Breakfast from a random bakery
Cheese filled pastry with sesame seeds
Artwork in an alley we went through on our way to the Old City
We found a cat family in a courtyard we walked through
The tram tracks
As we walked around the morning streets the city felt almost deserted. While we were both hoping to get a super early start it was almost 9am so it was unusual to see a big city so empty. The city also felt more European that Amman which had a distinct feel unlike any city we had really experienced except maybe Rio. First we walked back towards the market we had eaten at the night before. The Mahane Yehuda Market was a warren of shops, restaurants, and bars with lots of great stuff tucked in under one big roof. It was fun to explore and full of delicious eats. We found a bakery right on the edge of the market almost by accident and asked the shop owner for his recommendations. He pointed at a few pastries and after the exchange of a few shekels we were off. Hunter and I both were not used to how valuable Israeli coins are. The top denominations of Israeli coins are worth the equivalent of $3-5 so you could get cheap food or a drink at a coffeehouse for a single coin. We ate our food and headed towards the Old City of Jerusalem. We were a bit confused by the transit system and hadn't bought the multi-day Jerusalem City Pass as we were only there for one day. For a longer visit it seemed like a really good deal though. Thankfully, the walk was downhill which we were both grateful for as we were still a bit sore from the miles and miles of hiking we had done in Petra. As we strolled down closer to the walled city there were a lot of soldiers out but not many other tourists. Finally, when we approached the Old City gate's we found the crowds of tourists we had been expecting, not that we missed them!
The outside wall of the Old City
The Tower of David can be seen in the distance
We entered the Old City through the Jaffa Gate, so named because it faced the road to Jaffa, a traditional route for pilgrims coming to visit Jerusalem. There were a few tour groups around us but the morning was still very quiet and peaceful which was nice. This part of the city is controlled by the Israelis and it was very clear with flags and lots of police everywhere. We were a bit lost at first, but ended up winding our way through the old streets following signs for the Western Wall. The streets were very confusing, narrow, and often split or doubled back. One of the guidebooks Hunter had read suggested they were so confusing that you shouldn't even bother with a map as there was no point in trying to understand it all. Eventually, we found our way to an overlook where we could see down to the famous Western Wall.
Walking through the Old City
Getting lost in Old Jerusalem
An old Roman market under an old Byzantine market that was still in use as a modern market. There is lots of history layered throughout the city.
A synagogue in the Old City
Our first view of the Western Wall
The Western Wall is a famous religious site. Hunter spent quite a bit of time studying religion and religious conflicts in university so he had lots to share with me about its significance. Basically, at different times, Christians, Jews, Pagans and Muslims have all considered the central part of the Old City of Jerusalem as a holy site. It has had Roman temples, Jewish Temples, Christian Churches, and Muslim Mosques all built on it, destroyed, remodeled, rebuilt, and modified at various times. The history is vast and extremely controversial depending who you ask. To Jews the Temple Mount is where they expect to build a Temple once more, but until they do so their faith dictates that they are not allowed to ascend it (more on that later) as a result, the closest they can get is the Western Wall, which is actually just a not especially historically remarkable retaining wall holding up the Temple Mount where the much more architecturally interesting First and Second temples were built before being destroyed. However, given that Jewish religious law forbids them from entering the site most of them choose to pray at the old wall of the temple, the closest that they are allowed to the actual site. We had to go through airport style security to even approach the Western Wall and it all had a bit of a surreal feel. The mix of people was very interesting, there were clearly a few other tourists like ourselves there to watch but not spiritually connected to the place. There were also lots of families who had clearly made pilgrimages to see the Western Wall and some were clearly deeply emotionally moved by what was likely a once in a lifetime experience for them. There were also plenty of locals who seemed to be treating their visits as a daily routine. Due to Jewish religious customs the areas of the wall for men and women to visit are separated by a fence and we therefore had to experience the wall separately as well which was interesting. We both went to our sides on our own, Hunter had to put his hood up as men are supposed to have their head covered (the opposite of the Christian faith were wearing a hat to a holy site is often seen as a sign of disrespect). Both of us thought it was really amazing to be next to such a profound part of history. Wars had been fought for centuries from the Crusades to the modern day over controlling this spot and even if the actual wall was a little small physically, the historical significance was monumental.
