Day 35-Jerusalem
We arrived in Ashdod and met with our tour group of 34 people and headed off to Jerusalem. I felt emotions on the bus I was not expecting. I looked around Israel as we drove towards Jerusalem and saw a clean, well-cared for country. I understand the issues of the Israeli's and Palestine's has two sides and are very complicated. I looked at Israeli and having been in other Middle East counties on this trip (and trips in the past) and not all but some are not very forward thinking countries. I could not help feeling some pain for the people of both sides but I felt sad that the children of Israel (both sides) have to grow up in fear but also they have not let it stop them from moving forward in developing a thriving country. That said we drove into Jerusalem and stopped at a panoramic overlook that was near were John the Baptist was born. Then down to the Old City of Jerusalem and entered by the Jaffa Gate. The Old City is surrounded by a wall built by the Turks in 1538. The wall goes 4 miles around the city. The Old City is very significant to Jews, Christian and Muslims. We spent two hours walking around the old city. There is so much to see in Jerusalem that it is difficult to see it all in one day. I am not sure you could see it in a week. We walked through the Christian Quarter, Armenian Quarter, Jewish Quarter and the Moslem Quarter. We walked the Via Delorosa where Jesus walked this route from the seat of judgment to his crucifixion at Calvary. We were able to go in to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the 12th century church believed to enshrine the sites of Christ's crucifixion, entombment and resurrection. It was a very moving experience. Next we visited the Western Wall (also known as the Wailing Wall) which is actually part of the Temple Mount foundation erected by Herod the Great. Today people put notes into the cracks of the wall with their prayers written on them. We also saw Gethsemane the ancient olive tree garden where Judas betrayed Christ and the Mount of Olives. We left the Old City and headed to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is approximately 1500 feet below sea level. We swam in the Dead Sea where there is 10 times the salt as in other seas. It was hard to standup once we were laying down in the water, we were so buoyant. We also put the clay from the Dead Sea on our bodies, as this is very good for the skin because it has lots of salt and minerals. After swimming for 1hour it was back to the ship. Next we have one day at sea and then Mykonos, Greece.
