Temple Mount
Possibly the most identifiable landmark in Jerusalem is the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount. This shrine is built on the site where the Second Temple was, before being destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. The current shrine was completed in 692AD and repaired extensively in 1023AD after the dome roof collapsed eight years prior. The shrine is built over the remains of the foundation of the second temple. Today it is considered the third holiest Muslim site in the world. It was open to the public until a terrorist attack brought about sweeping security changes. Non-Muslims are permitted to visit Temple Mount under certain conditions, but not allowed in the actual Shrine itself and Jewish law prohibits Jews from entering the Temple Mount altogether. Access can be made during certain hours of most days of the week. The other two major landmarks located on the plaza of Temple Mount is al-Aqsa mosque, the Dome of the Chain and four minarets.
Unfortunately for us, we missed visiting here on the first day of our visit and after that it was closed for the Sabbath (and eventually shut completely due to China's virus). It is on the priority list for our next visit.
“Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” - Mark 13:2
Wailing Wall
Everyone has heard of the Wailing Wall, but I may have been amongst the first people to actually see it! Usually there are very large crowds which require queueing up for up to an hour just to get close, but as we arrived here on our last day in Jerusalem, most of the entire city was in a state of panic over the virus scare (although not officially shut down).
This section of the wailing wall lies within the Jewish Quarter and is recognised as the closest Jews are able to get to where the first Temple was (actually it is possible to get closer as we did on our first night here at the Small Wailing Wall less than 100 meters away). Women are not allowed to pray here and all men are required, Jewish or not, to where a yarmulke (or kippah), which are provided for free. Worshippers pray against the wall and many stuff hand written prayer requests into any crack they can find between the stones. The women do have their own area of the wailing wall, the Women's Wailing Wall, which is next to this one.
City of David
The City of David is a must see location on a visit to Jerusalem. Unfortunately the government didn't want us to see it during our time, amongst one of the first public areas to be shut down over China's virus. We didn't know this until we arrived at the gate of course. There was a security guard at the entrance who took one look at Vinci and quickly told us that we can go anywhere we like inside, as long as we stay away from him. As we walked away, he started spraying down his booth with more disinfectant.
While it was true we were able to go where liked, unfortunately everything was closed inside including Hezekiah's tunnels that were built nearly 4,000 years ago! The city is located outside the walls of the Old City on the south of Jerusalem and dates back to the time of the first Temple. Jesus performed the miracle of healing the blind man within the City of David at the Pools of Siloam. Anyway, it's all on the list for next time. We were able to exit the city from the opposite direction at the base of the Kidron Valley.
Valley of Hinnom
The Valley of Hinnom runs along the south side of the old city including Mount Zion. It has a very ugly past where the children of some of the kings of Judah would sacrifice their children to Moloch, a Canaanite god believed by some to be the devil.
Due to its very ugly past, the valley of Hinnom lies uninhabited to this day, however many shepherds still bring their flocks of goats or sheep to graze during the day.
"He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek." - 2 Kings 23:10
Valley of Kiddron
The Valley of Kiddron runs along the eastern edge of the Old City. Just like the valley of Hinnom, it also has a less than pleasant history, seeing its share of child sacrifices to the Canaanite god, Moloch and Baal. Today it is one of the only uninhabited parcels of land in all of Jerusalem. This is not just because of its shady past, but also because it is believed this will all become part of the eternal lake of fire in the future.
A huge amount of land between the Old City and the Mount of Olives is taken up by massive cemeteries, both modern and ancient graves, monuments and monoliths.
Some of the ancient graves are in serious disrepair and can be found well away from the larger grave groupings.
Back in the time of Jesus, most people were buried under the ground. Only the wealthy had burial caves, such as the one Jesus was entombed in. This wasn't his tomb of course, but belonged to his secret supporter, Joseph Arimathea.
The Golden Gate (or Eastern gate) has been sealed for almost 500 years, but this is absolutely the prime real estate given the Jewish tradition that the coming Messiah will return through here and whoever is closest to the gate will be the first to enter heaven.
