Jerusalem 16 April

We did so much that this blog does not do it justice!!! It's an incredible city, so old with so much history!!!

Day 19

We arrived to Azzurha hotel about midday. It was beautiful! We met Dalia from United Travel who advised us we had the afternoon free and that Tareq would be our guide the following 2 days. We went to the site she suggested. The Lutheran Church of the redeemer via Herods gate. We went up to the tower for 360 degree views then underneath to view the remains from crusader time.

Prior to this we stopped for a delicious felafel lunch with lemon mint drink and turkish coffee at Pizzeria Basti. We wandered back to the hotel via the markets. The markets are filled with religious souveneirs, antiquity shops, and bakeries with fresh baklava!

The old city is mind blowing! So much history, so many amazing scenes to photograph!

We had. Delicious pizza dinner at our hotel - best in Jerusalem :-)

Day 20

We meet Tareq our 40 year old giant arab israeli tour guide who is not surprisingly ex security.

We see:

Mount olives (great view point but it started pouring with rain when we left the bus)
Garden of getsemethe (jesus hung out with his disciples here and judas kissed him) they built a church here too (they built churches / mosques over all the holy sites)
Dung gate (there are many gates of the walled city - this one has the worst name!)
Western wall which is closest area on earth to god (also known as the wailing wall where I wrote a note with my wishes on it and stuck it in the wall)
Stations of the cross where jesus walked to where he was crucified (we watched tourists following the station and taking turns to carry the cross)
Market
Church of the holy supulchre built above where jesus was crucified
Jewish quarter and Cardo maximus
Bethlehem (in Palestine known as area a)
Saw the graffiti wall asking to 'free Palestine'
Nativity church built above where mary had jesus and the manger
Holocaust museum

Day 21
Sea level sign on the highway which you keep driving another 300 metres lower
Nazareth to see the Church of annunciation built where mary lived and near josephs carpentry shop
Sea of Galilee
Nearby Capernaum where jesus hung out and healed people
Tabgha & the church of the multiplication of loaves and fishes
Jordan River where jesus was baptised (and where I baptised little aussie bruce)
Jericho oldest city and lowest with a view to Mt temptation where jesus fasted for 40 days then saw the devil

Big days!!!

It's all so much to take in! I don't feel like I'm moved by any of it but many pilgrims are deeply religious and reflcting this in their actions.

We learn about so much history ... from where the Palestinians and Israeli come from up until present day. Thousands of years of history and war condensed for our tiny brains which are about to explode from over load!

Day 22

Our free day so I awake early and go alone to explore the city.

A local bus to the mount of olives for some photo opportunities of old Jerusalem.

I then get lost for a bit before turning up just in time for the city of David tour in English. The 3D movie is good but the tour after is painful as the group keeps asking inane questions. I'm getting ready to split when I realise we're now at the underground tunnels - now it looks interesting!

They let me do it bare foot and fortunately had the torch on my mobile phone.

The tunnels date pre bc and were man made to get to the spring so a water source would be available if the city was under seige.

There's no light and when you first enter the water is thigh high. Most of the way it's only ankle deep and you spend about 30-45 minutes walking thorough. It was sort of like caving and the highlight of the day!

The tour was 3 hours total!

I caught a cab to meet the girls for lunch at cafe Zimmel in Jaffa Street.

Afterwards Nidhi and I spent all afternoon exploring old Jerusalem.
Dinner was at the Jerusalem Hotel - the group's 'Last Supper before we all went our separate ways ...

Day 23

After breakfast and farewells Susie, Meredy and I caught a cab to the sherut (over priced at 60 sheckels!!!) Then boarded for (35 sheckels each to Tel Aviv).