Holy Land Day 9 - Last Day

We made the most of our last day in the Holy Land and made every minute count! We started off in the Old City this morning. I wanted to visit the Aedicule (pronounced eh-dih-kyool) in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but the line was crazy long, even first thing in the morning, so we headed over to the Garden Tomb instead. On the way there, we ran into Matthew’s new friend that he made at church on Shabbat. His family is of Jewish descent from Chile, and he only speaks Spanish. So we (Matthew) stopped and chatted for a minute.

Now, I think there are more tourists, overall, than there were when I was here last. I was expecting the holy sites to be a little quieter on a weekday, but they were as busy as any of the other times we visited. But we found a little nook and sat and talked and reflected for a while, then visited the tomb once more.

We spent some time wandering around East Jerusalem in search of falafel, but it turns out that with Ramadan, no one is selling them a la carte like usual, so we ended up going to the Jewish Quarter instead. Their falafel was pretty good, though, and I did get some other errands taken care of (including replacing my sunglasses that broke like a week ago; I’ve been holding them together) while we were wandering.

After lunch we went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and stood in line for the Aedicule (it was still long). I actually was kind of shocked the first time we went into the church the other day, because the Aedicule looked absolutely nothing like I remembered, and I was wondering, could my memory really be that bad? (Plus, I swear I have pictures of it looking like a massive wood structure, not red limestone…) But as we stood in line today, Matthew was looking up the history of the church and found out that it was fully restored in 2016, and before that it was being held together by iron scaffolding (so not wood, but at least my memory of the look of it was correct…). The structure is gorgeous, though. It was really a pleasure to see it all restored.

It was mid-afternoon by this time, and we decided we had time to do the wall ramparts walk, which we did. When I did it before, we bailed at Damascus Gate and went over to the south side, so it was my first time walking the northeast section. It was amazing how many, like, soccer fields and basketball courts we encountered, just right up against the wall.

Then, since the sun was still up, I decided I wanted to go to the Russian Orthodox gold-onion-dome church that I’ve always seen on the hillside of the Mount of Olives but never visited. Turns out it’s a convent, and “visiting hours” are only on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. So we decided to hike up to Pater Noster, which is at the top of that hill. It was a crazy climb up SO MANY steps, but did it… and then the church had closed about 20 minutes ago. BUT as we were lingering outside the door, catching our breath, hydrating, it opened and a man started making conversation with us. We told him we were from Utah and he said that he knew a former JC director (“your boss” he said), and then he asked if we wanted to come in and kind of prodded his security guard friend (who he was visiting) to let us (he also encouraged us to give the guard a tip), so we got to wander around Pater Noster, which is a church dedicated to the Lord’s Prayer—they have it inscribed in every language imaginable on the walls of the church—all by ourselves for about ten minutes.

Then we took one last walk through the Old City (Matthew logged 30,000 steps on his Fitbit today) on our way to the light rail. It was getting closer to sunset by now, and the Muslim Quarter lights were on, which was super magical. We spent our last two shekels on three gummies from one of the candy stores by Damascus Gate (Matthew went up to the guy and asked what he could get for 2 sheks, basically about 70 cents, lol).

 

Once we got off the light rail on our way to the hotel, we came across a stream of protesters heading toward wherever the protesting was going on (not in the Old City, is all I know). Apparently there was a nationwide strike today that grounded all flights, so we’re hoping with Netanyahu’s announcement tonight (which we just watched on the news), all of that will be resolved in time for us to go home… Our tour organizer already moved our shuttle up an hour earlier in order to account for possible traffic, so… fingers crossed!

Update: We got out with basically no problems! We had a small delay getting our flight out, but it’s unclear if that was even related to the strike. Traffic wasn’t even bad (like they thought) on the way to the airport.

Holy Land Day 8 - Hezekiah's Tunnel

Today was our first full free day, and we started by braving the public transportation. Jerusalem has a new-ish light rail system that’s actually pretty nice, and there’s a stop near our hotel, as well as one next to Damascus Gate, so that worked out really well.

We had a tour scheduled for Hezekiah’s tunnel at 10 a.m., so we left our hotel at 8:45, which gave us just enough time to get a little bit lost twice and get there right on time. So I was pretty pleased with that. We ended up on a full guided tour of the City of David archaeological site, which was neat. A lot has been excavated since I was there before, and it’s almost like a whole new experience.

The tunnel itself was neat, of course. Matthew really enjoyed it, he said it combined two of his favorite things: history and adventure. We forgot to bring flashlights, but another member of our group was kind enough to offer up their extra, and I was able to use my phone. And at least once, I actually turned my light off, because I could follow well enough along with the light from in front of me.

