The bus dropped us off at Jaffa Gate, which is derived from the word Joppa. There are 12 gates to get into the old city of Jerusalem, and an old wall all the way around. We went to an Anglican service. For communion they were all drinking out of the same chalice and the minister had his hands all over the bread, so we decided to pass on this one. I do tend to be rather germophobic at times.
We bought a Hebrew CD at the gift shop, we have no idea what we ended up with, but it's always part of the adventure for us to pick up some local music wherever we go. After lunch at the church complex we braved our way into the Suk, a labyrinth of market shops. We were told by Mike that if you veer left or right down one of the alley ways, you will never emerge, so we stayed on the straight and narrow path and eventually turned around and went back to the gate.
The group then headed over to Herodian, an ancient site. King Herod took the top off a mountain and built himself a little palace inside, complete with synagogue and cisterns and mikvahs (ritual baths). From a ways away it just looks like a mountain. The postcard with the aerial view shows it best. It was rather like Masada at the top, very hot and dusty.
We got back to the hotel at 4:00 and dinner wasn't until 7:00, so we went for a walk with Sebastian in search of camera batteries and David's Well. We passed by a shop and asked how to get to David's Well, and the rather nice young shopkeeper decided to go for a walk and take us there. His name was Elias, and he is a Baptist Christian. He took us through some back alleys and streets we would never have found. There are 3 wells that are about 5000 years old, isn't that unbelievable? One of them is still used by the city of Bethlehem today. The story from the Old Testament goes that Kind David was on the run from Saul and wished for some water. Some of his soldiers got him some water from the Philistine wells. When David found out that they had risked their lives to do this, he refused to drink it, but offered it as a sacrifice before God. Elias then walked us back towards our hotel, and a policeman stopped traffic both ways so the 3 of us could cross the street. Palestine is so fun!
After dinner some from our group found a local restaurant to go out for "drinks" (we had tea). The wall got put up directly across from them and they lost so much business that they closed down for 5 years. Then they decided to fight and open up again, and they painted their menu on the wall.
When I first came I was so dismayed to find the wall all around our hotel. What a dismal view. Now it seems to have been one of the most eye opening experiences I've ever had. My heart goes out to these people. Many of them want peace, but a few extremists have ruined it for everyone. Our guide Hanna has no use for Hamas at all. When asked how Hamas won the election in the Gaza Strip, he said they went from house to house bribing people and making promises they have not kept. Most Palestinians support the Palestinian Authority because they are willing to work towards peace. Even the Palestinians here in the West Bank are afraid to go to Gaza. I have not felt afraid or unsafe once here in the West Bank, although when you tell other tourists where you are staying they look at you like you are crazy.
It is so dry here. Elias told us that it has not rained here since last year. They get their water from the Jordan River.
No comments:
Post a Comment