One of the two major landmarks in the Kiddron valley is Absalom's Tomb (below photo) . Absalom was the son of King David who rebelled against his father and was killed during a battle against him. Absalom never got to use his tomb however, as archaeologists have dated the tomb back to the 1st century AD, around 1,000 years after his death! Absalom was incidentally given a very dishonorable burial. Despite all of this, many parents would bring their ill-behaved children here to throw stones at the tomb to teach them what happens from disobedience. The tomb is now sealed, but before this, archaeologists were able to get inside where they found a number of inscriptions, the major one reading "This is the tomb of Zacchariah, father of John." They believe this inscription dates back to the 4th century AD.
The second major landmark is not a tomb, but a large stone monolith (below photo). This solid rock monument was carved straight out of the bedrock. This is one is called Zacchariah's tomb despite it not being a tomb, nor having a burial chamber.
Next to Zacchariah's tomb however, there is a burial cave complex. The bodies would be placed inside the niches in the caves and after a year, the bones would be removed and cremated. Most of the caves are open to the public, a fascinating place. These caves date back to the time of the Second Temple.
Unfortunately I couldn't spend too much time here as Vinci had heard and seen some things that had made her most upset. Back up at Absalom's tomb were a couple of men with a very large and noisy dog. The dog was barking and saw one of the men pick up a large rock and throw it down a number of times. Vinci heard a yelp and then complete silence, asides from the rock being picked up and smashed down a number of times. I did my best to comfort her as we walked past the scene of the crime, only to find the two men and dog enjoying a warm fire, made from a bunch of wooden planks they had just smashed to more manageable pieces. The dog lives!
The Kidron Valley is on the eastern side of Jerusalem and as a result is in the shade for most of the day. King David wrote about this place in one of his most famous Psalms when fleeing the city from Absalom, "Thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil."
Despite being completely surrounded by death, we were of course in Spring time and thousands of wildflowers are in full bloom, not to mention all the green grass which makes this place look much better than it usually does.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” - Psalm 23:4
Western Cardo
The Cardo was the name given to a main street in many Roman cities which ran in a north - south direction. Jerusalem had one, a 180 meter segment which was discovered in 1969. The original street, like many in old Jerusalem, were around seven meters lower than the current level of foot paths. One of the original sections from the Byzantine period has been preserved. This had become an Arab marketplace after Jerusalem was ruled by the Muslims. Today a market place has been incorporated into the old Cardo with many of the shops set into the vaults. It can be found between the Jewish and Armenian quarters.
Oskar Schindler's Grave
Oskar Schindler's grave took us three attempts over three days! The first attempt we got lost in an abbey on Mount Zion, the second day we found it, but it closed a few minutes before we arrived. On our third attempt, we made it our priority to get here first. Oskar is buried in the Roman Catholic Franciscan cemetery on Mount Zion. When we arrived, one of the groundskeepers kindly directed us to his place of resting. Oskar was a member of the Nazi party who profiteered off slave labour in his factory in Poland, but went on to save the lives of 1,200 Jews. His works were made worldwide famous from Stephen Spielberg's film, Schindler's List. We both placed a small rock on his grave as a mark of respect. Unfortunately we would not be able to make it to the Holocaust museum to see the tree he planted there and to pay our respect to millions of souls that were not as fortunate as it was closed due to the virus outbreak.
"Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."
- Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:1 (22a)
YMCA Three Arches Hotel
The Three Arches hotel is where we stayed at in Jerusalem for the four nights. We had a nice suite for ourselves. The restaurant had already semi-permanently closed by the time we arrived, but we were unsure whether or not this was due to our complaints from a few days prior or due to the virus outbreak. The hotel was built in the 1930's and designed by the same architect as the Empire State building in New York.
On request, one can request to go up to the bell tower some fifteen storey's up (in Jerusalem that's very high!). The views from the top are good, but too far away from much of the old city. It is possible to walk 'outside' on to one of the balconies, but due to the high wind I didn't stay out there too long. One story down has the actual bells. There are 36 in total weighing from 8kg up to 1,500kgs. They are all bronze and were cast in Croydon, England in 1931.
And so that was a quick summary of everything we found in Jerusalem. There were many major attractions we missed out on and hundreds of other smaller places that we will visit next time. During our time in Jerusalem, the airlines had cancelled one of our flights home and even though we were to arrive home at the same time, we were essentially swapping a day in Israel for a day in Turkey's international airport. Still, we still had one more day left and we once again decided to head north.
Continue to part 28 - click here
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