A Trip to Israel:Temple Mount to Church of the Nativity

The first day in Israel had been a great experience, but from the second day on I found myself thinking nonstop, "Holy Cow! This is going to be the most amazing day I EVER see/experience/discover!" And then the next day would be even more incredible. 

This was the day we visited Temple Mount, a place with significance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. That alone surely makes this spot unique. Every corner of this place is claimed by a religious group, and I think each group would be happy to claim all of it. Although they have their problems, I'm impressed they can co-exist in this space at all.

This beautiful building is "Dome of the Rock", visible from nearly everywhere in Jerusalem. The original structure was finished in 691 AD, built upon Herod's temple, which was built upon Solomon's temple. Israel is like that--the current occupant just does a complete remodel or redo over an existing building/ruin and makes it their own. It was an incredible experience to be here. I've heard about and seen pictures of it since I was a youngster. 

This beautiful building is considered to be one of the oldest examples of Islamic architecture in the world.

It's an octagonal shape and identified as one of the most recognizable buildings in Israel.

They used to let visitors come inside, but no more. I tried to peek when someone opened the door, and was immediately shooed away by several irritated guards.  What a shame--the inside looks even more incredible than the outside, if that's possible.

Picture from here.

After learning some of the history of this spot, I completely understand the reluctance to let people in.

There were, in fact, armed guards everywhere. In a place of such sincere religious practice, it seemed a bit odd to have such a harsh reminder of worldly problems.

Details from Dome of the Rock.

Muslims believe this is were Muhammad acsend to heaven.

Jews believe this spot is the holiest site in Judaism, the spiritual connection between heaven and earth, the Holy of Holies.

It is believed to be the place Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice him.

This is the site of Solomon's temple and Herod's palace, and nearby, the place 12 year-old Christ taught in the temple.

Many Christians believe this is the spot a temple will be built before the second coming.

The Dome of the Rock is on a larger area called "Temple Mount",  a place of worship important to many groups. If you look at the bottom right circle of the mosque, you can see what appears to be graffiti. This place is not without strife.

This was a cool, wet day, our only rainy day of the trip.

As we continues to explore we came to the Bab al-Qattanin, the Gate of the Cotton Merchants.
An internet search says this is the 14th century arch, built to replace older structures. Note that you can see cream, red, and black stones. The black and white stripes around the inner arch is a feature we later saw in Jordan--an enter mosque built with black and white stripes. It's quite intricate, and would have been an archaeological marvel.

The green door seen here is the passage into the market.

How's that for a front door?

Through the door is the market with its arched ceiling. You can see the skylites as you look down the corridor. Isn't that amazing?

More arched doorways (for verrrry short people) along the walls of the market. I think these must have been for the merchants to access their own stores.

There were only a few places open the day we were there, but we came to be very familiar with this sight.

The floor was an intricate but clever and useful series of steps and ramps. The merchants use the overhead racks for hanging merchandise when they are open. We were to find that an open market is a fabulous cacophony of colors, sounds, and smells, but for reasons I don't remember this market was not open when we were there. This area is in the Muslim quarter.

Next up is the Jewish wailing wall. This wall is part of the old  temple retaining wall, and reminds Jews of the destruction of the temple. As you can imagine, it's an important religious place of the Jews.

The Jews refer to this as "The Western Wall" meaning the western wall of the temple, although it is actually a retaining wall for expanding the temple.
There is a fence in front of the wall, a reminder of the troubles so common to this site.

You can, however, take pictures over the fence. The wall is divided into a men's and women's side. You can see the dividing fence there on the right.
Note the stones are larger at the bottom, medium in the middle, and smaller at the top. The largest stones on the bottom are from as early as the 7th century and the small ones on top are from 16th century on.
For the past three hundred years, Jews have written prayers on paper that are then stuffed into crevices in the wall. Twice a year, the prayers are collected by the rabbi and buried, as it is illegal to destroy them.  For Jews, this is a very sacred place, as near as they can legally come to the Holy or Holies, which is inside the Muslim owned Dome of the Rock.

From the Western Wall, we moved on to the southern wall. You can see the dark Dome of the Chain, a place used as a house of prayer by Muslims.

From this vantage place, we could see the Kidron valley and part of the Mount of Olives in the distance.

These steps, now mostly covered with flat stones, are the steps Christ would have climbed to the temple.

If you study the wall, you can see the triple arched doorways (near center of picture), now filled in, that were the entrances to the temple. This is the place my camera first died, and I had a hard time getting close-ups and clear shots, but you can just make out some (modern) railing along the steps to the door. This is, according to our guide, a likely candidate for the temple Christ taught in as a 12 year old.

This has been an archaeological dig for some time, but there is lots left to do.

The area just below the steps was used for ritual cleansing baths, a process that usually involved immersion.

You can see how massive these places are in comparison to the man in black.

Our next stop was Shrine of the Book, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls. There's a model of the city of 66 BC Jerusalem

I took this picture at the museum, but couldn't find out anything about it. She looks like Roman creation. 

I think Hebrew writing looks both backwards and upside down. The backwards part is true--they write right to left- but I guess that's only true if you write left to right.

The museum was one of those places you're not allowed to take pictures (boo!). This picture comes from here. This building houses the 900+ Dead Sea Scrolls that were discovered in 1947 in caves. The building itself is intended to look like the earthenware jars the scrolls were in.

We continued on to Hezekiah's Tunnel, an ancient aqueduct intended to divert water to the Pool of Siloam. 

This area, on the way to the tunnel, is being excavated and is believed to be the site of David's temple, although like almost every other place in this part of the world, not everyone agrees.

Everyone does seem to agree it was built in the 10th century BC, the time of David.

We continued on our way to the tunnel, a scary place as you can see.

Knowing how claustrophobic I am, this seemed like the perfect place to spend 20 squishy, underground time. The tunnel is nearly 1800 ft long, and was built from each end, miraculously meeting in the middle.

I'm letting Stan follow behind me, to save me from rear-attacking swamp creatures.

I'm following my flashlight-carrying sister. That way if there's a tunnel monster, it will find her first.

This poor lady apparently lost her pants to a water snake. I did notice she was the only one in the group who didn't have to wear wet pants the rest of the day. (I had the sense to wear stretchy pants that allowed me to fold them up to short length. The very edge of them got slightly wet anyway.) The water level varies from day to day, and this day was a deep water day.

After hyperventilating my way through the tunnel, I arrived alive

at the Pool of Siloam,  that place Christ healed the man blind from birth. The steps are original.

Finally, we headed to the Church of the Nativity. The original church was built in 327 AD, but rebuilt  at least once or twice due to natural disasters and added to several times over the years.

This doorway looks like a stiff breeze would bring the whole thing down.

An ancient and beautiful door.

These are parts of the original mosaic floor--just look at those tiny, intricate pieces of tile. If that were in my home, I'm pretty sure no one would be allowed to walk on them.

The church is run by Armenian Apostolic, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic churches. I'm sure that never causes problems.

THIS is the exact spot Mary gave birth to Christ, at least according to some people. Looks a little cold and hard, doesn't it? I'm hoping Mary really did give birth in a cave, warm and covered with soft straw. 

Here is said to be the place of the manger.

 Well, that's it: our first day in Jerusalem. It's an awful lot to see, remember, and photograph in one day, especially since we're old, jet-lagged, and old. I'm sure I've gotten some things wrong, and will no doubt have to go back and fix some things as I find them.