Trip of a Lifetime - Day 9

Three Churches, Two Kibbutzes, and a Winery

Have you ever woken up in a Kibbutz?

I HAVE!!! 

I don't know what the locals call this handsome guy, but I call him Bill. He's very vocal, and not at all camera shy, so I was very pleased with our encounter.

I met Bill at the edge of our kibbutz, on my way down a trail along shore of the Sea of Galilee. Our guide, Naz, explained that it's actually a lake, and it's never been called Sea of Galilee except for in the New Testament. It's called Lake Tiberias, and it's the largest fresh water lake in Israel. This is where Jesus recruited some fishermen to follow him, where the fishermen made the miraculous catch of fish, and where Jesus walked on water. The shores of this lake are where Jesus fed 5,000 people, and delivered the Sermon on the Mount. I wanted to go down at sunrise and snap some photos. The trail went along the lake for a very long time before it opened to a clearing where I could take photos, and by then I emerged at a marina. 

When I was at the kibbutz at 6am I was hearing the thumping of some techno music somewhere to the south. I didn't know what it was, but I followed the shoreline and discovered that the music was just beyond the marina. There were hundreds of people dancing, in what I termed "Tent City Dance Party."  When I got back to breakfast, Naz explained that those are Muslims partying right before Ramadan, when they will fast. Someone said, "Oh, like Mardi Gras!" He nodded. Not a perfect parallel, but that's the idea. Ramadan started yesterday in Israel.

Tent City Dance Party

At 7:00am we enjoyed another fantastic breakfast of fresh veggies, hummus, grapefruit, omelette, cheese, couscous,... I'll stop there. The buffet was three tables full of food, and I sampled quite a lot of things. All of them were fantastic. 

We boarded the bus and were back on a tour of a second kibbutz, three churches, and a winery. Maybe that should be the title for this adventure! (By this time the consensus of the group that it would have been preferable to have three wineries and one church, rather than three churches and one winery, but I was content with all the churches.)

I'll discuss these events out of order, starting with the kibbutz. The kibbutz movement took place in the early 20th century, coinciding with the rise of socialism around the world, and the Zionist movement that led Jews to emigrate back to their homeland. In order to worship, observe kosher dietary restrictions, and preserve their way of life, immigrant Jews coming to Palestine from all over Europe and Asia needed to join together in community. The idea behind a kibbutz is that everyone contributes to the community in the ways they are able, and everyone shares the yields of the community equally. The community should be able to sustain itself. Some members of the community are teachers, some are plumbers, some tend animals, and some are electricians. And all will receive an equal number of eggs, for example.
 

The kibbutz where we stayed, overlooking the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee, was Kinneret Kibbutz. Its main source of income is from guests like us. They have several buildings that serve as lodgings for guests. The rooms are simple, but have everything one needs for a comfortable stay, including WiFi and a TV. 

We visited another kibbutz further north, on the northeastern edge of the Sea of Galilee. There we spoke to a resident who was born there. His father was also born there, and his children will be born there, too. He explained that his father's parents came to this kibbutz from Germany in 1944. My mind halted right there. Jews coming here from Germany in 1944?! I wanted to ask him to tell me that story, which must have included a great deal of lived experience in Nazi Germany before and during World War II. But he just brushed over that sentence like it had no particular significance except that's when his father's parents moved here, and got busy helping to establish the community, which was still quite new. We parked in a parking lot near the cattle lots, then walked along the paved sidewalks between modern homes with trampolines and children's bicycles in the yards. I guess I was expecting something more.... I dunno... Amish-ish? But this was pretty modern! The guy we were talking to was in jeans and a t-shirt, he has traveled all over the U.S. and Australia and Europe, and his English was perfect.

This is their stockyard.

I wish I could remember his name. He was born here.

Busy making milk for sale. 

If the profits from the stockyards don't support the community, they will be closed down and efforts will be redirected to a source of income this is sustaining.

Also on the day's itinerary were some pretty important holy sites. 

