Israel

Sooo this blog has been long in the waiting!! I wasn't getting any comments, so I withheld the pictures of this trip. Don't worry, I'm not dead!

I put these pictures here with the explanations that I was given. My Bumpa also brought to my attention that there are many interpretations of these holy places. My guide was Jewish, so I wasn't well informed of the Muslim aspects of some monuments. I apologize for the biased view.

As all if it is religion based, most of it can be debated. I'm not religiously inclined, therefore you should not expect much more than what is written here. In other words, no questions or debates please!

As in Egypt, I marked the places we visited and our route on the map. We actually visited Israel prior to going to Cairo. Let me first say, that the journey was NOT enjoyable. Our trip was organized through a Czech travel agency. All the people on the trip spoke Czech, and most refused to speak English with us. They eventually arranged an English speaking tour guide, which was most appreciated. We still missed a lot of stuff.

We left the resort at around 11pm. We rode on a large tour bus. Around 3am, we were instructed to take our things and exit the bus. We then waited for 3 hours at the Israeli border. Re-entry to the Egyptian border took less than 20 minutes for all 100 Czech tourists. The Israelis however, decided to make things difficult. They wanted to know why we were studying in the Czech, why we were with a Czech tour group, why we went to Egypt and why we decided to go to Israel. Then they made a big deal about how long we would stay in Israel. After all the hooplah, they stamped our passports for a 3 month trip (we were only staying 1 day). Ridiculous!

This is the Western Wall a.k.a Weeping Wall. Solomon's Temple once stood here but was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586BC. The Holy Temple was built a second time by Herod the Great. The wall is what is left of the Holy Temple that was destroyed by the Roman Empire in 70CE. It is called the Weeping Wall because Jews come here to Mourn the loss of their Holy Temple. They also proclaim that the Holy Spirit rests here at all times.

Personally, I didn't feel any kind of revelation here. There were plastic lawn chairs and children everywhere. Israeli guards were constantly pacing the perimeter with large machine guns. I went down to touch the wall and the praying space was overrun with tourists. Some lady and her husband were taking turns photographing themselves touching the wall. I kind of want to visit Mecca now, just to see how different it is. From what I've heard they don't allow non Muslims to participate, but you can watch from a far. Saudi Arabia anyone??

This is the entrance to the marketplace. See all the tourists, children and sales people? Notice how crowded it is? I couldn't get over it. This is also the same entrance Jesus took while carrying the cross through the city. Even though they may not share the religion, I think a little more respect should be shown.

Jesus fell 14 times while carrying the cross. This was his first fall. They have little monuments near some of the places he fell. If there is not a monument, they placed a marker on the wall like the one below.

More of the market place.

This is where Jesus was brought after he had been killed. They brought him here to clean, anoint and wrap his body before he was placed in his tomb.

Beneath all the decorations is the stone which was broken when Jesus rose again. Tourists can't actually visit the cave because the later ruler of Jerusalem had temples built over several historic sites. This meant that historians knew where to excavate, but many artifacts were badly damaged.


This is the stone on which Jesus was placed to be anointed and wrapped.


Another picture of the stone. Lots of annoying tourists.

This is The Dome of the Rock. It is the oldest standing Islamic building in the world. Islamists believe that the rock held at the center is the spot where Muhammad ascended to heaven. Jews as well as Muslims believe it to be the holiest place on earth.

I'm not sure what the gold building in the background is. I thought it was the All Nations Church, but we visited that. . so someone can leave a comment as to what it is.

This is the Church of All Nations. This church was said to be where Jesus was praying after he had been betrayed. The church is on top of Mt. Olive. I believe it is called All Nations Church because after it was destroyed, several countries (including the USA) gave money to restore the church.

This is the garden where Jesus was said to have been praying when the soldiers came to arrest him. The olive trees are original, but the plants were destroyed along with the first church.

GOATS!!! This is in front of the Church of All Nations. We were standing outside waiting for our bus. Cars were driving buy in normal traffic. Then someone yells "Goats!!" and this herd of goats ran by. haha.