Jerusalem and Bethlehem – The Holy Lands
/Note – The photos are not coming up in the later part of this post and I am working to fix the problem. Thought I would post it anyways, although a lot of my blog posts are in the photos and the words are mostly word vomit anyways. Sorry about that, hopefully I can get it to work soon. /Note
One of the things that struck me about Israel right away was the number of places that are historically relevant when it comes to the Bible. Obviously that makes sense since this is where the stories took place, but I didn’t really think of it until I arrived. Tel Aviv is a very modern city with a rich tech sector and didn’t really feel that religious. Jerusalem in contrast was VERY different. It had it’s sections with more of a modern feel, but there were also a lot of religious areas which were super old and historically relevant. The Hostel was huge and felt kind of like a hotel, however, the common area was equally huge and there were tons of people hanging out. It wasn’t hard to strike up a conversation with some people and a few of them were heading out to check out what night time in Jerusalem was like. I decided to join them.
I met a few people from the US and Germany and we had a great time. The next dad I ventured off into the outer reaches of the city on the light rail to find the holocaust museum (Yad Vashem) which is Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the holocaust. I had been to a few holocaust museums by this point, but this one was probably the most hard hitting for me. It was very modern and beautifully constructed and took you through a lot of personal stories of people involved in the Holocaust. I spent a decent ammount of time there reading the stories and seeing the artifacts. So many individual stories you would never hear about in general discussion about it. If you are ever in Jerusalem, I would suggest taking a visit. Apparently it is the second most popular Israel tourist attraction.
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That excursion took most of the day and it was dark out when I got back to the Hostel. I also did not take very many photos here as I wanted to get the whole experience. That evening a bunch of people were planning on going to the market which turns into a bit of a night market in the evening. It turned out to be a pretty fun evening, meeting some locals and generally just having a very social evening. We started at a craft beer place and then went from there.
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It was pretty interesting to see all of the younger Jewish population out on the town enjoying their Thursday night. Since Saturday is their holy day, Thursday ends up being the night out night. The lady we were with was getting approached by young men all night long.
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It was interesting but a lot of fun.
The next morning I got up and went for an adventure run! I ran by a track and decided to do a few quick laps of speed work!
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After the run, I went back to the Hostel, cleaned myself up and then headed to the old city for a free walking tour. It met at the Jaffa gate and the walk over there was really interesting. There were armed teenagers with automatic weapons on the street and lot’s of Orthodox Jewish people on the streets with the curls and traditional dress. It is just not something you see very often and so it was just strange to see for me personally. Israel has mandatory military service so their were a lot of young people on the streets.
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The walled city was super interesting and there is sooooo much history here.
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Within the walled city of old Jerusalem, there are 4 sections including Muslim, Christian, Jewish and Armenian. Within the walled city there are some very important religious sites… The Temple Mount and western Wall for Jews, The Church of the Holy Seplulchre for Christians (The place where Jesus was crucified and where his tomb was) and the Dome on the Rock for Muslims. It was crazy just how much history and religious importance was in this small area. The tour covered all four quarters which all had very distinct feels.
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There were lot’s of small alleyways as well as big open squares.
This is the view of the Western Wall from above.
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They were also excavating various parts of the city as new things were discovered.
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The tour was great and it is kind of hard to explain since there is just a lot of history and you almost have to see it to really experience it. So there ya have it, if you want more then you should go to Jerusalem and do a free walking tour.
This was Friday night which means it was the beginning of Shabat. From Sundown to Sundown, it is the Jewish Holy day. They have a giant family dinner and then do no work for the rest of the day. Shops are closed, and nobody is really on the street at all. On the way back to the Hostel, everyone was rushing to their prayers and family houses prior to sundown. It was interesting to see the hustle and bustle in a different kind of rush hour. That night the Hostel was hosting a traditional Shabat dinner for those interested to give travelers an idea of what most of the Jewish families were doing on that Friday night.
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It was delicious and interesting to experience some of the traditions which are a major part of the Jewish culture. The fact that almost everyone in the city was doing this and that everything was more or less shut down, was also very interesting. That night there wasn’t much to do since everything was closed, so we just chilled at the hostel.
The next morning a group of us decided to take a bus over to Palestine to check out Bethlehem which is of course the birthplace of Jesus. It was a Saturday in Jerusalem which meant there was nothing open and everyone basically stays inside. In Bethlehem most people are either Muslim or Catholic which celebrates their holy day on another day. It isn’t too far from Jerusalem but is in Palestine which requires a border crossing which which was not really a typical border crossing due to the giant wall that surrounds the territory. There is A Lot to say about the Israel Palestine relationship and I am not going to get into it here but let me tell you that I had no idea before travelling to the area and have now seen both sides of the story.