 

After the tunnel tour, we were told we could walk around the outside of the site or through a dark tunnel going upward back to the start, and we opted for the dark tunnel. It was a tight squeeze for Matthew in some spots, but at the end we were rewarded with a whole secret excavation site that isn’t visible via any other route (as far as we could tell). So we felt pretty cool about that.

 

After that we went looking for lunch and ended up at this sit-down restaurant, where we ordered shawarma. It came with about seven or eight little plates of different toppings, which was a totally new thing for me. But I tried it with this artichoke dip (in addition to the normal stuff) that actually was really delicious.

 

Then we FINALLY got around to our shopping. We went to visit Shabban, who is the main vendor connected to the BYU Jerusalem Center. His son Omar has just opened a business across the way (where Shabban’s brother used to be) selling handmade mosaics, which he’s very proud of. They started making these mosaics during COVID, and their products are unique in the Old City and have been selling really well. We also saw a group of students who were there making their own mosaics, which were looking really cool. I kind of wished we had time to do that as well, but we just got a bunch of stuff from Shabban, then went back to the hotel, as we were quite laden down by this point.

 

Tonight we went back to the Center for their Sunday night concert. This is a free concert series they put on each week with local artists as a service to the community. We tried to use our light rail/bus passes to take a bus up the Center, but we ended up failing at that and having to take a taxi (the bus system is much more complicated, and possibly less reliable, than light rail). Tonight’s concert was a string quintet. They were fun to watch, and the music was excellent.

Holy Land Day 7 - Shabbat

This morning we finally—FINALLY—got to go to the Jerusalem Center. I thought I was prepared for what it would feel like to be back, but as we stepped inside the doors and into the chapel, I just broke down weeping at all the emotion of being back. It’s like finally coming home after being away for a long time. Our bus had arrived early, so we got pretty good seats and were able to wander around the grounds a little, something I honestly didn’t do much while I was a student. I also didn't fully appreciate until this week how incredible and unique the view from the Center is. None of our hotels have even come close... Matthew, after seeing my reaction, was kind enough to ask around about being able to go down and see some of the old stomping grounds. One of the service missionaries there gave us a very long (and kind) explanation about insurance that means they can’t have any non-students below floor 6, so that was a little disappointing, but not unexpected.

After church, I really wanted to walk over to the garden of Gethsemane by way of Orson Hyde Park, but as I was sitting in Relief Society, I started to wonder if I actually remembered the way well enough to get there. I asked this cute student I sat next to if she could give any directions, and she didn’t know where the turnoff was off the top of her head, but she mentioned something about a dirt path. I was half hoping there would be a group of students going that way about the same time for us to follow, but that didn’t happen, so I just had to rely on vague memory and vaguer directions. And guys—I totally did it! The whole way to Orson Hyde Park, I kept vacillating between *This seems right* and *We are going to end up lost in a private Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem* but we just followed a straight course after the turnoff where I thought it was, and eventually we found ourselves in the right spot!

It started to rain almost as soon as we got to Gethsemane, but I was really grateful the rain had held off long enough to walk down memory lane (literally, haha). We hung out inside the church waiting for the rain to let up enough to walk to Lion’s Gate, and then we went to St. Anne’s, which is also the site of the pool of Bethesda.

After St. Anne’s, we followed Via Dolorosa and the stations of the cross up to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We got lost, but only a little, and found a little square I don’t remember seeing before. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there were priests doing some kind of ritual around the eticule (where the tomb is), among and around all the tourists. I think the Greek Orthodox hold their services on Saturday because the Catholic church has dibs on Sunday, or something like that. We went upstairs to see the cross but didn’t get in line for the eticule this time. Hopefully it won’t be as busy on Monday.

Then we ran a couple of errands (we haven’t had a moment of free time all week) and made our way out of the Old City. We discovered the light rail wasn’t running, I’m guessing because of Shabbat, so we decided to walk to the hotel, about two miles away. It didn’t seem that far and was really quite pleasant… for about 20 minutes. Then it started to rain. I was wearing a poncho, but it can only do so much. But Matthew was really enthused about the idea of walking, so we persevered (with a break at a bus stop when it really started coming down, to wait out the worst of it). And now we’re at our final hotel for the visit! (This is number 5, I believe.)

Holy Land Day 6 - First Friday of Ramadan

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan, but today was the first Friday of Ramadan, which since Friday is their day of worship, was kind of a big deal. The roads around the north side of Jerusalem were completely shut down, and there was this constant stream of people going into Damascus Gate like I have never seen. It made some things about our day easier, and some things more difficult. I also had the urge to call out “Eid Mubarak” (“Blessed Celebration”) to passersby, but I figured that would be obnoxious, so I told myself only if I were interacting with someone naturally… but I did get my chance! Some men stopped for our group to cross in front of them, so as we thanked them, I said, “Eid Mubarak!”

We started this morning at the site where Jesus was tried by the Jewish chief priests and where Peter denied him. Matthew got to be the example of a person being flogged under Jewish law (see pic).