• Nazareth, the Church of the Annunciation
• Capernaum, The Mount of Beatitudes
• The Wedding Cana Church
• Kfar Nahum (Capernaum) National Park

The Church of the Annunciation, in Nazareth, was built on the spot where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her she would deliver a son. It's pretty stunning. It's the largest church in the Middle East, and when you walk all around the grounds you can see the preserved and protected ruins of Mary's neighborhood from 2,000 years ago.

Church Of The Annunciation

Interior

Under the main floor you can see Mary's house.

Separate section, same church. Did I mention it's the biggest church in the Middle East?

We also saw the Cana Wedding Church, where Jesus performed his first miracle -- turning water into wine. It stands above the ruins of the original site.

Cana Wedding Church

This is what they meant by "pot of wine." I always pictured a large clay pot that might hold maybe four gallons of wine. Nope! This thing would hold an awful lot of wine!

These ruins of the original church (4th Century Byzantine) are under the Cana Wedding Church.

This section of ancient ruins from the original church can be seen from the upper level of the church, beneath the floor, made visible with screens.

Is that enough church for you for one trip? 

No?! 

Well then let's head over to the Mount of Beaitutdes, north of Capernaum! This church was built on the site where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. There were 8 beatitudes, so the church is an octagonal structure, with each wall featuring a stained glass window of each beatitude, in Latin.

"Beati pauperes spiritu quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum."

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Beatitudes, in English, line the main sidewalk. 

Tiles like this display the Beatitudes in Korean, Sri Lankan, and many other languages.

Another bus ride, another stop, this time in Kfar Nahum National Park and St. Peter's Church in Capernaum. This is where they believe the Apostle Peter lived, and the church is built over the excavation site where the earliest Christians gathered. This is considered to be the site of the first Christian worship gatherings.

The front of St. Peter's Church.

Underneath St. Peter's Church.

Center of the interior of the church, with glass floor to reveal the site where the first Christian worshippers gathered.

Byzantine synagogue in Capernaum.

Oh my goodness, this is a long blog for a long day! But I'll conclude with the wine tasting experience at Golan Heights Winery. We started with a tour of the facility, including the cellar full of barrels of wine. Then we went into the wine tasting room to try two whites and two reds and two dessert wines, paired with a beautiful platter of cheeses and crackers. 

Wine in oak barrels.

These are the ones we tried.

Mom hanging on for balance after tasting five delicious wines.

Remember when I said I was presenting these out of order? It would have been perfect if we had ended the day after the wine tasting, but this was somewhere between several church stops, so we still had a lot to see when we boarded the bus after this experience. It was a very full and wonderful day that ended back at the kibbutz. 

Be sure to check the next blog. We visited.... churches!

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 8

Okay, I'm a few days behind. We get back to the room at night and I elevate my knee, and usually fall asleep, often before 8:00pm. One night I missed dinner, which was fine considering how much I've been eating on this trip. Yesterday my goal was to walk LESS than 6,000 steps. I tried really hard. We toured Caesarea, which is an amazing place, and I avoided SO MANY RUINS! I just walked the shortest path between the entrance and the exit, and still ended the day with 8,000 steps. The other days have been between 10,000 and 14,000 steps, so 8,000 is still better, and my knee feels better today. So anyway, it's time to catch up. I'm in a van with WiFi, riding from Tel Aviv to Amman, Jordan. I'll have some time to catch up over the next few hours.

Thursday morning we checked out of our Jerusalem hotel, then headed south to Masada. Have you ever seen the movie Masada? It came out as a made-for-TV mini-series in 1981. I was twelve when my family watched it. It depicts the story of the Roman siege of Masada. A few years before the siege there was a Jewish uprising against Rome. This was a small group of rebels against the largest, mightiest military in the world. As expected, Rome crushed the rebellion completely, and in the process they razed Jerusalem to the ground and left the Temple Mount a pile of rubble. We talk about the Pax Romana as a period of nearly 200 years of peace in the Roman Empire, beginning with Augustus Caesar. But this is how the peace was kept -- through the violent squelching of local uprisings.