Panoramic view of the Western Wall area as well as part of the Temple Mount
Gender separation at the Western Wall, the women were in a smaller section than the men
Hunter took photos from the Men's side
Prayers put into the cracks of the Western Wall
Looking up to the Temple Mount
The woman's side was quite busy with people praying and other's taking photos. I tried to be discrete, but other's were not
Looking over at the men's section
After visiting the Western Wall we walked out of the Israeli security to the elevated walkway leading over the Western Wall to the Mughrabi Gate. The ownership of the Temple Mount is highly contentious but Rabbinic law forbids Jews from accessing it. Internationally, the Temple Mount can either be seen as a part of Palestine or a sort of no mans land depending on who you ask. It is protected by the Islamic Quaif that has overseen it for almost a thousand years. The mount was very quiet and pretty with lots of gardens and surprisingly few tourists. There were also predictably much fewer Jews due to their religious prohibitions on entering. We wandered around the area viewing the beautiful Dome of the Rock and a variety of other historical structures.
This picture is taken from the walkway to enter the Temple Mount area
Roman Ruins on the Temple Mount
The minarets of the al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the holiest sites of Islam
First views of the Dome of the Rock from the Temple Mount
The unassuming but very important al-Aqsa Mosque
The Dome of the Rock, actually quite large the doors are 15-20ft tall!
It was fairly cold the morning we visited the Temple Mount
The beautiful swirled marble columns
Hunter's phone picking up the colors of the Dome
Even Hunter needed a jacket
The Lion's Gate
After we finished on the Temple Mount we exited out the Bab al-Ghawanima. The Temple Mount is only accessible to non-Muslims via the Mughrabi Gate but you can exit the complex via any of the gates. Once back outside there were again Israeli Police and flags marking their territory. We wandered to the edge of the Old City facing the Mount of Olives and stepped outside the Lion's Gate. We were immediately offered a cab ride to Jerusalem which Hunter had to talk them out of, people here were probably pushier overall than Jordan where we had a lot of good interactions with the locals. Once we stepped back inside the Old City we found ourselves at the beautiful St Anne's Church, a Romanesque church built by the Crusaders in 1138. The church was then given to the French who have cared for it since. While fairly plain the church is known for excellent acoustics and frequently a stopover for musically inclined religious pilgrims. The grounds were beautiful with lovely gardens and even an orange tree. There was also an incredible chasm nearby where you could see the centuries of history layered and built on top of one another. We then left the church and headed back into the warrens nest of streets in the Old City.
The perfectly manicured gardens
Centuries of Ruins on top of each other from different civilizations
Was not expecting to see the French tri-colour in the Middle East
The church had a very plain interior
Singing in St. Anne's Church - a church with notable acoustics
A market where we bought some more pastries, it was fun to eat as we went but the ones from earlier were better
Our next stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is an extremely important religious site to Christians as it is said to be where Jesus was crucified and later resurrected and rose from the dead. The site was absolutely packed with Christian pilgrims. The architectural styles were highly variable between various iterations of the church. It was built and torn down/burned seemingly dozens of times over the centuries after first having been identified as the likely spot of Jesus' tomb. It was originally identified as the likely site by Helen, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine who converted to Christianity and then sent his mother to the Holy Land to do research for him on the origins. It was interesting to see sites that were so significant to so many people. After seeing the church Hunter and I sat outside and enjoyed a Diet Coke I had brought from the Royal Jordanian lounge in Amman.
Inside of what is thought to have been Jesus' tomb
Packed crowds
The cover of Jesus' tomb, was opened in 2018 for the first time in at least 500 years
Hunter's phone did an auto water colour picture
The immovable ladder
Jerusalem is governed by an extremely complex series of agreements between dozens of different religious and political entities. These agreements are sometimes centuries old and a lot of the parties that made them no longer even exist (like the Ottoman Empire). One of these agreements is called the Status Quo agreement, from the 17th century. It essentially says that nothing or as little as possible should be changed. As a result, there is a ladder on the outside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that no one knows why it is there. It has been there for 100's of years for essentially no reason other than that no one is supposed to move it. Someone moved a chair once and it started a fistfight that hospitalized numerous people. After all the history of the day we were getting quite hungry and so we headed back to our Air BnB resolved to find another good place to eat in the market.
