Saturday, April 15, 2023 - Israel

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Saturday & Sunday, April 15 & 16 - Israel 

We are scheduled for 2 days docked in Haifa, Israel. 

On the first day we have joined a small group for a private tour of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The ship had advised all passengers that their shore excursion provider was swapping all tours on Saturday with all tours on Sunday due to a special event being held at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. This is a must-see item for anyone touring old Jerusalem. 

The guide that was advising our group felt they could work around the event and that it was scheduled to end by 11:00 a.m. 

As soon as the ship was cleared, we went ashore, cleared Israeli immigration and met our guides. Haifa is an hour north of Tel Aviv and it is probably another hour from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The highways are very quiet as it is Saturday, so our guide takes us through Tel Aviv. If it had been a workday, he would have gone around the city. 

We arrived in Jerusalem and dropped off our guide before proceeding into Bethlehem. Our guide is Jewish and is not permitted to go into Palestine. The driver is Muslim, so he is permitted. We park near a very nice souvenir shop to meet our local Bethlehem guide and walk to the Church of the Nativity. There is quite a crowd waiting to enter the church. 

Our guide knows of a short cut, and we enter from a side door. He gets us into line (not a line, but a massive crush) to go down to see the spot where it is believed Jesus was born and to see his manger. Way too many people. About ½ of our group step aside saying it is too many. Including Russ and I. But we’ve seen it. We were here in 2014 and there weren’t nearly as many people. The 5 that stayed in line, eventually did go downstairs to see the shrines. The guide got special permission to take the rest of us down from the exit side. Russ and I still didn’t want to do that with so many people, so we sat in the catholic church next door (The Church of St. Catherine) and waited for the rest of the group. St. Catherine’s is lovely.

Waiting to get into the Church of the Nativity.

Mosaics that adorn the inside

St. Catherine's

The baby in the case is placed in the manger at Christmas time.

Inside the Church of the Nativity.

 

 

 

What we learned was that it is Orthodox Easter and many many pilgrims. Particularly Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. This also plays into the event occurring at the Holy Sepulcher today. 

Back to the souvenir shop to listen to the shop owner’s spiel about his merchandise. Several different religious pendants (gold/silver), pottery and carved olive wood. He had numerous gorgeous nativity sets. 

Time to go pick up our guide and explore some of Jerusalem. The gate that we came through on our way into Bethlehem is now closed, so the driver must find another way around. We connected with our guide and decided it was time for lunch. We stopped at a popular local restaurant that offered a choice of 3 sandwiches with fries and a soda pop. Russ had chicken shawarma and I had falafel. That was the best falafel I’ve ever had. 

A stop at Mount of Olives to look over the Valley of Gethsemane to Old Jerusalem. It is a great view of the walls of Old Jerusalem, The beautiful mosque, and much more. When you look down into the Valley of Gethsemane, you see thousands of tombs/sarcophaguses. People of the Jewish faith believe that when the Resurrection comes, the closer you are to the Temple Mount, the sooner you will ascend. Therefore, it is popular to be buried as close as possible. These cemeteries have been here for centuries.

The walls of Old Jerusalem. New Jerusalem in the background.

Note the tombs and sarcophagus

The mosque in the Muslim Quarter of Old Jerusalem.

Olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane.

 

 

 

Then down the hill to the Garden of Gethsemane where the olive trees may be from the time of Christ. We also took a few minutes to view the Church of All Nations.

Church of All Nations

Inside

 

 

 

On to Jerusalem where we were to walk for a couple of hours, finishing up our time at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The streets are absolutely packed with people. The closer we got to the Church, the crowds were at a standstill. The event did not finish up at 11:00 a.m. as predicted; it is still going and the Israeli Police have barricaded the path. We back track and try a different route. Barricaded. We find our way a little closer just as the event finished up and the thousands of people that had attended the event are trying to get out. So we are fish swimming upstream and it is impossible to go either direction. Finally, the tide of people dwindles down and we are able to get back to where we can pick up our bus.

The Western Wall.

Quiet now, will be busy at prayer time.

Doesn't properly show just how crowded it was. But it was really crowded.

 

 

 

This website has an interesting article about what was happening at the Church that day. If you’re interested, take a look.

      https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/in-the-holy-land-six-christian-faiths-jockey-for-power-at-the-church-of-the-holy-sepulchre/

I have never been jostled and shoved the way I was in Jerusalem while we were there. It would have been so easy for people to get seriously hurt if someone had fallen. 

We are grateful we had visited the Church when we were here in 2014. But the rest of our group missed seeing the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was a couple of hours back to the ship with a comfort stop at an “Elvis” themed restaurant. The mini-mart in the parking lot had Corona beer, so we bought a couple of those. Boy did they taste good. 

We had walked a long ways and climbed a whole lot of steps. We had planned on taking the “included” tour tomorrow, but have decided we need to rest. So we cancelled our reservation and enjoyed our down time.