Here we are, at the end of the trip overlooking the city of Jerusalem, but it is a great place to start any presentation of the Holy Land. Jerusalem was not only the center of spiritual life through most of the Bible, but today it continues to be at the center of one of the most fervent religious struggles in our world. In the background you can see (on the left) the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine which is built over the site of the biblical Temple (which was destroyed by Rome in 70 A.D. as Jesus had predicted), and (on the right) the Mount of Olives, which includes the Garden of Gethsemane.

This shows the central location of the modern religious fervor for the Jews and the Muslims - the Temple Mount. Immediately below the Dome of the Rock with its beautiful golden dome is the Western "Wailing" Wall, one of the few remains of the marvelous second Temple edifice erected by Herod the Great. Ingrid and I were able to pray at the Western Wall, but the Temple Mount is currently closed to all except Muslims. There is high security to get into the plaza around the wall, especially since the Palestinian uprising. The cars you see are all security/police vehicles, and the arched roofs at the bottom right are the security checkpoints you must pass through. More later on the Western Wall when we talk about the Temple.

Here you see the city wall which surrounds the Old City of Jerusalem. There have been many walls built around Jerusalem, and this was built by the Ottomans after the city was taken from the Crusaders. This part of the wall is on the western edge, and you can clearly see the Joppa gate at the left. The Old City is divided into 4 Quarters: Christian, Armenian, Jewish and Muslim.

Here is a lunch-time street scene in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. This is the quarter where we spent most of our free time (when we had it) in Jerusalem. As with most lunches, we would generally get an inexpensive pita bread sandwich. Either the vegetarian's choice, Falafel (10 shekels), or the carnivore's delight, a Schwarma (15 shekels).

To the east of the Temple Mount is the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the Church of All Nations, built next to the supposed olive tree garden where Jesus spent his last evening in prayer before being arrested.

The Notre Dame Center of Jerusalem is where we stayed for the final 6 nights of our time in Israel. It has good basic accommodations with fortress-like construction. It was one of the first structures built outside the Old City walls in the 1880s. It is located conveniently across the street from the New Gate, which provided us ready access into the Christian Quarter. It was a nice 5 minute walk to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,10 minutes to the Jewish Quarter, and 15 minutes to the Western Wall.

... more photos coming soon... check back...