One group of Jews that survived the Roman onslaught fled to the south, where Herod had built his fortress on Masada. Now I have to go back and talk a little bit about Herod. History knows him as "Herod the Great". 

• Christians know him as the King who ordered all baby boys slaughtered because the Wise Men told him there would be a King born there, and he didn't want to be supplanted.** 
• Jews know Herod the Great as the man who rebuilt the Temple to be one of the grandest structures in ancient Jewish history, but he kept a firm and tyrannical rule over his subjects, so he wasn't a just or well-loved leader like Solomon or David. 
• History tells us that there was probably never any order to massacre boy babies. There is no mention of it in the other gospels, or any other book of the Bible, or any other piece of parchment ever found in Israel or ancient Rome, and it would have been a very big deal to never mention.*** History also tells us he was an incredible builder.

But just because historians call him "great," and refute the notion that he ordered the slaughter of babies, doesn't mean Herod wasn't a horrible guy. He did kill his wife and two of his sons for suspicion of trying to overthrow him. Augustus said of him, "It's better to be Herod's pig than Herod's son." (He was a strict observer of kosher law, so pigs were pretty safe.)

This is what Herod the Great looked like. The internet doesn't lie.

Anyway, history calls him Herod The Great because he oversaw the building of some pretty amazing things. The second Temple Mount was doubled in size, and the grandeur of the renovated Temple was incredible. At the coastal town of Caesarea he created the first underwater concrete harbor in history, to create a safe port for trading vessels. He named this port city Caesarea. Not Davidstown, not Abrahamville, and not even Herodopolis. Caesarea, after Augustus Caesar. This was an acknowledgement of Roman authority and might, and a show of deference to his political superiors. Herod knew how to play the game.

So this was Herod. He was a paranoid megalomaniac. He licked the boots of Augustus, but he didn't really trust him, so in 30 BCE he began construction of a fortress near the dead sea. Masada. 

One century later, in 70 CE, Herod was dead (died in 4 BCE) and the Jews rebelled against Rome, leading to the total ruin of Jerusalem. About 1,000 Jews fled to Masada. The fortress was stocked with giant cisterns full of water, as well as provisions for a town to survive for some time. The Romans pursued them, but couldn't immediately defeat them. Ultimately there would be 15,000 troops deployed to Masada, and still they were unable to reach the Jews with arrows or catapults. They decided to build an earthen ramp. It had to be wide enough and strong enough to roll a giant battering ram and hundreds of armed soldiers. It took months for thousands of men to build the ramp. Finally they were able to reach the fortress and batter the walls down. When they entered the fortress they found 960 bodies. The Jews had committed mass suicide, rather than surrender to slavery under Rome. 

Full disclosure: This isn't my photo.

I was twelve when I watched that movie, and I can still see the defeated expression on Peter O'Toole's face. Priceless. 

With all that said, this is the site where we began our day! (What a lead-up, huh?)

Thankfully, we didn't have to hike the switchbacks up the side of the mountain to get to the plateau. We rode a cable car to the top. It holds 65 people, and leaves every 15 minutes. Those who hike take about 1 1/2 hours to get to the top, and it is strongly discouraged in the summer months because it is so hot it can be dangerous. Naz told us that a few years ago a group defied the caution against hiking, and two of them died. It's late March for us, we were there in the morning, we rode the cable car, and we were still sweating like crazy.

Once at the top it takes about two hours to walk the perimeter of the fortress. I didn't walk the entire perimeter. There were ruins on every part of the plateau. Over the centuries the original structures took a lot of damage, mostly from earthquakes. But with the renewed interest in Masada over the past 2 centuries there has been renewed interest in rebuilding Masada. Some of the buildings have black lines around them. Everything below the line is original, and everything above the line has been rebuilt using the original stones lying around the site. I stared at the walls, comparing what was below the line to what was above the line, and I couldn't see a difference in structure. They've done an incredible job rebuilding.

The crows were very insistent. Not an informative photo, but I like it, so here it is!

That's me! At Masada!

Bathhouse. See the black line?

Israel's flag flying over Masada.

