The Holy Land: Part 2 - More of Jerusalem

Sunrise - Jerusalem

As the sun rose on yet another day in Jerusalem, we were off to see new sights! After taking a full day to explore the Old City, we drove up to the next hill - the Mount of Olives - to the Chapel of the Ascension. :)

Again, the base of this dome is all that is left from the time of the Crusaders......the original structure did not have a dome top - it was open to represent the place where Jesus ascended into heaven. When Muslims captured the city back in the days of Saladin, they built the top of the dome to convert it into a mosque.

The Chapel of the Ascension

It houses the "footprint rock" which supposedly bears the footprint of Jesus as he was taken up.

From there we walked to Pater Noster (means Our Father)- Church of the Lord's Prayer. It was really pretty and there were lots of beautiful smelling roses! This church was built over the site where Jesus taught his disciples how to pray. (Luke 14:1-4)

Pater Noster!

More old Crusader ruins that have been restored at this church.

The mosaics on the wall are The Lord's Prayer in 110 different languages!

After searching for awhile, finally found the English one! :)

I love this verse and thought it was cool to see it on a water jug......Isaiah 55:1

Moses then took us to a lookout point on the Mount of Olives to take pictures of the Old Walled City and surprised me with a camel ride! I was super excited, seeing as I absolutely LOVE these animals and any chance to ride one, I will take! :)

Here is Moses, our AWESOME guide for the week.....that's right, his name is Moses and he took us around the Promised Land. LOL We couldn't have asked for a better guide!!! :)

Here is my camel.....

And here is me riding my camel! LOL

The view from the lookout atop my camel was amazing! You can see the walled Old City, the southwest corner of the wall and the bright Dome of the Rock with modern-day Jerusalem in the background.

This is looking north along the wall, the eastern slopes of the Temple Mount......this is the Kidron Valley which is filled with cemeteries!

The significant Golden Gate.....which has remained sealed up since the 12th century!

The 3 religions: Christianity, Judaism and Islam all hold cemetery plots along the eastern slopes of the Temple Mount, the Kidron Valley and the Western slopes of the Mount of Olives. Jews believe the Messiah will return through the Golden Gate, Muslims believe that he will return there to help with the final judgement and Christians believe that He will conduct the final judgement and enter Jerusalem through that Eastern Golden Gate. All three religions believe that the dead in that immediate area would be raised first; hence, why all have cemeteries in this specific location!

It's hard to see in these pictures, but the cemetery beneath the Old City walls is the Muslim cemetery. The one in the Kidron Valley is the Christian cemetery, and the one in the foreground of this photo, on the slopes of the Mount of Olives, is the Jewish cemetery.

A nice view from the Jewish cemetery.....the rocks on top of the graves are to show that someone has visited it. Our guide said there are a few different explanations, but the one he has heard the most is that when someone comes to visit the grave, they leave a stone to show that they will come back again to remove it. I don't really know how true that tradition is, but it seems like a cool idea.

We walked down from the top of the mount to Dominus Flevit - "The Lord Wept". This is where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. (Luke 19:41) The walk down was very hot, but nice. :)

A tad bit steep....

...but quiet and pretty! :)

An olive grove on the Mount of Olives! :)

This is Dominus Flevit

Alex and his mom, Lynda, taking a much needed break after our jaunt.

Onto the Garden of Gethsamane.............Matthew 26:36-39

This garden was very pretty and it was amazing to think this was the area that Jesus used to come to find peace and quiet.

This is the oldest olive tree in the garden and they say it's one of the only ones that was around when Jesus frequented this mountain-top. Whether that is actually true, I don't know, but it sure is a REALLY old olive tree!

This one is VERY old as well!

Me in Gethsemane! :)

Outside the Church of All Nations....

This is inside the church...

The beautiful domes inside....

The entrance to the grotto of Gethsemane, where they say Jesus used to

come in order to pray quietly.

This is a closer shot.

Inside the grotto........

The last stop on the Mount of Olives was the Tomb of the Virgin Mary. Now there is no reference in the Bible as to where she was buried and there is much debate over the location of her actual tomb because Turkey claims they have it in Ephesus! However, it was a very old crusader church built down into the hill and was really kind of eery and cool to see. All the way down the stone steps, hung oil lanterns - most were not lit. At the bottom, the church extended back and was very dark but filled with lots of visitors!

The entrance to the supposed tomb.

The long steps going down...

From the bottom looking up...

All the hanging oil lamps!

Last, but not least, we took a trip to Mount Zion.

Mount Zion!

We visited the Room of the Last Supper, which really isn't original, just a Crusader church again built over the possible place where Jesus and his disciples took part in the Last Supper. Very simple inside, but beautiful arches and stained glass.


Below the church is King David's Tomb.........the tomb is divided so that women and men see it separately. It was really hard to get any sort of picture of it, so here is the view of the rock wall of the tomb from the women's side.

Here is me outside, just hanging with King David.....LOL.

From there we walked to Dormition Abbey. It was simply beautiful from both the outside and on the inside. :)

The last stop of the day was Caiaphas' House - where Jesus was arrested, jailed and delivered for trial. (John 18: 24)

These are some of the remains of the house of Caiaphas the high priest.

This is a carved out jail cell where they kept prisoners back in the time of Jesus.

They say this was the actual cell where Jesus was kept while awaiting his crucifixion. Whether it really was or not, it didn't matter. The fact that we were there and were reflecting on what our Savior went through and did for us was VERY humbling and moving.

The hole Jesus was thrown down directly above the jail cell we were standing in.

Another view of inside the jail cells.

Thus concludes my pictures of the city of Jerusalem! Next post will be on Nazareth! :)