7th April
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

Well, where on earth do I begin to explain and tell you all about our 2 days in Israel? I’ll start off with Haifa where we docked, which is a place we’ve been to before and didn’t venture too far. Haifa has some lovely places, the best and biggest landmark being the shrine to Bab of the Baha’i Faith ( never heard of it before but still !). They built a stunning layered garden down the side of Mount Carmel which overlooks the town and has a beautiful golden domed mausoleum in the centre. At night the whole gardens are lit up. The ship overlooks the town and gardens when docked but as well as the gardens there’s plenty more to see in and around Haifa.
Our first day started very early in the morning (6.20am!), just after we docked, as we were heading to Jerusalem. A 2 1/2 hour drive through lovely countryside brought us to our first stop, that being the Garden of Gethsemane and The Church of all Nations. Now, I don’t say I know a lot about some of these places and I’m not that religious but I remember hearing bits about them when at school and a lot I heard today went right over my head but I enjoyed it just the same. We were all given a “ Whisper” which is basically a radio with an earpiece so that when you’re on your guided tour you can all hear what the guide is saying.
Some of the olive trees in the small garden of Gethsemane were centuries years old and propped up with small walls to preserve them. We then headed off into the old walled city of Jerusalem where we visited Zion Gate, the room where the Last Supper was held, King David’s Tomb and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. We also walked through the cobbled streets to some of the various stations of the cross along the Way of Suffering and visited the Rock of Agony where people were actually laying on the floor praying with theirs heads on the rock. The insides of these magnificent old churches were simply stunning and so beautiful .
We stopped for lunch and had a typical Israeli meal ( I tried some but not all of it!), but the pastries afterwards were delightful! We sat on tables of 8 and plate after plate of different food was put on the table for you to share round. Huge pieces of warm flat bread was piled up for you to tear off and all kinds of vegetables and meats.
Once we’d eaten we carried on walking through the labyrinth of cobbled narrow alleyways of the old town which was obviously the shopping area. Most was everything to do with religion from rosary beads to plastic crucifixes to skull caps! However there was also normal shops selling leather handmade sandals, pashminas, fluffy camels and lots of types of dates.
In one church we went in men couldn’t enter unless they wore a head covering. If you didn’t have one then they gave you a disposable skull cap to wear which Phil ended up having to wear ! Ladies had to have their knees and shoulders covered but not wear a head covering! In others, it was the other way round and all very confusing.
The best part of the day for me was when we paid a visit to The Wailing Wall. This section of wall is said to be the last remaining remnant of the 2nd temple which was destroyed in 70AD by Rome. Well, it’s certainly old that’s for sure but I don’t know how they know all these things!
To enter the area of the wall everyone has to go through a security check and have their bags scanned. Once through we were separated, men can visit the wall to the left and ladies to the right and once again Phil had to wear a cap and went with Mark. I went with our friend Lauren and we had to wash our hands first then waited for someone to leave so that we could get near the wall. Some people were praying, some were silent on their knees and some put their prayers and wishes on tiny pieces of paper which they wedges into the cracks of the wall. There were nuns sitting on seats facing the wall reading their prayer books and some just sitting peacefully. I must admit I definitely was moved by being there and after touching the wall and saying our own private prayer Lauren and I turned and hugged each other. It was quite surreal and neither of us expected to do that but it just felt right.
After, we met up with the men ( who didn’t hug each other!) and headed off back to the coach for the journey back. It’s hard to explain the whole day as I came away with so many images and saw so many different people from all walks of life and religion. Jerusalem is an extremely mixed cultural city with most world religions coming together. One minute you could hear the bells of the Christian church ringing out then minutes later the mosques were calling out for prayers. We also saw lots of Israeli military there on day trips with their units. All were carrying huge guns and we also saw them on duty in the service stations we stopped at on the motorway patrolling.
I loved our visit there and seeing as I didn’t really want to go ( Phil talked me into it), I was very pleasantly surprised. It really was somewhere you’d have to experience yourself to know the feelings it gives you. Not necessarily religious feelings but certainly seeing the different walks of life, religions, beautiful buildings and the atmosphere there. The actual country of Israel is very nice with farming, green fields and countryside but you’re aware all the time of the unrest there by the presence of military everywhere and most of the towns are a mixture of old and modern buildings.