Around and under Jerusalem

Another early start (can we do otherwise?), but this time staying in the same city. We got to the City of David right as it opened to successfully beat the tour groups there. It’s an archaeological site of King David’s palace just outside the city walls, and includes Hezekiah’s tunnel—1,750 feet carved through solid rock to bring water to the ancient city and still has water flowing in it. We were actually so early that they hadn’t unlocked the tunnels yet, and ended up having them to ourselves. Danny and Kara opted for the dry route, leaving me and my headlamp to splash through the tunnel alone. The tunnel was just a little wider and shorter than me, and the water averaged about to my knees. It was a little creepy when I turned my headlamp off for a moment and realized just how dark and alone I was, but for the most part I just enjoyed the acoustics and sang as loud as I wanted while splashing along.

City of David excavation

Kara and Danny opt for the dry route

Preparing to enter the tunnel

Back above ground and on dry land, we walked back up to the Old City and tried to see a few sights near the Jewish quarter. We got a little turned around on the way, stumbling upon a primary school’s program with adorable girls wearing crowns. It was fun to watch for a moment, but I’m sure the parents wondered who these tourists were trying to squeeze behind their kids to get by. 

Eventually we found David’s tomb, with a large sarcophagus filling the front of the partitioned room. Kara and I had to split from Danny and did our best to figure out what to do on the women’s side when all the signs were in Hebrew, but through the screen he could hear the men chanting and praying. Going around the corner and up a level of the same building, we visited the upper room believed to be where the Last Supper was held, and were joined by a group of Christin tourists from Zimbabwe. Just to continue making these sights complicated and interfaith, there’s a Muslim muezzin (tower) on the roof.

a monastery near David's Tomb

Layers of history and cultures

As we walked towards the Western Wall, there was an area where you could look down and see where street level had been anciently. We weren’t walking where Jesus walked, so much as a story above it. This also hit home with our next stop: a tour of the Western Wall tunnels. Our guide was a friendly and enthusiastic Orthodox woman, and the 3D model of Jerusalem over the centuries helped put what we were seeing into context and she gave an incredibly brief history from the Jewish perspective. What was anciently a city of hills had been filled in and spanned by huge arches to allow worshipers to walk a relatively flat path to the temple mount, which had been expanded by King Herod. The tunnel excavation began after the Six Days War and took almost twenty years to reveal the ancient city beneath. The “Herodian blocks” at the base were so much larger than I’d expected, and how they managed to move them there is still an engineering mystery. As we walked along the wall, we encountered a pop-up synagogue of sorts. These Jews were determined to pray as close as they could to where they believed the Ark of the Covenant was buried in the Temple Mount. Little notes containing prayers were stuffed into the cracks here, too, and I decided to leave a note for my prayer: peace for all and greater freedom for the Palestinians.

Next to a Herodian block during the Tunnel Tour

We left the Temple Mount around the time the Friday prayers were ending at the Dome of the Rock, and walked back to the hotel in a stream of Muslim worshipers returning to work and home. This stream continued through our lunch at the restaurant across the street from our hotel, and from the hotel’s balcony afterward you could see the steady stream of people (mostly men) heading towards the Damascus gate. This was only one of the exit options from the Dome of the Rock, but we must have seen thousands of people, making me wonder how many tens of thousands had been up there that day (someone said they’d heard 80,000-90,000). 

lunch

View from the roof of our hostel

After the crowds died down, we walked through the Old City and out the Lion Gate to visit the garden of Gethsemane. Ancient olive trees with large, gnarled bases filled the garden, still alive thanks to younger stems shooting out from them. The garden was lovely, as was the church next door around the rock where Christ’s Atonement took place. The current Church of All Nations was only built in the 1920’s and was paid for churches from a variety of countries, including the US, who were acknowledged with mosaics on the ceiling and walls. They intentionally darken the church, and the ceiling mosaic has stars on it, to evoke the night of Christ’s Atonement. It was good to spend a moment there contemplating that significant event. 

Garden of Gethsemane

Garden of Gethsemane

the (sealed) East Gate

Re-entering the Old City, Kara and I quickly visited the Pool of Bethesda, which involved climbing down several flights of stairs to see the ancient pools that still have water in them. The tourist brochure we were given reminded visitors that this site challenges us to question if we’re ready for Christ to heal us (spiritually and physically), and if we have the faith to healed. Even more profound questions after visiting Gethsemane. The Church of Saint Anne in the complex is to honor where Mary’s parents are thought to have lived and where she was born (tradition holds that Mary’s mom’s name was Anne). The Crusader-built church is worth a visit just for its acoustics.

Pool of Bethesda

We had to keep our visit short to join the Franciscan monks for their weekly walk of the Via Dolorosa, which traces the final events in Christ’s life from his trial to the crucifixion pausing at 14 stations. Gathering with our fellow pilgrims, I shouldn’t have been so surprised that we were joined by a group of students from the BYU Jerusalem Center. But once again, what should have been a somber occasion of historical significance was preempted by a celebrity. That’s right, we were doing the Via Dolorosa with Levar Burton and his film crew. He was clearly trying to appreciate it (and be filmed doing so), and I had such a goofy grin on my face from our second sighting that I’m sure I’ll be edited out. Kara and Danny, on the other hand, were able to maintain proper somberness most of the time and were close enough that they might make the cut. As the walk progressed, at each station they would read a verse in a variety of languages including English, and as they’d walk they’d chant/sing in Latin. This was what I expected, but it was interesting when the route wound through the bazaar. The shopkeepers were respectful and didn’t bother the participants, but it still felt like we were worshiping in the middle of a shopping mall. As we made our way to the Church of the Holy Seplechure, it was interesting to once again visit the sites in the church with these guides. 

Franciscan monks leading pilgrims along the Via Dolorosa

Getting distracted by Levar Burton

Via Dolorosa procession inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Pilgrims kissing and poking notes into this column's crack at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

After the procession ended we headed back to the Western Wall to see the start of the Jewish Sabbath. The contrast between the Catholic procession we’d just left and the Jewish celebration we’d just joined couldn’t have been starker. They set up a fence to keep us from entering the prayer area, and we joined the Gentiles to watch the festivities on the other side. There were hundreds of people engaged in various activities. Groups of men were reading the Torah, bowing towards the wall as they did so. Youth on their birthright trip were in circles around a leader, shouting and dancing so much you’d think they’d just won a sporting event with that energy. I wouldn’t say it was reverent, but it made me wonder if I’ve ever been that excited about the Sabbath. The women’s side had similar activities going on, but their share of the Wall was significantly smaller.

Sabbath at the Western Wall

Once we’d had our fill, we headed back to the Church of Holy Seplechure to sit outside for more people watching. I asked one of the tour guides for a recommendation on where to get good knafeh, and without hesitation was told Jaffar’s. The sign with the eagle was easy to spot, and the pastries didn’t disappoint. In all, another remarkable day.

Knafeh at Jaffar's