Jerusalem - History & Archaeology - Small Wailing Wall, Via Dolorosa, King David's Citadel Museum, Ramparts Walk, Mt. of Olives, and Valley of Jehoshaphat

Wow, there were so many amazing things to see in Jerusalem, it kept us busy for weeks!  Where to start?!  As you can recall from one of our previous posts, Kibbutz Outings - Jerusalem, we've already visited some of the major sights in Jerusalem.  But we wanted to see all the sites.  Even the ones off the beaten path that the average tourist doesn't have time to see.

There's a small section of the Western Wall that's accessible deep in the Muslim Quarter, so we went and checked it out.

We did the Western Wall Tunnel Tour, which started at the Western Wall in the Jewish Quarter and we followed the wall through tunnels under the Muslim Quarter and came out once the Western Wall ended (at a water cistern), at the other side of Jerusalem's Old City, near the Via Dolorosa.  The center-most point of the wall is the closest point to the center of the destroyed Jewish Temple which housed the Holy of Holies, so it's a very sacred place for Jewish prayer.  Because here were many people solemnly praying, at that point we had the option to pray or respectfully maintain silent, and then we continued the tour further along in the tunnel.  So, now we have walked the entire length of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, through underground through tunnels created by Romans, Mamluks, Crusaders....etc.!

Technical Note: Please let us know if the video and audio are not in sync or if there are any issues with the videos.  Apparently there's a known issue with iMovie and YouTube.  Thank you!

On Friday, we walked the Via Dolorosa in the Christian quarter of the Old City as huge groups of tourists were guided by priests, monks, and other holy figures.  They walked the length of the Via Dolorosa, some carrying large crosses, stopping at the 9 stations of the cross until they reached the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where there are 5 more stations inside and the site of Jesus' crucifixion.  Even though it was from a different religion, we respect it and it was still really interesting to learn about.

There was A LOT of security during the walk of the Via Dolorosa, no doubt due to religious tensions in the Old City.

We visited the museum inside King David's Citadel, which actually is a misnomer.  It wasn't really King David's Citadel, it was just named as such by Byzantine Christians.  The citadel was conquered, destroyed, and rebuilt by Christians, Muslims, Mamluks, and Ottomans.  The museum has an extensive history of Jerusalem, beautiful grounds and views of the city, and a cool, large model of Jerusalem as it stood around 1900.

Here's a video.  Please forgive my poor filming.  First of all, I didn't know the city very well, so I blaze over all the major sights in the Old City.  The two large grey domes are the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which I failed to mention.  I end with showing the inside of King David's Citadel.

The Temple Mount with the Mount of Olives in the background, to the right of the Dome of the Rock.

Here's a model of King David's Tower and Citadel.  This is the side of the citadel facing inside the Old City.  This is where we entered and you can see the moat I videoed.

This is the side of the citadel with the outer wall of the Old City facing Jerusalem's new city.

From 1948 (Israel's War for Independence) until the Six Day War in 1967, East Jerusalem (which included access to the Western Wall) was separated from West Jerusalem by a concrete wall.  Jews weren't allowed into the Old City or access to their holy sites.  This is a piece of the wall that was torn down when Jerusalem was reunified.

Jeremy loves knights, and swords, and armor!

Kind of hard to read with the flash in the middle of it!

We saw blown glass in the museum and Jeremy said he thought it was Chihuly.  I said, "No way anyone in Israel knows who Chihuly is."  We found a plaque and were pleasantly surprised to find that the glass on display in the museum was made by Dale Chihuly!  He's more world renowned than I thought!  We're proud Seattleites!

On a different day, we walked along the ramparts of Jerusalem's Old City!  We walked all along the top of the walls, for several kilometers.  It was a great way to get to know the city outside of the walls.  The only part we couldn't walk along was the wall along the Temple Mount.  

