Last day. I can’t believe how the time has flown by. I have seen so much and met so many nice people.
We spent our final day in Jerusalem. We started out driving up to Mount Zion and by Oskar Schindler’s grave. Though he wasn’t Jewish he wanted to be buried in Israel, and he is quoted as saying, “My people are here.”
Then we went to The Upper Room, identified as the site of the Last Supper. Like many, if not most of the sites we visited, it was built, destroyed, rebuilt, destroyed, rebuilt, etc. The Catholics believe it to be the first Christian church.
Not far away was the Western Wall, literally the western-most wall, built by King Herod, of the plaza called the Temple Mount. Not called the Wailing Wall by Jewish people, because Jerusalem is no longer divided, it is the most important place in the Jewish religion. Hundreds of people from all over the world were there praying, swaying and singing—women on one side of a dividing wall and men on the other. Handwritten prayer requests were being pushed into the cracks between the ancient blocks.
(Western Wall)
Then we walked the Via Dolorosa—the Stations of the Cross, started by the Crusaders, who invaded Israel in 1099 to liberate the Holy Sepulcher, believed by Catholics to be the site of Jesus crucifiction, burial and resurrection. The first nine stations are on the outside along the cobble stone walk and the remaining, most important ones are inside the church.
(Station V along the Via Delorosa)
(Church of Holy Sepulcher)
We ended the day at the Souk, the ancient and bustling market in Old City Jerusalem. I had been waiting to see it. It was everything I imagined it to be. Stalls crammed with spices and dried fruits were next to coffee and pastry shops (no Starbucks here), pottery stores, textile stalls, falafel and kebab stands. It was an assault on the senses—sounds, smells, feel, sight.
(Backgammon in the Souk)
(Spice stall in the Souk)
I haven’t mentioned my companions so I would just like to thank them all—Ann, Doug, Steve, Sam, Richelle, Edgar, Joyce, Ben, Peter, the two Dans, Amber and Pamela, for being great travel mates. And many thanks to Tsion and Schmoulik for sharing their love and knowledge of Israel with us for seven days!
Shalom!
