We started off the day on Mount of Olives, another view of Jerusalem. Because the Messiah is supposed to come through the Golden Gate of the Temple, the Muslims have blocked it up and also put an Islamic cemetery between the Gate and the Kidron Valley.
Next we heard about the complexities of the divided city. We viewed the wall between Jerusalem and the West Bank from a distance and up close. It was covered with plenty of anti-Israeli graffiti. Very reminiscent of the Berlin Wall.
We then walked in through Jaffa Gate and headed to the Citadel of David. Just as you walk into the complex there is an amazing glass piece by Chihuly. We climbed to the top of the Citadel of David for more views and then walked the Rampart from Jaffa Gate to Zion Gate.
Next we viewed King David’s tomb and then directly above it was the Room of the Last Supper. Time for a falafel for lunch and shopped on the Cardo, an old Roman road that is now basically an underground shopping mall. After seeing a 2000+ year old mikvah that was recently discovered at the Southern wall excavations, we headed back to the hotel.
I didn’t remember to take a picture of my dinner until I’d eaten half of it. But it looked similar to last night’s. Add rice with vegetables and some roasted potatoes. Oh, and sorbet in apple, mango, raspberry and ROSE!!! Yay!
After dinner we had a debrief and then we headed to take a short drive around the city to see it at night. The Muslims have in the last five years started lighting up their minarets with fluorescent green lights. Oh, I forgot to mention earlier about the Muslim’s call to worship. We’ve heard it twice now from by the Western Wall and it’s pretty eerie. It starts from one direction and then you hear it coming from everywhere.
Then we stopped to stroll down Ben Yehuda street for a little shopping. Apparently some shops stay open as late as midnight. Ben Yehuda street seems to also be a place to hang out. And lucky me, I got a phone number. Israeli men are persistent buggers. At least he wasn’t creepy like the Orthodox men who keep harassing a couple of the women in our group. They’ve been leered at and one had a man offer to give her a “Jewish experience.”