 

Then we went through Herod’s Gate into the Old City—a novel experience for me, since we were never allowed to use that gate as students. From there we went to the Church of the Condemnation and followed a few Stations of the Cross back over to Damascus Gate (where we were exiting against the flow of traffic, which was an experience), and we had lunch outside the Old City near there. It was chicken shawarma, and it was very delicious.

After that we went over to a bus station that sits underneath the hill of Golgotha (in the Protestant tradition, because the cliff face actually looks like a skull). It normally would have been bustling and noisy, but with traffic in that area being completely shut down, we had the place all to ourselves, which was kind of neat.

Then we finally made it to the Garden Tomb. They’ve made some changes to the infrastructure. I asked our volunteer guide why they got rid of the door with the plaque that says “He is not here, for He is risen” on it, and the answer was basically that people were abusing the privilege (i.e., trying to close it to stay inside longer). But in continuation of my thoughts from yesterday, my impression today as we were there was, “Why did you come here?” (i.e., to Jerusalem). The answer is to feel the Spirit, and we did at the Garden Tomb.

 

Then we finally made it to Bethlehem! The Church of the Nativity has undergone extensive renovations since I was there before. They uncovered mosaics on the walls and refurbished the icons on the columns, and if my memory were as clear as I wish it were, I would have said it was a completely different place, I’m sure. As it is, my main memory is of going down into the sanctum, which we weren’t able to do (there was a long line). But we did get to do some nativity shopping, and I was very happy with the new piece I picked out. 

Behind us is the mosque across from the church, 

which also commemorates the birth of Jesus (as a revered prophet)

 

So Ramadan made being at Golgotha totally awesome, but it meant we had crazy traffic getting back from Bethlehem, and as our tour guide explained, in the hour before sunset, all the Muslim taxi drivers are going home to prepare to break their day’s fast. So we had planned to go celebrate the opening of Shabbat at the Western Wall, but we were utterly unable to get a taxi, so we ended up staying at the hotel. So that’s Ramadan in the Holy Land.

Holy Land Day 4/5 - Old City

Yesterday was kind of rough. We spent almost the whole day in the Israel Museum (I’m not a museum person), and then the border crossing to get into Bethlehem closed early because Ramadan is starting this week. So I didn’t write a blog post, because there wasn’t much to write about. We did go to the Dome of the Rock first in the morning, though, which was nice. And it was pretty thrilling to drive around the Old City and see all the places I remember.

Men's mosque, women's mosque

 

So this morning I was feeling kind of down. We went to the Old City, and I just wasn’t feeling as excited as I wanted to be. We were up at Jaffa Gate, and I just prayed, “Heavenly Father, help me to fix my attitude and have a good experience. I’m just so worried that my previous experiences will be tainted if I don’t have the one I was expecting here now.” And I felt peace wash over me, and the impression came, “I’m still here.” And I was reminded that we connect most to the spirit, and to Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, when we are in need. And my need today was to feel the spirit and their presence.

So our first stop was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and I was trying to explain to Matthew, whether it is the actual place where the Savior was crucified and resurrected isn’t what makes it a holy place. It’s made holy by the devotion of everyone who comes there to worship Christ. I didn’t take any pictures there because I was having a moment and just basking in that.

 

Next we went to the Western Wall. Apparently today was a day when all those boys having their Bar Mitzvah come to the wall to do that, so we got to see some of the ceremonies being conducted. Men and women have to be in separate areas, but there’s a step on the women’s side so that we can look over into the men’s. The women throw candy at the boy as he comes up for his Bar Mitzvah.

 

We had falafel for lunch, which made me very happy. While we were waiting for the food, a couple of musicians came up and told us they were there to play for the Bar Mitzvah applicants and their families, and they gave us a demonstration. They told us we could dance, so I encouraged people to get up and do it. I guess I’ve become that person in the group, lol. But it made me a new best friend. After, they were like, “Thank you! You were the key!” and then we actually crossed paths later in the day and the guy caught my eye and waved, haha.

We spent the afternoon at Jerusalem Archaeological Park, which is mostly more museum stuff, although we did sit on the steps that would have led up to the temple during the time of Christ. Then we went to the Upper Room site, and then we went over to the Mount of Olives and talked about Gethsemane. Our guide had some interesting insight into the meaning of Gethsemane. He’s a native Hebrew speaker, and the word apparently doesn’t quite translate to olive press, but more like “winepress of oil,” which he never understood until he learned that once wine is pressed, the pits and skins and stems, which are the most bitter part of the grape are transferred to an oil press to make vinegar through the same pressure process used to make vinegar. Gives new meaning to the term “bitter cup.”

Got myself an upgrade ;)

Upper room

Sunset over the Old City from the Mount of Olives