Monday 4 February clear sunny skies cool to warm.
Big night last night. Met an American couple from Oregon Portland who recognised our accents. We kept drinking till 9pm., feeling it this morning.
Our first stop this morning is the Temple Mount in the old city. We are not allowed to go into the mosque that is built on the site it is restricted to practicing muslims. Our next event is the stations of the cross. We start at the 2nd station because the first is now an Islamic school. We move through the next 7 stations stopping at each one and the rest are all contained in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church is divided into three religions, Armenian Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic, each have their own distinct area. We visit the place where Jesus was crucified and his burial tomb. The burial tomb has a chapel built over it. While it is claimed that these are the places where these events occurred it requires a lot of faith to accept it. However if they are not the exact places we are certainly in the area where these events occurred. While we don’t go into the chapel, our guide takes us to an actual burial cave elsewhere in the church, and this looks much more authentic.
After the stations we walk through the Jewish and Armenian quarters and then move on to the Holocaust museum dedicated to the 6 million Jews who lost their lives during the Second World War. It is a very moving experience and at times overwhelming. It is hard to believe how long the Jews have been persecuted, even being persecuted by the Catholic Church. I was also surprised by the number of European countries that actively participated in the massacre of the Jews during Hitlers reign. After the museum we enter a memorial for all the Jewish children slaughtered in the war. You walk through a dark building where there are candle lights glowing and it looks like stars in the night sky. As you pass through the names and ages of those killed are broadcast.
After this we head back to the hotel. We have to pack again tonight as tomorrow we leave Israel and head to Jordan
Big night last night. Met an American couple from Oregon Portland who recognised our accents. We kept drinking till 9pm., feeling it this morning.
Our first stop this morning is the Temple Mount in the old city. We are not allowed to go into the mosque that is built on the site it is restricted to practicing muslims. Our next event is the stations of the cross. We start at the 2nd station because the first is now an Islamic school. We move through the next 7 stations stopping at each one and the rest are all contained in the church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church is divided into three religions, Armenian Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic, each have their own distinct area. We visit the place where Jesus was crucified and his burial tomb. The burial tomb has a chapel built over it. While it is claimed that these are the places where these events occurred it requires a lot of faith to accept it. However if they are not the exact places we are certainly in the area where these events occurred. While we don’t go into the chapel, our guide takes us to an actual burial cave elsewhere in the church, and this looks much more authentic.
After the stations we walk through the Jewish and Armenian quarters and then move on to the Holocaust museum dedicated to the 6 million Jews who lost their lives during the Second World War. It is a very moving experience and at times overwhelming. It is hard to believe how long the Jews have been persecuted, even being persecuted by the Catholic Church. I was also surprised by the number of European countries that actively participated in the massacre of the Jews during Hitlers reign. After the museum we enter a memorial for all the Jewish children slaughtered in the war. You walk through a dark building where there are candle lights glowing and it looks like stars in the night sky. As you pass through the names and ages of those killed are broadcast.
After this we head back to the hotel. We have to pack again tonight as tomorrow we leave Israel and head to Jordan
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