If you want to play a literal game of Trip to Jerusalem, you can always open Spotify and then hunt for daytrips to the walled holy city before the song ends. If you end up not booking anything before the music stops, then you lose a seat on the tour bus! Nah, you don’t even have to book a trip to Jerusalem. Just hop on the train that plies the Tel Aviv – Airport – Jerusalem route and you’re good to go. From Tel Aviv, it takes a little under an hour to arrive in Jerusalem. You don’t even need an itinerary. Just find the wall, get in, then get lost inside for the day.
The train will drop you off at Yerushalayim/Yits'hak Navon. From there, you just have to surface to street level and wait for the number 1 tram. You are at Central Station; you need to get off after a few stops upon reaching City Hall. Once there, you will see a massive wall. That’s it. You’ve found Jerusalem. Congratulations! In my case, the gallivanting was cut short because I booked a combo Bethlehem/Jerusalem day tour. The benefit of this is they take you to a good vantage point on a hill to see a panoramic view of the walled city before heading off to your destination.
That vantage point helped a lot in understanding the short refresher of the tourist attractions you were told you’ll be seeing later that day. You might already know this but it’s worth the review. The walled city is divided into four quarters: Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Armenian. You might be wondering what led to the partition, and all I can tell you is that it’s complicated. Long story short, the Ottoman Empire kind of fucked up their land title distribution policy and in the end, the land in the old city ended up in the hands of different religious orders. In effect, Israel doesn’t even legally own most of the land there.
Which quarter is accessible to tourists seems to be decided on whatever is the order of that particular day. We had to take detours here and there because we were suddenly not allowed to go to this area or that area. The place is teeming with activity. Lest we forget, this is part and parcel of most locals’ daily lives. Add the tourists and the place can get quite chaotic. Being the venue of some of the holiest sites in various religious, the old city is never inactive. It’s always bustling with people!
If you are Muslim, the place of interest will be Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock, which both stand on the Temple Mount, considered as a holy site in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Western (Wailing) Wall is where the Jews come to pray, which I witnessed personally because we went there during Sukkot holidays. Entrance to the site requires passing through airport-like X-ray scanners. The tour guide encouraged us to write a wish on a piece of paper and place it on one of the crevices of the wall. I didn't.
Once done, we headed over to the Christian Quarter to visit some of the stations of the cross along the Via Dolorosa. These sites are said to have been where the stations of the cross as referred to in the bible actually occurred, but of course some of them have been modified to suit the pilgrim’s convenience. All I can say is that Jesus must have truly loved leg day at the gym to be able to sashay his way all the way to Golgotha with a giant cross in tow on those effing hills. I only had to carry myself and my legs were already threatening to kill me. Ask me to carry a cross while walking on those hills and I will personally crucify you next to Jesus Christ.
We ended the day at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is said to contain the two holiest sites in Christianity, namely the location where Jesus was crucified as well as where his empty tomb was found. It also houses the last four stations of the cross. The church is shared among various Christian denominations, among them: the Catholics; Orthodox; Armenian; Coptic; Syriac; and Ethiopian.
The main attractions inside include the Stone of the Anointing which is right at the entrance. Said to be where JC’s body was laid down post-crucifixion, people bless their souvenirs there. To the left is a hall leading to the Aedicule, a small chapel believed to be housing Jesus’ tomb. The line to see the interior of the chapel is always long so I didn’t bother anymore. As for the rest of the church, you will find the different denominations inside but I just couldn’t distinguish most of them from one another.
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