Mom reading the info that's presented in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.

Far below the fortress are some squares like this one. These were the Roman encampments.

After two hours we were back on the cable car, back to the bus, and on our way to the Dead Sea. I'll shorten this part because I just made you read a lot of information about King Herod. The Dead Sea was cool. Lots of stairs, so any benefit I hoped to receive for my knee, with the miraculous healing powers of the Dead Sea mud was offset by the many, many stairs we walked down to get there, and back up to get showered. Floating in a seated position was everything I expected it to be. Once we emerged from the water we could visit showers on the beach. Those who didn't shower were coated in a layer of minerals and salt by the time they got to the top of the stairs. Rather than feeling sacred or holy, there was a spring break party atmosphere there. Loudspeakers played loud music, mostly Spanish pop music, and people were drinking and laughing and enjoying the outdoors. They had an open-air bar where they served snacks and drinks, and there were people from EVERYWHERE going up and down the stairs to the water. There was also a swimming pool at the entrance, where many people were playing.

Back to the bus, we headed to our next stop. Remember the Bible story about Zachaeus, the wee little man who climbed up in the Sycamore tree, for the Lord he wanted to see? (earworm) There's a church built there. That tree is still there, although it's just a large stump encased in glass. There is a living sycamore tree right next to that case. 

What's left of Zachaeus's sycamore tree.

The church built at the spot where Jesus sang, "Zachaeus, you come down, for I'm going to your house todaaaaaaay."

Then another short drive to Temptation Mountain, where Jesus spent 40 days during lent, and then we drove through Jericho. Jericho is the oldest city in the world. Human civilization is believed to be 10,000 to 12,000 years old. Jericho is dated to 10,000 years old. The story of Joshua entering Jericho at the end of the 40 years in the desert was about 3,400 years ago. For millennia, if you lived in the area but weren't living in Jericho you were living in the desert, working desperately to find anything to eat or drink. If you were living in Jericho you were living in an oasis, full of fruit trees of all kinds, and a source of fresh water. This is why the people in Jericho built the wall that Joshua destroyed. It was border control of a sort. Jericho is still an oasis in the desert. We drove from the dead sea through miles and miles (kilometers and kilometers) of rock and desert, and then we came to Jericho and all of its palm trees. It's still a very busy city.

At the end of the day we checked into a Kibbutz in Tiberius, overlooking the Sea of Galilee. Dinner in the dining room was excellent. Accommodations were simple and comfortable. My leg was swollen and tired, and I slept hard.

So ended day 8. That was Thursday. Today is Sunday. So much more to share!

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 7

Gethsemane, Yad Vashem, Israel Museum, Lecture

Yesterday we started out at the church built where Jesus prayed right before his arrest in Gethsemene. The olive trees in the garden are well-tended, and they are from shoots of the original trees 2,000 years ago. The Byzantine church was built in the 4th century, along with the others Constantine and Helena ordered built. Then it was destroyed by the Persians, then rebuilt by Crusaders. There may have been another round of destroyed and rebuilt in there somewhere. I'm losing track. It's a Roman Catholic church now. Mass was taking place when we went in, so that was lovely. The adapter I brought to transfer photos from my camera to my computer went missing some time between yesterday and today, so I can only share photos from my phone.

Church of All Nations, or Basilica of the Agony

Garden of Gethsemene.

Naz is standing on the church floor after restoration. Under the glass next to his feet is the original floor.

The stone on which Jesus wept during his prayer to "Take this cup away from me."

Our next stop was across the street, where we saw Mary's Tomb. Of course, there's nothing in the tomb, because it is believed say she ascended into heaven from this spot. To get to the chapel we descended many steps. Halfway down there were two tombs -- one on the left, and one on the right. The one on the left was Mary's father's tomb. The one on the right was Mary's mother's. There were three services going on simultaneously -- Armenian, Greek Orthodox, and Syriac. 

