic of the Internet, here are a few pictures, first of the interior of the Dome of the Rock.
And a view from above showing the rock.
And one of the interior of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
After we left the Temple Mount, we went into the Muslim quarter to begin walking the Via Dolorosa and the Stations of the Cross.
I'm going to put some pictures of a few of the stations. It was hard to get good pictures because of the tight spaces and the number of people. You can find some better pictures at the links provided above.
Station 1.
Station 3.
Station 5
Eventually the Stations lead you to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
We entered the church and went up stairs to the station which represents the crucifixion of Jesus, called the Altar of the Crucifixion (I think this is station 12). Some of the faithful get down on their knees and shuffle to the altar where they touch a disc that, by tradition, marks the spot where the cross was placed.
The disc under the altar.
Going back downstairs we passed a rock slab said to be where Jesus was laid after his death. Some pray at the stone, and some kiss it.
Then we went to the main part of the church that encloses the Aedicule that, by tradition, houses the tomb where Jesus was laid after he was taken down from the cross. There was a very long and crowded line to get into the Aedicule (also called the Holy Edicule, which is just a slightly different spelling), and we chose not to wait.
This is the entrance to the Aedicule.
There's a chapel-like arrangement in the next room of the church. It's a Greek Orthodox chapel.
We went down some stairs and found this small chapel, an Armenian Christian chapel.
Then we went down another set of stairs to the lowest part of the church complex, the Chapel of the Invention of the Holy Cross, which is believed to be where the true cross was found.
Where we found this small altar with a statue of a woman embracing a cross.
Here's a close-up. I have no idea which denomination this chapel belongs to or who is supposed to be represented in the statue - could be Saint Helena. I was overwhelmed with facts and figures at this point.
By now, it was time for lunch and we went to a small "local food" restaurant. They served pita bread stuffed with either sharwama or falafel. It was good.
Here's the tour group at the restaurant.
We had the afternoon off, which was a good thing. Most of us were pretty tired. Judy and I took a short nap and then I worked on this blog.
In the evening, at 5:45pm, we met in the lobby to walk to a restaurant for dinner, after which we will go to a light show in the Jerusalem Citadel.
Here are Nancy and Richard, ready to go.
We walked to the Eucalyptus Restaurant which was across the street from the Jerusalem Citadel, and had a nice traditional Middle East meal of many Meze.
Then to the light show. They asked us not to take pictures, but I have some from the web. The show was projected on the walls of the Jerusalem Citadel, and showed the many phases of the city of Jerusalem through history.
And that concluded another day in Israel.
Our adventure continues here