Israel Day 2: Tour of the Old City

Today, we did a 4.5 hour walking tour of the Old City. During this time, we just barely scratched the surface of it. Thankfully, the location I'm staying at is only a 5 minute walk from the Old City, so I'll get to spend some of my free time there. One of my course requirements is to write an impression report of the half day or day trip we've done each day. Below is the impression report I wrote for today. It's not great, but it gives an idea of what we saw.

I was unsure of what to expect going into the Old City today. I’ve been in the Old City of Quito, Ecuador, and I’ve been to St. Augustine and other old North and South America cities, but nothing as old or historical as this. Because of this, I had no idea what to expect.
I was actually a little disappointed upon entering the Jaffa Gate because I had the feeling that I had seen this kind of thing before. It felt a lot like going into the Castillo de San Marco in St. Augustine, FL. This all changed when we started really going into the Old City to meet Shaaban, a shop keeper in the Christian Quarter. Walking to his shop, I felt like I was in another world. All of the colorful fabrics hanging from above reminded me a little bit of the Disney movie Aladdin. It was like another world. Everything is so close together that it was a bit darker than I expected, and felt very crowded, even though there really weren’t many people about.
I’m always interested in the smells of new places, and a friend had even asked me to describe what Israel smelled like. Up until this point, I hadn’t noticed anything particularly remarkable, but then we went through the district in that quarter that sells spices. What an aroma! The best word I can think of to describe it is pungent. The smells of so many different Middle Eastern and Mediterranean spice blended together to form an aroma that was almost overpowering. It was fantastic.

Before long, we had made our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is one location of which I’d seen hundreds of pictures, read many accounts, and even seen videos. I was not sure what to expect, but I honestly was not that excited. When I walked in, part of me was thinking “This is it?” I understand the historical and spiritual significance of this location. After all, tradition has it that this is the location where Jesus may have been crucified, buried, and resurrected. But it was fairly dark and seemed much smaller than I anticipated. At least that’s how it seemed until Dr. Rasmussen started showing us some of the smaller chapels off to the side. He then pointed out the locations of some of the monasteries to it. These locations were far more peaceful and really felt more reverent to me. I felt somewhat uncomfortable in the rotunda, but I felt almost at home in some of those side chapels. It makes me very excited to go there for church on Sunday. I also just want to spend much more time exploring that particular church.

The dome above the rotunda at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

One of the two major highlights of the day for me was visiting Bethesda and St. Ann’s Church. This location was just amazing. There were very few people which made it seem like we had the place to ourselves. Singing as a group in the church was a very moving time for me. It was only then that I really started to fully realize that I’m in Jerusalem. Then heading out of the cool, airy church to explore Bethesda was an adventure. When Laurie found a set of out of the way stairs that led down to a small pool of water, it felt like we had hit the lottery. We actually saw water at Bethesda!

At the Pool of Bethesda. The actual pools were to the left and right of this image. You can see a little bit of one on the left side.

The second major highlight for me was standing above the wailing wall and seeing so many people there praying at the wall with the Dome of the Rock in the background. It was just a beautiful sight to behold. The angle of the sun caused some very dramatic shadows, and the Dome of the Rock absolutely glowed under the sun. It was breathtaking. This is another location that I can’t wait to go back and spend some more time at.

The Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall

The biggest thought I had today was that three weeks is simply not enough time to spend in Israel. I need to stay here a year to even begin to see everything!