Next stop was Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.  If I could do anything for a living, it would be to teach the Holocaust and related issues -- Anti-Semitism, Racism, Religious Persecution, Segregation, and how to avoid repeating these historical atrocities and injustices. Needless to say, I've been eager to see Yad Vashem for years. There were no photos allowed there. We made the mistake of thinking we could use the audio tour, but after 45 minutes, and having skipped several of the audio sections, we were still in the first of nine galleries. We had two hours at the museum, so I didn't use the audio tour for most of the rest. There was a lot of written information on the walls, so still a lot to absorb without the audio. I'm happy to say I knew a lot of what I was reading and hearing, having studied the Holocaust for many years now. But Yad Vashem had some items that are really incredible. For example, they have re-created a street in the Warsaw Ghetto, complete with the original cobblestones, original train tracks that moved Jews out of the ghetto to the camps, and the original lamp posts. 

Outside the main museum was the Hall of Remembrance, which has an eternal flame. Beyond that was a Children's Memorial. When we entered the memorial there was a large wall of images of children's photos. Beyond that was a very dark hallway with a rail on the wall. There were twinkling lights on a mirrored wall on the wall opposite the handrail. I stood still, waiting for my eyes to adjust. There was no adjusting because it was so dark. Overhead speakers recited the names, ages, and hometowns of children who were killed during the Holocaust. Every few seconds was a new name. There are over a million names. It takes a year to recite them all. While holding the handrail we walked blindly through the hallway, hearing the names, until we turned a corner to the exit. It was powerful, and crushing.

After Yad Vashem we went to the Israeli Museum. By the time we got there my knee was really bugging me, and I would have been wise to stop walking. But we were at the Israeli Museum! I've been teaching World History and World Religion, and writing online World History classes for decades. Every time I try to find an image of The Second Temple, rebuilt by Herod about 10 BCE, I Google images and see either drawings or a photo of the scale model of ancient Israel at the Israeli Museum. I've always used the photos of the model, so I was happy to see it in person, taking photos I'll never have to cite or get permission to use! The model is a 1:50 scale of the original city.

Also at the museum was an exhibit about the Dead Sea Scrolls. Mom and I saw these scrolls in Chicago at the Field Museum some 15-20 years ago, but it was great to see them here, too. At the time we saw them in Chicago there was a woman in an enclosed glass room wearing a mask and gloves, holding a pair of gloves. She emptied out a small wax envelope full of scroll fragments onto the table in front of her. She began the tedious process of assembling the pieces into legible sections. She had to know Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic well enough to be able to decipher and assemble the pieces. I stared at what she was doing and then turned to my mom, "I want that job." (To be clear, I don't know Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic. There's no way I would ever have qualified for her job.) After seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls we entered the main building, which was very much like an art museum. Several galleries, each with a theme. One was about the Magic of the Shema -- the verses from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, which are the most important prayer in Judaism. The gallery discussed how the Shema has been used to conjure miracles, by having it written on arm bands, amulets, bowls that were sunk into the ground around a house, and so on. Boy, was my knee killing me. I turned toward the exit, but then another gallery caught my eye and I had to view it. This one had an entire room full of Torah Scrolls, Torah Finials, Torah Crowns, and Torah Covers. This gallery was incredible. Two more galleries after that one and I finally exited to the building, only to see in the gift shop that there was a Rene Magritte gallery that I never visited. NO WAY! I LOVE RENE MAGRITTE!!! Oh well. My knee was probably better for having missed him. By the time we had dinner and walked back to the hotel my knee was swollen and cranky.

Once out of the museum we were on our way to a bookstore, which has been open since 1984, to hear about the Israel/Palestinian Conflict from an East Jerusalem Arab Israeli. Ahmed Muna is the second generation to run this bookstore. I'll talk more about him in my blog on the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict.

We had dinner at a great restaurant, which was advertising a "soft opening" on its menu. Our dinner companion asked, "Are you a new restaurant?" The host/waiter/busboy answered, "No! We've been open since 1949!" They've been closed for nearly 2 years due to COVID, so they are re-opening and happy to see tourists back in the country. Dinner was fabulous.

