Israel Day 8/13: The City of David

I always assumed that Bethlehem was "the City of David." But it turns out that the City of David is where King David captured a Jebusite fortress near the Gihon Spring. The area is only about 12 acres, but it is where he established his capital and pitched a tent for the Arc of the Covenant.

a model of what it looked like

this move we watched during the tour also showed what it

would have looked like

There are archaeological digs all over the area...

One excavation uncovered a stepped-stone structure that dates from before the 10th-century BC. It is believed that this was a retaining wall for either David's palace or the Jebusite fortress. When Solomon built the Temple, homes for the wealthy or political dignitaries were built here...

The ruins of this house contained housewares and cosmetics from the ruins of 586 BC. Even a limestone toilet seat was found in the 2-story ruins.

Water from the Gihon was always crucial to the survival of the city. The Jebusites had guard towers built and dug tunnels to channel the water. Later, in the 7th century BC, King Hezekiah dug a new 1750-foot tunnel to bring water to the Pool of Siloam inside the city to prepare for a siege by the Assyrians. (2 Kings 20:20) Visitors can walk some of the underground water system, now called Warren's Shaft. It is named after the British engineer, Charles Warren, who discovered it in the 1860s. 

a jar embedded into the rock

some parts are pretty deep

watching a movie about the history of the City

At the end of the tour, we had the option to take the dry Canaanite tunnel or wade through Hezekiah's Tunnel. Chris and I came prepared and took the watery route back...

Turned out it was also the noisy route, as we were behind a large group of 12-year old schoolboys...

click on the videos twice to hear and see what it was like...

I was sure glad we bought new headlamps just for this purpose. They worked great!

Some people from our group were waiting for us when we emerged to make sure we survived... LOL

Israel Day 8/13: Jerusalem

After leaving the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we wandered a bit in the Christian Quarter of the Old City and stopped for a late lunch of chicken schwarma...

I don't know the significance of the stork statues but it might be because storks migrate through Israel in late summer heading to Africa. This stork is on top of a fountain built in 1903 for the 25th anniversary of Sultan Abdul Hamid's rule. It is near the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer and the MLCDC between the Muslim and Christian Quarters of the city...

The Christian Quarter was much like the Muslim Quarter, full of little shops and stalls...

But you could immediately tell when we reached the Jewish Quarter...

The Jewish Quarter was much more upscale and not nearly as interesting as the others (or at least not where we were). It was kind of mall-like. Which is why, I guess, we didn't really take pictures. But we did take a few...

Then we walked on to the City of David. No, not Bethlehem. The other City of David...

I wish I could figure out the significance of the tooth

with an eye 

I wonder if it really is? But we didn't have time to stop...  

Israel Day 8/13: Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Stations 10-14)

Walking up to the church at the end of the Via Dolorosa, you would never imagine that this is considered to be the holiest site in Christendom. The church itself was built in about 330 by Constantine. That church was destroyed by the Persians in 614, then restored, then destroyed by the Muslims in 1009, partially rebuilt and then completed by the Crusaders in 1149. But the site had been used as a site of veneration since Christ's resurrection. In fact, it was so visited by early Christians that Emperor Hadrian had pagan temples and shrines built over the site to discourage them. Archaeology also supports this site as there are 1st tombs there and are preserved inside the church.

a cross is in the courtyard for people to carry

Like other churches in the Holy Lands, it is shared by three denominations: Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox. Three other orthodox communities also have rights here: Coptic, Syriac and Ethiopian. Ethiopian monks live in a kind of African village on the roof. In order to maintain the peace, the Status Quo was established in 1757 by the Ottoman Turks. This ladder was there when the Status Quo began and must remain to this day, although it has disappeared twice thanks to pranksters and later found and replaced. There are a few stories about how it got there.

Inside, the church is a bustling maze of hallways, shrines, ornaments, and over 30 chapels and worship spaces.

Immediately inside the door is the stone that is venerated as the stone on which Christ's body was anointed for burial. The practice of kissing and rubbing cloths on the stone began in the 12th century, the stone dates from 1810. Behind the stone is a Greek mosaic of Christ being taken from the cross and buried.

To the right of the door are some stairs that go up to Calvary, or Golgotha. A little girl was quoted in 1951 as saying, "I never knew our Lord was crucified indoors." :)

To the left of the main entrance, is a large dome over a stone edicule over the tomb of Christ. Inside are two chapels. The first is the Chapel of the Angel and it contains what is believed to be a piece of the rolling stone that covered the entrance to the tomb. Then you go through a very low door into the chamber where the body of Jesus was laid. A cracked marble slab lies on top of the stone. The Fransicans cracked the marble slab in 1555, so that the Ottoman Turks would not steal it. We did not wait in the over 2-hour long line to get into the tomb, but we did take pictures from the outside...

 visitors inside the tomb chapel

But it gave us time to explore some of the other places inside the church...

the central worship space in the church