The path was narrow and looking down at the stones with the ground below in my peripheral vision gave me a little bit of vertigo.  These walls are so strong, it's amazing to believe they date back to 1538, when the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt them.  Jeremy would tell me military strategy things like imagine being an archer shooting down on attacking armies below, or imagine running from tower to tower relaying messages to your commander.  Over the entry gates there were towers and we could see "murder holes" where the defending army could shoot arrows down or pour boiling oil down on the attackers.  Game of Thrones fans would find that info pretty cool.

A Bar Mitzvah procession was in progress.

The Mount of Olives beyond the Old City Walls

You can see a tall concrete wall in the distance which is most likely a partition wall separating the Palestinian territories from Israeli proper.

The beautiful Notre Dame de France Hospice.  It's a requirement that all buildings in Jerusalem be built with Jerusalem stone, which I think is absolutely lovely.

The Mount of Olives and the unique churches nearby.

The Mount of Olives is in the top right.  When we went to the Mount of Olives, we went into the Church of All Nations, the one with many domes and the golden mosaics on the facade.  It is said their garden is the Garden of Gethseman, the garden where Jesus is believed to have been arrested.  "The garden has some of the world's oldest olive trees, three of which have been scientifically dated as being over 2,000 years old, making them witnesses to whatever biblical events occurred there."  We didn't go into the Church of Mary Magdalene with the "golden onion domes" because the church was closed. Quotes from our Lonely Planet guide book.

Informative writing and the reflection is cool!

Some of the 2,000 year old, gnarled olive trees in the garden.

This brings us to our visit to the Mount of Olives, the famous Jewish cemetery outside of Jerusalem, where it is believed that the Messiah will appear and resurrect those who are buried there first.  Wikipedia says the Jewish cemetery has been used for over 3,000 years and has over 150,000 graves.  Sadly, throughout the years, depending on who had control of the land, many Jewish graves have been destroyed and desecrated.  From the Mount of Olives, there is an amazing view down into the Old City of Jerusalem, and of the Temple Mount.

A view of the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount beyond.  Looks like a postcard right?  

Jeremy's history lesson - The Eastern Wall of Jerusalem's Old City is home to the Golden Gate, which was sealed by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1541 when he rebuilt the Old City walls.  Scripture has it that when the Messiah comes he will return through that gate.  By sealing it, maybe Suleiman was taking some preventative measures.  There's also a Muslim cemetery blocking the front of that gate, directly across the valley from the Mount of Olives.

Elisha and I

Elisha and Jeremy heading down the hill from the Mount of Olives to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

Jeremy in front of Absolam's Pillar, which is believed to be the tomb of King David's son.  The Tomb of Jehoshaphat is behind the pillar and not much remains of it except a frieze above the entrance of the 1st-Century burial cave.

A different day, when we were touring the Temple Mount, we took this awesome shot of Absolam's Pillar from across the valley.

We climbed up into the Grotto of St. James and explored the cool caves.  It is believed that St. James hid here when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane nearby.

The view looking out of the Grotto of St. James.  Behind me is roughly a 30 foot drop.

Elisha and I in front of the Tomb of Zechariah, where it is believed the prophet Zechariah is buried.

Here's a view of the Tomb of Zechariah from the Temple Mount.  To the left of the tomb, where the pillars are, is the Grotto of St. James that we explored.

So, the next part of our journey involves Jeremy taking us on an adventure while I complain about where the heck we're going, in the blazing heat of the afternoon, with no shade, and I'm mountain climbing through loose gravel and garbage in flip-flops!  I would ask questions like, "Is this path even going to work?"  Jeremy would reply with something like, "Um . . . sure it will . . . maybe."  Hopefully we amused Elisha and didn't drive her crazy!

Thanks to Jeremy's adventuresome spirit, we did discover these homes in Eastern Jerusalem built on top of caves.

Later we came upon a lookout of the caves we had discovered and it turns out they were ancient burial caves!  Yeah, I'm just going to build my house on top of these burial caves that are hundreds, if not thousands, of years old!

It was a big hike down the valley and back up again, but good exercise and an awesome adventure!

Isn't Jerusalem incredible?!  Look for our next blog post which will show you more of our adventures in Jerusalem!