Weather: Mid-70’s, clear skies
Well, I didn’t make it through the night without feeling a little rumble in my tummy. It’s that oh-no moment where you realize something you ate is ready to make a speedy exit out of the back of the building. What is happening? This never really happens for me when I travel or ever. It must be new Middle Eastern elements my body needs to meet and get used to. I crawl back into bed and pray that is the end of it. No one wants to start the first day on the group bus with an intestinal issue.
I wake up feeling okay and pick really safe gentle things for breakfast in an effort to ‘test the waters.’ It worked, and really I never had an issue again with whatever that was.
Our first tour stop of the day was the City of David. It is speculated to compose the original urban core of ancient Jerusalem. The remains of the site include several water tunnels, one of which was built by King Hezekiah and still carries water, several pools including the Pool of Siloam (where Jesus sent ‘a man blind from birth’ after he put mud on his eyes, to wash in order to complete his healing).
Our guide told us this area is one of the most intensively excavated sites in the Holy Land. Walking around the grounds it seemed surreal and almost make-believe. Having grown up around so much artificial recreation of real destinations, when I was walking through the tunnels I kept thinking, this feels like the line for the Indiana Temple of Doom ride at Disneyland. There were also several groups of elementary age Israeli children on tours there. They were definitely loud and boisterous as they went through. Typical for that age. Our guide said, it used to bother her until she realized her joy for this generation of kids with so much confidence and without the sorrow carried by previous generations.
We also walked to the top of the Southern Steps which is a flight of stairs leading to the main entrances of the Temple Mount (Location of the First Temple built by King Solomon) Some suggest that the fifteen long steps may have been one of the locations where pilgrims sang the fifteen Psalms of Ascent (120-34) as they went up to worship.
On this day we also stood on top of a platform that is understood to be the first of three locations of Mount Zion. At first, Mount Zion was the name given to the Jebusite city on the lower part of ancient Jerusalem’s Eastern Hill, also know as the City of David. According to the Book of Samuel, Mount Zion was the site of the Jebusite fortress called ‘stronghold of Zion’ that was conquered by King David, then renamed and partially rebuilt by him as the ‘City of David,’ while he built his palace.
We finished the day at the Western Wall as the sun was setting. Amazing to see this site in person. It is a relatively small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, known also in its entirety as the ‘Western Wall.’ The wall was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple begun by Herod the Great, which resulted in the encasement of the natural, steep hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount.
The Western Wall is considered holy due to its connection to the Temple Mount. The Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray. The prayer areas are separated into two sides, men and women. It has also been called the ‘Wailing Wall,’ referring to the practice of Jews weeping at the site over the destruction of the Temples.