Here we have the English (not UK) flag flying
A Georgia Bulldogs shirt in Hebrew
Had to say hello to the local cats!
The ticket for the tram in Jerusalem
On the way back we finally resolved to take the tram and discovered it was quite easy, buying one way tickets for the uphill walk back. As we wandered through the market we were tempted to get Fish en Chips again which we really liked but we persevered and decided to try something new. We had both been craving a good burger, as we try to work a gourmet burger place into all of our trips. There was one nearby where we both ordered. It was packed with locals which seemed like a good sign. There were a bunch of off-duty Israeli soldiers. They carry their weapons everywhere so it can be a little weird seeing teenagers with machine guns ordering burgers. The burgers were alright but not exceptional. Hunter ordered his with onions and it came with a fried egg, but hey the egg was more than the onions and free so we weren't complaining! The burgers were juicy but not as good as those we found in Belgium or the Czech Republic where we had my absolute favorite burger. The fries were, however, delicious and shaped more like chips allowing them to be used to scoop. They had a truffle mayo dip that was delicious. We shared a mini coke light that came with Hunter's meal deal and planned out the rest of our time in Israel while eating in a corner of the packed restaurant.
The single English copy of their menu
Our burgers, the "fries" were scoopable which was awesome as they had a variety of delicious flavored sauces like spicy pepper and truffle mayo. Hunter really enjoyed them
Hunter always getting the weirdest pictures of me (I am not sure what my eyes are doing!)
Some of the sauces we tried
After lunch we were both really tired so we decided to sleep a little before heading back out to explore the city in the night. Our apartment was right around the corner from the restaurant so we were able to get back and crash quickly. All too quickly our alarms went off and we were back out. Via a complicated combination of walking, trams, and Palestinian buses we managed to make our way out the eastern side of the city and into Palestine before continuing up the Mt of Olives. This famous mountain has been a burial site for Jews for millennia as it is where they believe the Resurrection will begin. It is also a common Christian pilgrimage site as it is where the Last Supper is believed to have occurred. Hunter and I took a very small and tight bus to near the top. It was clearly designed for local commuters, we were thinking we would walk all the way to the top from the Old City but are very glad we stopped and asked a young girl for instructions on using the bus. We were the only tourists on it but the driver was friendly enough to us. After our walk from the bus stop a magnificent view greeted us on top of the Mount of Olives. There was an expansive and very creepy cemetery surrounding us. (Jewish families often bury relatives on the Mount of Olives so they will be resurrected first) The view of the Old city was incredible, especially the Dome of the Rock, which is covered in 18k gold and lit at night. We enjoyed the views and took lots of pictures although our cameras struggled with the variable lighting conditions.
Looking back into old Jerusalem
Thousands of burial sites
Looking down the Mount towards the Old City
The Temple Mount visible from Mount of Olives
After we were done taking pictures we had to figure out how to get home. Buses on the Palestinian side of the city were highly unpredictable and Google Maps was not very accurate. Several taxi drivers tried to sell us very expensive rides back into the city. Eventually, we ended up walking back towards where we thought there might be a bus stop. Although the bus we were waiting for never came, eventually we were able to flag down a random passing bus who took us back down towards the light rail network that exists on the Jewish side of the city. We took the train back towards our Air BnB after 10pm and when we arrived we were both exhausted and hungry. It didn't take much for us to decide to head back to Fish en Chips. This time we ordered to go which came in very elegant boxes. The fish was once again delicious and we were able to enjoy it in the kitchen of our little rental with some Israeli Coke light we bought from a drugstore. As i showered and packed up our belongings for the next morning Hunter researched and planned the transit necessary to transport us home. I had flown 8,252 miles to get here, and we would have quite the journey to get home in time for my exams.
Dinner date over Fish'en Chips again because it was so tasty the first night!
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