After Naples, our ship cruised at sea for two and a half days before it reached Ashdod, the largest Israeli port. Ashdod is a city mentioned in the Bible numerous times so it is a very old city. Its close proximity to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv makes it a jumping-off point for visits to both cities. We would stay overnight at this port.
The weekend before we arrived in Israel, there were several fatal incidents in Jerusalem involving Israeli and Palestinian. The escalation of violence prompted Islamic Jihad to announce that it would again resume suicide bomb attacks. The tense situation caused slight apprehension and unease among cruise passengers but we decided to go ahead with our visit anyway.
We joined a private tour group organized by a nice lady from Toronto, Canada. Beverly posted in an online forum, Cruise Critic (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/), several months before that she would like someone to join her to form a group to tour Israel. Her group would have a Christianity emphasis, while other groups had a Jewish learning. I signed up with Beverly for three excursions: Naples, Israel, and Malta. The price for each of such private tours was about half of what our cruise line would normally charge.
Our plan was to visit the Dead Sea for the first half day at Ashdod. On our second day at Ashdod, we would visit Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
On our way to the Dead Sea, we came upon this watchtower built by the Crusader when it conquered Jerusalem in 1099.
This location marks the sea level of 0. From here on it was going downhill until we reached the Dead Sea at sea level -429. This group picture was from Ashley and Andrea of Ireland.
The Dead Sea sits 429 meters below the sea level and is a repository of water from several rivers. It is a lake that does not have an outlet for its water to flow out. The mineral and salt residues coming from its feeding rivers make the lake one of the world’s saltiest. Visitors to this lake usually go into the water to experience the sensation of floating. They also smear themselves with mud from the lakeshore for its alleged therapeutic effect.
But somehow the lake reminded me of our own the Salton Sea in Riverside County, California. As such, I fell no inclination to go into the water. Rosa did, in her spanking new swimsuit from Sorrento.
On the second day, we set out first for the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem. Bethlehem is in the Palestinian territory so our Jewish tour guide had to get off our tour bus before we entered Bethlehem. A Palestinian tour guide accompanied our group for the duration in Bethlehem.
Jesus’ parents, Joseph and Mary, were residents of Nazareth near the Galilee Sea. Because of a census that all citizens in Israel were required to go back to their ancestor’s place, Joseph and Mary went back to Bethlehem while she was very pregnant. Not being able to find a lodging for the night, Mary gave birth to Jesus near a grotto, and the newborn was placed inside a manger. The location is now the Church of the Nativity, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This is the entrance to the Church of the Nativity. The door originally had a big opening. But over the year to show respect for the holy site, the door was narrowed to prevent people steering horses directly into the church.
The line inside the church to see the grotto and the manger had a wait time of 2 hours so we didn’t get to see them. The church was first built in 339 AD. A new one was rebuilt on top of the original one in 565 AD. A later restoration effort has uncovered the mosaic floor from the first construction. The pattern on the floor mosaic is striking, and it is from the 4th century!
Adjacent to the Church of the Nativity is the Church of St. Catherine, which was built on the location where St. Jerome wrote his Latin version of the Bible. St. Jerome’s bible became official for the whole Western Church.
The Altar of the Holy Innocents, beneath the Church of St. Catherine, near the grotto of St. Joseph.
A mural in an old marketplace in Bethlehem.
After Bethlehem, our next stop was Mount of Olives, a mountain ridge overlooking Jerusalem. It was the place where Jesus rested at night after teaching to his followers in Jerusalem, both before and after his resurrection. It was also the location for his eventual ascendancy to heaven.
In this picture of Jerusalem taken from Mount of Olives, near at the bottom there are numerous Jewish graves. Jewish tradition believes that when Messiah comes he will come down from Mount of Olives. Jews want to be buried close to this mountain as the resurrection of the dead will begin at Mount of Olives. The golden dome in the center is the Dome of the Rock, built by Muslim when they conquered Jerusalem in 638 AD.
Mount of Olives is also the site of the Church of All Nations, also known as the Basilica of the Agony. The church was built over the rock on which Jesus was believed to have prayed in agony after the Last Supper. He was arrested here the next day.
Jesus had his Last Supper with his disciples in this room, located on Mount Zion.
Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. It is considered holy to three faiths - Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The old city section of Jerusalem is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old city is walled with six entrances. The Tower of David is near the Jaffa Gate.
On our way to Jerusalem, we were stuck in heavy traffic. Suddenly several Israeli police cars appeared and raced ahead with blaring sirens. We later learned that they were responding to the apprehension of a terrorist suspect in one of the gates entering the old city. Security was tight in and around Jerusalem. Soldiers and police with weapons could be seen everywhere. This soldier was waiting at a bus stop on the roadside. Our tour guide said based on the weapon he carried, this soldier might be a sharpshooter.
The Western Wall is a remnant of the retaining wall of the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by Romans in 70 AD. The Wall is a holy place for Jews to pray and mourn the loss of their temple. (The term, the Wailing Wall, is also used to refer to this wall, but my friend Marvin told me Jews consider that name offensive and prefer to call it the Western Wall.) At the time of our visit, a group of young military cadets was having a culmination ceremony and we were not allowed to get near the wall. It was a big disappointment!
After being captured, Jesus was tried and sentenced to death on a cross. He was ordered to carry the cross from where he was sentenced to the place of execution. The Way of Sorrow, Via Dolorosa, has stations marking his sufferings when he made his final journey. This is station #5, the location where Simon the Cyrenian helped Jesus with the cross. The station number is on the left above the door.
Station #7 is the gate where Jesus was taken out of the city to the hill for his crucifixion. When he passed the threshold of the gate, the weight of the cross caused him to fall for the second time.
On Via Dolorosa, a group of faithful carried a cross to reenact Jesus’ walk toward the crucifixion.
At one corner on Via Dolorosa.
At the end of Via Dolorosa is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which was built on the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and his tomb.
The Calvary is the location where Jesus was crucified. Under the alter is the rock of Calvary, which marks the exact location of the crucifixion. Pilgrims queued up and knelt under the altar to touch the rock.
After Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross, it was received by Mary, laid and washed on this stone plate. People touched or bowed their heads on this stone to pray.
Jesus’ final resting place inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
We had so much to see at Jerusalem that the group decided to save time and forgo eating in a sit-down restaurant. Our tour guide bought these giant pretzels at a bakery in Jerusalem for us to munch while we toured the city. They are chewy and delicious.
There were far more locations we visited than what has been described here. As an uninitiated without the relevant religious knowledge and context, I got lost often when listening to the tour guide’s explanation. A nice lady from Canada, Elaine, tried patiently to explain the context to even less initiated Rosa. We both learned a lot from Elaine.
Our cruise ship would depart Ashdod at night and arrive at Haifa the next morning. Our tour would continue to Nazareth, where Jesus spent his boyhood, and Galilee Sea, where he started teaching to his followers.
Postscript: The Israeli-Palestinian conflicts continued to deteriorate after our visit to Jerusalem. Five days later, Celebrity would cancel all future calls to Jerusalem. We were the last group of cruise passengers having been able to visit the holy place.
-Joe
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