World Explorers 2011: Jerusalem

The walled city

Entering the Jaffa gate

We had booked another private tour through cruise critic - and once again we left the ship early, after a face to face inspection with the Israeli Immigration officials - all youngish women. We were held up when Arnold’s passport was handed over - she was very concerned about the location of Vinkeveen - his birthplace in Holland - and asked a number of questions. My turn came and the young girl who looked at my photo asked about the glasses that I was wearing in the photo - and then became engrossed in a conversation about laser eye surgery - while the long line formed behind us.

Our guide for the day was Michal (Mickey), from Israel Day Tours. She is a Jewish mother of four young boys, and had very strong opinions about the ethnic and religious mix in Jerusalem. The ship was docked in Ashdod, and we drove for about one and half hours to enter Jerusalem - taking a detour to avoid a road accident. the area on this side of Jerusalem was lush and green - farming land - in the afternoon when we went to the Dead Sea, we returned to the desert landscape that we have become used to in the middle eatsern countries we have visited.

Walking down the narrow laneways of the Christian quarter

Most of the captions on the shirts are military based jokes

Although a visit to Bethlehem was not part of our tour, the detour allowed us to pass a high vantage point to get a view of this city. It is located within the occupied area of Palestine, so a large guarded fence surrounds the area - depending on the nationality of your guide, it may be necessary for the guide to get off the bus at the gate and a Palestinian guide to come onto the bus when entering this area.

As we drove through the entrance to Jerusalem, Mickey played the hymn, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem”, - unbidden tears streamed down my face as I realised that after listening to this hymn for many years, I was finally in the place that the hymn was written about - with all its history!! The place names are so familiar from the bible stories - Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Nazareth, Gallilee etc

Firstly, we stopped at a lookout with views of the Old Walled City of Jerusalem on Mt Zion to orient ourselves about the location of the places we were to visit. We disembarked from the bus at the Jaffa gate and entered the stone walls - Old Jerusalem is divided into four quarters - we visited the Christian, Jewish, Moslem sections. I would have liked to have more time here - Mickey walked very quickly and so we were rushed through the tour - but we were able to gain an overview of our surroundings.

In the Christian quarter, we walked in the footsteps of Jesus past the stations of the cross on Via Dolorosa, tracing his steps from his sentencing to crucifixion. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a large church which contains a collection of small chapels and shrines - representing all the Christian sects - Greek, Latins, Coptics, Armenians Syrians and Ethiopians. Within the church are the Chapel of the Cross - which contains the place of the Cross at Calvary, the Stone of the Annointing where Jesus’s body was prepared for burial and the location of the Tomb of Christ.

Walking down to the men's section of the Western Wall

In the Jewish quarter, we visited the Western Wall, (previously called the Wailing Wall) the site of pilgrimage for Jews as it is the closest place they can go to Temple Mount, which is now covered by a Moslem Mosque. Many Jewish people leave written prayers and message in the cracks of the wall - which is divided into male and female sections.

From the Jewish quarter, we walked through the Moslem section, which had a completely different vibe - much noisier, and less clean - this was the only area where cars seemed to be allowed - and they drove much too fast for the narrow passageways - which were lined with all sorts of market stalls.

The beautiful Russian Orthodox church

Entrance to the Garden of Gesthemane

Leaving the walled city, we went down past the Mount of Olives to the garden of Gesthemane and the ancient olive trees heading for our next adventure - swimming in the Dead Sea.

We had a very ordinary lunch in a cafe-cum-souvenir shop near the sea - like a roadhouse - where the food was expensive and just slopped on the plate in a very unappetising way - then headed down to the Sea for our swim.

A young moslem girl in the Dead Sea

The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth - about 390 metres below sea level - and with a salt level that is 10 times greater than sea water, supporting the body as you to float in the water. The salinity makes it impossible to support any sea life except a few microorganisms - we had a laugh when Joanne asked if there were any sharks - we assured her that she would be able to see them cause they would be floating on the top of the water!!

Dead Sea resort

After changing into swimmers, we headed down the slope to the water - the bottom of the sea is the texture of clay - and very slippery. We were warned not to try to float on our stomachs cause it can be very difficult to turn back to your back - and it was - the water tasted disgusting - and it was very difficult to stand up to walk out.

A lifeguard station was set up even though the water is only about hip depth, and there are no waves - what an easy job you may think - we soon found out that they were kept busy rushing down to the water’s edge with large bottles of water to flush out the eyes of people who had inadvertently flashed water into their faces.

We had fun covering ourselves with the mud which is supposed to have therapeutic properties and taking photos of everyone floating on their backs while reading the ‘Princess Patter’ of the day. I had made the mistake of shaving my legs before we headed out in the morning - and the salt really stung - say no more!!

There is some very funny video of me trying to stand up - and falling down again - a number of times - the bottom was very slippery (if you have ever handled clay you will know how slippery it can get) and my feet headed in different directions - so I was gracefully doing the splits - I think I could have been awarded the Gold Medal in Artistic Gymnastics - as I struggled to stand up and get my feet back together - not a very pretty sight - but very funny video - Garry has threatened to submit it to ‘Funniest Home Videos’!!!

Some passengers wanted to buy Israeli wine and dates so we stopped at a roadside supermarket on the way back to the ship. Because our guide was Jewish and the shop was owned by Arabic Moslems (it was located in an area that she didn’t frequent) - a long discussion ensued in the local language before we were permitted to enter and we had to open our bags for inspection ( in case we were carrying bombs into his store) before entering the shop - the shop owner had a metal detecting wand similar to what you would see at the airport - what a terrible way to live - suspicious of everyone who enters the local supermarket.