It was a rewarding experience to lay down and elevate my leg at the end of the day. Another day that was truly worth a swollen knee. :-)

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 6

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

We started our day with a lecture by Assaf Gamzou, Director Of Jewish Education in Israel at ANU - Museum Of The Jewish People. Topic: The Israel/Palestine Conflict. This was super fascinating, and addressed an issue I've been studying and teaching for some time. I'm going do devote a separate blog post to it. For now I'll say that Assaf is writing a children's graphic novel about the history of the Jewish people. (Yes, it should be sold through Amazon in about two years!) He is writing about important places in Jewish history, which are a short drive from here, and he isn't allowed to go to these places, because he holds the passport of an Israeli Jew. An Israeli Christian can enter, and Arab Israelis can enter. We entered today, with our American and Australian passports, but Assaf couldn't come along.

After the lecture we went to the Mount of Olives. It's more of a hill than a mountain (or maybe I'm being a snob because I live in Colorado), but it does stand higher than everything else in the area, and it gives very impressive views of Jerusalem. This mountain used to be covered in olive trees. For over 3,000 years this hill has been used as a burial ground for Jews, and currently holds over 150,000 graves. About 2,000 years ago this was the last spot where Jesus stood, before he ascended into Heaven. 

In the next photos, in the foreground you can see the above-ground tombs on the side of the Mount of Olives, and in the distance you can see the golden Dome Of The Rock, which orients you to where the Temple Mount is. (Immediately on the other side of the Dome of the Rock is the Wailing Wall.)

Next we boarded the bus and rode to Shepherds Field Chapel, near Bethlehem, in Palestine's West Bank. This is where the shepherds saw the star, and were led to the manger in Bethlehem on the night of Jesus's birth. It's a cave that has been turned into a chapel, with a church, fountain, restrooms, and outdoor chapels nearby. It was the most peaceful place on the trip so far. Our guide told us there's usually a queue extending all the way to the parking lot, but we were there by ourselves for awhile. Two other groups were at two separate spaces, and there was no overlap between us. 

A note about the peacefulness of the site, and the incredibly easy access so far. Our guide, Nazeeh, who goes by Naz, is a full-time tour guide. Ninety percent of Israel's economy comes from tourism, so the industry is very sophisticated, and education for the tour guides requires a masters degree. Naz was originally a teacher, but wanted to get into tour guiding, so he earned his masters and has been doing it for ten years. The trip we are on is his first tour in TWO YEARS. Israel has been closed for business due to COVID, and this is literally the first time they're opening up for tours again. Some of the sites on our original itinerary (from two years ago) still aren't open. People seeing Naz for the first time in two years are greeting him like the prodigal son. He's greeted with joyous hugs and hand shakes from vendors and tour guides and chefs and other people on all our stops.

This is why we were able to see the tomb of Jesus, when all the guide books say it's too crowded to see. And this is why there was no one but us in the chapel where the shepherds saw the light of the star over Jesus's birthplace. We could hear birds, and the wind rustling through the trees, and little else.

Entrance to the cave chapel.

Naz, behind the table where communion is served to pilgrims every day.

There's a small church on the hill just west of the cave. There are a few porticos depicting the night the shepherds saw the star and followed it.

From there we rode the bus to a Palestinian refugee camp, where we enjoyed a home-cooked meal. The experience was led by a family who started an education and rehabilitation center for children with disabilities within the refugee camp. Again, I'll write a separate blog post about this experience.

After a delicious and informative lunch, we traveled to the Church of the Nativity, which is the site of Jesus's birth. Like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, it is sacred to all Christians, and is controlled by multiple Christian denominations. The structure itself is from the Byzantine era, encouraged by Constantine, and launched by his mother, Helena. The main entrance is a very small doorway that forces one to crouch to enter. It's called "The Door Of Humility." Once in, you're standing at the back of a long nave with high columns, and above the columns are grand, ancient mosaics. The apse at the front of the church is decorated with Byzantine imagery and gold-plated wall to house the icons.

See the teeny tiny door?

The iconostasis at the front of the church.

Can you see me? Hi!

One of the mosaics above the side aisle columns.

