It’s Sunday night, time to update everyone on today’s activities. We started the morning with a lecture in our hotel’s conference room on the history of Jerusalem, provided by Ibrahim our guide. Then we headed into the city itself, where we saw something from virtually every period. There was the excavated wall built by King Hezekiah of biblical fame, who reigned from 742-686 BCE. The prophet Isaiah probably walked beside these very stones. We also saw Hasmonean structures from 600 years later, and then the Byzantine era Cardo (Main Street) from around 500 AD. Rounding out our trip through time was the Crusader-identified “upper room” near the area where the Last Supper took place, though of course the medieval building containing it did not exist in Jesus’ day. Most impressive was our late afternoon tour of the area to the west and south of the Temple Mount, with its foundation walls and stone streets that most certainly were there in Jesus’ day. In between these historic sites we found time to wander through the chaos and excitement of the Muslim quarter of the old city. We had lunch at a place that had terrific falafel. Tomorrow we go to the Wailing Wall and up to the Temple Mount. I may not be able to provide any pictures tomorrow, because I’ve learned that no tablets are allowed on the Temple Mount. I haven’t yet been able to transfer pictures from my phone to the tablet for this blog (this explains why you didn’t see any pics of us covered with Dead Sea mud yesterday), but if I’ll do my best to show what I can. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures from today.
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