Jerusalem- July 14, 2008

Jerusalem, the holy city. For the last week I've been here. While I came for an economics workshop, I've spent as much time as possible out enjoying this amazing city. I arrived early on Sunday morning and took a couple photos of the my first jerusalem sunrise.

After watching the sunrise I took an early morning walk in the old city, starting in the Muslim Quarter. At 6AM on Sunday (which is a work day here, except for the Christian), the city was hauntingly quiet.

The first picture below is looking down on the Kidron valley from the southern city walls, while the second picture is a view up to the Mount of Olives.

Most of the week was full of attending the workshop, with a few trips into the new city for dinner or drinks. I did make it back to the old city at dusk one of the days. The first picture below is looking from the Jewish Quarter over the Temple Mount. On the left hand side is the Dome of the Rock, a muslim building that sits at a point holy to both muslim and jews. In fact, it sits exactly at the site where Solomon's temple stood 2000 years ago, before it was destroyed by the Romans during the Jewish rebellion. Just right of the middle of the picture is the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is actually used for prayer. It can hold several thousand, but on Ramadan hundreds of thousands of muslims fill the temple mount.On the bottom left side of this picture is the Wester Wall, or "Wailing Wall", the holiest site for Jews in the city. It sits as close as possible to the old site of the original Temple.

This is another view of the Al Aqsa Mosque with the Mount of Olives behind. The mountain looks white because it is covered by the stones of the Jewish Cemetery. The Jews believe that judgement will take place on the Mount of Olives, so being burried there is like claiming a spot at the front of the line.

On Thursday, we did a tour to Masada and the Dead Sea. While I have some amazing pictures, they are on my smaller camera and I can't get the off right now. Hopefully that will happen sometime soon.

After the workshop ended on Friday I moved from a hotel near the Hebrew University to a hostel down in the Old City. The Citadel Hostel turned out to be a great place. I clamed a pad on the roof, which afforded a great view over the entire old city. This beautiful view came with some disadvantages. The hostel is surrounded by churches which start ringing their bells at about 7Am, while the sun hits at about 7:30. However, if one can handle an early awakening, the view is amazing, especially at sunrise and sunset, and there is a nice cooling breeze at night. Here is a picture from my bed.

Saturday is the Sabath for the Jews and so all Jewish buildings and sights are closed, a perfect day to focus on Jerusalem's Christian history. One of my first visits is the holiest site for most Christian Churches, the Churche of the Holy Sepulchre. This church sits on the site where Jesus was supposed to have been crucified. While it is inside the modern city walls, it sat outside the gates of the city during Jesus' time. This first picture is of the place where Jesus was taken down from the cross. The second two are of Calvary, where Jesus was executed. In the last, notice the man kneeling to kiss the rock, while the monk stands vigil.

This picture is of the inside of the dome sitting over Jesus' grave, while the second shows the Greek Choir. The churche is shared by several different christian sects including the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Armenian Church, etc.

On Sunday I took a hike in the Valley of Jehoshaphat and then up the Mount of Olives. In addition to containing many holy sites, such as Mary's grave, and the cave in which Jesus taught the disciples, the Mount of Olives has great views back toward the Temple Mount, with the Old City just behind.

On my final full day in Jerusalem, I put on my long pants and long shirt to enter the Temple Mount, the third holiest site in Islam (after Mecca and Medina). Compared to the imposing grey crusader castles, the Dome of the Rock is beautiful in every respect. Covered in bright tiles, with a gold dome and intracately designed and decorated, this is truly one of the most beautiful buildings I've seen in my travels. Unfortunately, non-muslims are not allowed inside.

Now I'm off to the Galilee in Northern Israel. Hopefully I will have some more updates soon.