Today we had our first chance to visit some of the sites in 'Old Town' Jerusalem. One hundred fifty years ago there would not have been an 'Old Town' as there was no 'New Town' then.
We started out the day with the very nice buffet breakfast at Dan Panorama, our hotel. Rodja is using his iPad to show some of the ladies the blog that had been posted the night before. Moti picked us up at the hotel at 8 am and we were off for a day of adventure. Our first stop was the Temple Mount.
We were "early" as you have to be to see the Temple Mount, but even with this we had to wait over an hour, as the line above shows. If I had turned around I could have taken another picture of just as long a line. Waiting in line was really a chance to witness all types of people coming and going around us.
It seems that cell phones are kosher.
A young Jewish lad in line to visit the Temple Mount also.
Susie, Jan, Polly, and Doris
We got our first glimpse of the 'Wailing Wall' as we went up the ramp to the Temple Mount.
Inside the Temple Mount there was the ever present Israeli military. Even though the Temple Mount is administered by the Muslim authority, Israel still has overall control and uses their military to keep order.
Our first glimpse of the Dome of the Rock was through this archway.
This one is for LaJuana (and all cat lovers). Can't say if this cat is Jewish or Arabic. He didn't seem to make any special distinction between anybody. Could we learn something from him (or her)?
These flowers were growing out of the rock at the Pool of Siloam excavation site.
A mosque tower
We followed the route of the 'traditional' Via Dolorosa much of the morning.
Always a comfort to see these guys (and sometimes gals).
These people are fortunate to have a 'back yard' to hang their clothes out to dry.
Most don't have a back yard and have to resort to something like this.
Moti took us up to the top of an Australian hostel which had a great view of much of Old Town
A typical scene in the Arab market.
This lady does not have much overhead or money tied up in stock.
We had an authentic 'local' lunch at this restaurant. Meat and vegetables put in a bread 'pocket' with some kind of sauce. It really was good but we had a challenge getting a table and water, because there were none of either.
We acted like we were locals and found a place to sit. Jan was the bravest sitting on these steps. This is a public street that you are looking at, and a very busy one at that. In fact it is a three way intersection.
If you look at the previous photo you can see where I was sitting when I took that picture. My camera was in my lap tilted up and I snapped this picture when these people were nearly on top of us. In fact I had to turn my legs in to keep from getting hit. A lot of people were coming and going. It was a great experience.
Thank goodness no cars were allowed on this particular street but some of the carts could do some damage if they hit you. You are looking at the breaking system for them (the tire on the ground). This intersection was at the bottom of a 'hill' and some of the carts came by us pretty fast.
The carts come in all shapes and forms.
We finished our 'lunch' and then got back on a 'normal' street, such as this one.
I think that this was a spice store. A very interesting display, the way they stacked some of the spices up to form a pyramid.
A typical shoe cobbler. There are a few shops that cater to tourists but the vast majority are for the local residents. These shops are their 'walmart'.
We left the markets and Old City and headed for a visit to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations just across the Kidron Valley from Old Town.
The last two pictures of of the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane. No one knows how old they are but we do know that they can live a long time. History seems to indicate that when Titus destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem in AD 70 he cut all the trees around Jerusalem and used the wood for siege ramps, etc. If this is so, these trees could possibly have come up from the roots of the trees cut down. This would make them around 2000 years old.
We finished up the day with a devotional time in Dale and Susie's room. Dale shared some thoughts on the Mount of Olives, one of our destinations tomorrow.
In addition to the Mount of Olives we will visit Old Town again to see some sites that we missed today, including a tour of the tunnels under the Temple Mount.
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