Constantine's mother left a strong legacy.

The tomb of St. Jerome, a famous theologian who translated the Bible from Greek into Latin. His translation is known as "the Latin Vulgate". He died 1,600 years ago.

St. George slaying the dragon.

To get to the place of Jesus's birth, you descend marble stairs under the chancel.

The Greek Orthodox Church controls the site of Jesus's birth. The Catholic Church controls the site a few feet away, where Jesus was laid in the manger.

After the tour it was time to walk through Bethlehem, visit some shops, buy some souvenirs, and head back to the bus for the drive to the hotel. Naz asked us if we wanted to go out for dinner. We all elected to call it a day. I was asleep by 7:30. 

Trip of a Lifetime - Day 5

Some Review, and Some New

Good morning from Jerusalem! (I just love that I can say that!!!) I started writing this post at the end of our day last night, about 8:00pm. I fell asleep at the hotel desk while I was downloading photos. I'll try again. 

Yesterday our tour group spent the morning walking to the sites that mom and I had visited the day before. We knew we'd be visiting these sites our first day with the tour, but these sites can be so different from day to day that I wanted to double our trip to the Western Wall, Temple Mount, and Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  We were glad we did both days!

We discovered that the day we were at the Holy Sepulcher, being denied entry by what was indeed a Greek Orthodox Sunday service, was because it was a super significant service. If you're interested, you can read about it here. 

Our guide took us to the stops on the Via Dolorosa, telling us about each as we went. Here are some highlights.

Church of the Flagellation

Church of the Condemnation

Photo re-enactment of Station 5, where Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus with his cross, and Jesus reaches for the wall for support. The spot on the wall is where Jesus's hand touched, and it's really deep with the erosion of centuries of pilgrims.

When we got to the church it was much less crowded, so we were able to get in line and visit Jesus's tomb! (We were told in all our pre-trip reading that we wouldn't see it on the tour, because lines are super long and there's no time, so our failure to see it the day before was a real let-down. We had given up visiting the tomb. What a surprise!) No photos are allowed. We entered the rotunda through a normal size door, and in the first "room" was a piece of the rolling stone (yes, we all think of Mick Jagger) that was used to seal the tomb. Then you have to duck real low to get through the entry to the tomb. The entry is about hip height. Inside the tomb is a slab, where Jesus was lain after his death, surrounded by lots of items of adornment. Candles and lamps hanging above, Orthodox-style painting, flowers, and so on.

During the rest of the review part of the tour I got to take photos I'm really happy about.

A female soldier who entered near the Western Wall - part of the Israeili Defense Forces.

Close-up of the Dome of the Rock

A Muslim woman enjoying lunch at the Dome of the Rock.

A Muslim man at prayer at the Dome of the Rock.

Next we boarded our bus and headed to the West Jerusalem for a cooking class and a trip through the market with a professional chef. 

Our chef's name was Kobe. I'm not sure that's how it's spelled, but we all said/thought "Like Kobe Bryant!" when our guide told us the name, so I'll spell it that way. As he took us from one stop to another through the market -- giving us samples of Tahini, halva, and other things I've never heard of -- he radiated joy and happiness. He was clearly born to be a chef. 

That's Kobe on the right. The guy on the left made us a dessert I've never heard of and forgot the name of. It was amazing.

Some of the spices at one shop.

At one shop we enjoyed something else that was fantastic, covered with cheese, hard-boiled egg, spinach, and other goodies. I took this photo of the guy tossing our... I'll call it a pizza crust for lack of better vocabulary, and showed it to him. He immediately wrote down his phone number and asked me to send it to him. I'm pretty pleased with this photo, too!

Then it was back to the restaurant to cook our own meal. We made baked Moroccan fish, fresh bread, tabbouleh, and more. I don't remember it all. By the time we made dinner we had just consumed so many samples in the market that I didn't think I could eat another bite. But it all looked so good! When we left I think I had new stretch marks.

Gotta go. Time to eat breakfast! 😋🤣 

(No time to edit. It's really time for breakfast. Forgive any errors in spelling. Thanks,)