The old city of Jerusalem, part 1

Today was the first of two organized group tours in Jerusalem. The tour today took us to the Old City, which is a holy place for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is divided into quarters for each of the faiths, plus the small Armenian Quarter. I was really looking forward to seeing the Old City, and it did not disappoint!

We met up with the group and took an overlook of the city from a high point at Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. If you look in the picture, you can see the Dome of the Rock (gold, Muslim site), the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Christian, black dome) and the Temple Mount (Jewish, white).

We drove by the Mount of Olives, which was referred to many times in the gospels, and the huge Mount Zion Jewish cemetery.

Then we came to the Zion Gate to enter the old city. We crossed paths with some musicians who were heading into the Old City to play for a Bar Mitzvah (those are held on Mondays) and they played Hava Nagila for us and blew the Shofar!

Then we walked through parts of the Old City. First, we came to the Syriac Church of St Mark, which contains the Last Supper room. The writing is Aramaic, which was the original language of the Bible.

We walked some more, and we came to the Wailing/Western  Wall, which is the holiest site for Jews. 

Men and women pray in separate areas here, and the men's side had all the action today, so Sean took the photos. A rabbi brought his synagogue's Torah, and he was displaying it. You can see the women looking over the wall from our side!

There were also many different Orthodox Jews praying here. 

After we left here, we walked to to one of the holiest places for the Catholic faith, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher This is the site where Jesus was crucified, died and buried. It is actually one building with 6 different churches, and many different chapels, within it. The Catholics, Greek Orthodox and 

Armenian Orthodox all share space in the building. The Chapel of the Crucifixion is maintained by 

the Greek Orthodox, and it is where the cross was placed, and where Jesus was nailed to it. Many 

people come here to pray on the site, and to light a candle.

Just below this is the Stone of the Anointing, where Jesus body was laid after He died and was taken off the cross. 

Again, many people come to pray here, and you can lay religious items on the stone to bless them. I did this with the crosses I bought for souvenirs.

More about the Old City in my next post...