The Israeli city bus dropped us off next to the wall and after walking through the checkpoint we were in Bethlehem. The checkpoint was not a big deal for us because we clearly looked like tourists and no one really paid us any attention. However, Israeli and Palestinian citizens do not have the same freedom.
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The first stop on our walk through Bethlehem was a walk along the wall and then a visit to the Banksy museum and hotel. Banksy is obviously famous for his graffiti art but also for doing things a bit out of the ordinary. Such as the piece of art he sold to a collector which was set up to be run through a shredder, once the buyer paid the art. He created the walled off hotel which is a hotel and museum that faces the wall and attempts to draw attention to the situation which is happening in Palestine right now. The art on the wall was amazing and had various messages, although most of them revolved around the wall and how Palestinians think of it.
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After exploring the wall and taking in all of the art, we went to the hotel and took a gander at the museum inside. This is where I learned the most about the conflict and in general was about the Palestinian side but in my opinion made as much effort as possible to include the other side of the story. I did not agree with everything in the Museum but it was for sure eye opening.
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The hotel was pretty interesting in itself and had a lot of strange touches that were interesting to look at. We only got to see the lobby, but it was deferentially interesting.
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Anyways, I would really suggest that everyone read a little bit more about the conflict between Israel and Palestine as I had not taken the time to read up on it and was very ignorant coming in to this part of the world. It’s one of my favorite part about travelling is that there are parts of the world that get ignored by mainstream media, or are happening but I just don’t pay attention. Now that I have traveled there and have been immersed in it, it makes it so much more real. I realize that this little bit is making me appear super ignorant, but I agree with that sentiment as I knew nothing about it before coming here.
After the museum and the wall, we walked further into Bethlehem proper towards the Church of the Nativity which is said to be the birthplace of Jesus.
Along the way we decided to walk vs take a cab because it would give us an opportunity to check out the city.
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It was very different than the places I had seen in Israel.
We eventually made out way to the church and ducked in to check it out.
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The door was super tiny and is called the door of humility.
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I had read a few things that there is always a line up to get into the crypt itself but if you go in the out door and just kind of don’t say anything, you can usually sneak in. Which is exactly what I did. The area where the birth was said to have actually taken place was underneath the alter and was very small and cramped. There were also a ton of candles lit which made things just a huge fire hazard. There were also way too many people.
I guess this is where the new iphone wide angle camera would have come in handy.
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The above photo shows the fourteen-point silver star beneath the main altar in the Grotto of the Nativity which marks the traditional spot of Jesus’ birth. Across from the spot, is the place where Mary first placed Jesus in the manger.
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It’s interesting because the alter is maintained by the Greek Orthodox and Armenians and the Catholics maintain the manger placing spot. The politics of these religious monuments is crazy and it’s no wonder theology is such a massive topic.
The grotto was very cramped.
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After visiting the church and the grotto, we continued on to the area around the church and ended up looking for some food nearby.
They were getting ready for Christmas.
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After a delicious Palestinian meal, we continued to explore. We found ourselves at the Milk Grotto which was an interesting concept. It was apparently where the holy family took refuge during the massacre of the innocents. The story goes that a drop of breast milk dropped on the floor and turned the rock surrounding it white. Now people travel from across the world to visit this site to seek a remedy for infertility. They sell shavings of rock from the wall that is said to help with fertility and there are postcards and photos on the wall of the gift shop with people’s stories of beiong able to get pregnant after their visit. It was an interesting place and I am glad we stumbled upon it.
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The grotto was very cave like, but deeper in, they had a nice modern chapel built into the rock.
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After a few hours of wandering the streets, we opted to head back to Jerusalem.
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The group of us had not yet been to the Western Wall and decided to check that out as we were planning to leave Jerusalem the next day.
We headed to a hospice centre in old town Jerusalem around sunset as it provides a rooftop vantage point of the western wall, dome on the rock and other parts of the city. It was worth the small admission fee and provided a great chill spot to enjoy the views.
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We eventually made our way down to the western wall which is the holiest place in the Jewish Religion. It is segregated between men and women and men are required to cover their head before entering the area surrounding the wall. It was very interesting to just observe the people praying, wishing and learning around the wall. There were groups of people listening to prayers or teachings and there were others in silent individual prayer.
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I enjoyed the experience and am glad I made the effort to head back into the old town to check it out a little closer.
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After this incredibly religious experience, we had heard that the young people of Jerusalem go nuts on Saturday evening as they just spent 24 hours doing almost nothing. Therefore, a group of us decided to hit the town and check it out. It was a fun night and we met a bunch of locals and other tourists alike. A great way to cap off a super religious and informative day.
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This concludes my adventures in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. It was a super religious and informative stop and I am glad I got to experience the holy places of various reliagions around the world, as well as learn a lot about the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Ryan and I decided to go check out the dead sea together and so we jumped on a regional bus and headed East to check it out.