Day 3: The Pilgrimage
Begins, but for who?
The only part of this that was surprising is that the Roman
Catholics have such a small presence here. I knew Jerusalem, more than any one
city, can be claimed by so many different religions and creeds. The Jewish,
Islamic and Christian faiths all have deep, deep connections to this little
plot of land. But I was still surprised that ‘Christian’ so well encompassed
all sects of Christianity, rather than focusing on Catholicism. Selfish
thought, I know, but one I will readily admit.
Our day started in earnest at 5:15am local Tel Aviv time,
walking through Tel Aviv’s large, grand, Ben Gurion airport, having a few first
pastries, and taking their new express train to Jerusalem that last exactly 21
minutes (about half the time it would take to drive, assuming little to no
traffic). The first impression of Israel was a very positive one, clear, well
built roads and other infrastructure. Rolling rocky cliffs wsith bands of
houses dotting the scenery. Before we knew it, we were thrown into the heart or
Urban Jerusalem, navigating the impressive train station towards the slightly
less impressive bus station to check our bags into lockers prior to our AirBNB
opening up.
We decided to make good use of the morning, despite however
sleep deprived we all were. For me, just the fact I now had regular eyesight
after two days was enough to give me a jolt of energy – that and the double
espresso at Tel Aviv airport, and cappuccino from Tel Aviv airport train
station.
Our first stop was Temple Mount, tucked into the old city,
probably the most sacred place in the city for two of the three faiths that
have realistic claims to Jerusalem as the dominant religion from a sacred-ness
standpoint. Personally for me, as a Catholic, there is nothing tying Temple
Mount, including the Dome on the Rock mosque inside the square, and the Western
Wall on the side, to me other than how it ties into the Jewish faith, but we
were still starting off our time in Jerusalem at a high point.
Temple Mount has strict opening times and stricter rules –
women must cover their heads, no non-Muslim is allowed into one of the two
mosques inside. Any group photo must not include any touching (e.g. placing
your arms around others) – a rule we were told off on by one of the guards who
demanded we delete the photo. Even past all these minor annoyances, the views
and site were staggering.
The first of many (hopefully short) history lessons, Temple
Mount was originally the highest site of Jerusalem, where it is said Abraham
took his son Isaac to be sacrificed, and later where King David founded the
city, and his son King Solomon built the great temple. Later, Jesus was said to
predict the temples would turn to rubble. Along the many twisted tails of
Jerusalem’s ownership (i.e. dominant religion & rulers), it would turn to
rubble a couple of times, finally rebuilt as two mosques by Saladin in around
1100 AD. It is these two mosques that still stand. The main one, the Dome of
the Rock, is built on top of the site that was where Abraham took his son, as
is one of the most holiest spots in the world.
This is why Jewish people don’t go inside, but instead pray
on the Western (Wailing) Wall, which was a site to behold as well. The Western
Wall had a large open area, and then two prayers sections leading up to the
wall. I myself was a little too feeble to go inside the male prayer section,
though I definitely saw other gentiles do so.
The views from the Temple Mount were great, both of New
Jerusalem to the West, and Mt. Olive to the right, and greater Israel to all
directions. It truly was a great way to start the meat of the trip.
After Temple Mount, we ventured back to the bus station,
checked into our well decorated and perfect sized AirBNB, and headed off to the
Israel Museum, which contains a few notable sights: the Dead Sea Scrolls, an
impressive selection of random European master artists (Picasso, Monet,
Cezanne, etc.), and a really phenomenal history of Israel section that goes
through everything with tons of artifacts and status and frescoes and relics
and more. The Museum has more than this, but we had limited time and focused on
these areas.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were great, and housed well in an
impressive structure, but sadly we couldn;’t take photos. It was cool just
learning about the strenuous restoration process, and getting a view at truly
old timey documents, calligraphy and religious texts. The history section was a
rush – honestly, it deserves probably 1-2 hours on its own and we gave it a
tidy 40 minutes. There were full sections talking about Israel going back to
Egyptian & Assyrian rule, through Roman rule, through Ottoman rule, up to
Modern day.
Lunch was at Modern, a top restaurant in the city that I had
marked down that I learned during our trip to the museum was actually adjoining
the museum. The restaurant does not have the look and feel of your standard
museum restaurant, and would probably be a recommendation if we had to travel
separately to get there. We split a couple appetizers and entrees, all of us
fairly hungry having not eaten since the day started in Tel Aviv airport.
We got an eggplant bruschetta (nice ingredients, but
probably the weakest dish), a good roasted beet salad, and then mains of a
beef, potatoe and artichoke stew (really nice, meat was really soft), and an
Israeli take on a chicken schnitzel crossed with a chicken pot pie, with bits
of chicken minced with some veggies cooked inside of a stringy dough that
resembled the outside of a piece of baklava. The presentation & imagination
were fantastic, the taste was as good.
After lunch, not wanting to give in to jetlag, we ventured
back into the Old City, this time going to a Christian spot, the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre. This is probably the most sacred church and/or landmark in all
of Christendom write large (i.e. all of Christianity, not just Catholicism),
which adds to its strange charm, as six different groups of Christianity stake
claim to various parts of this building.
On its face, the Church is not too impressive outside, dimly
lit inside. It is essentially owned and operated by the Greek Orthodox church
(not sure how they ended up with the lucky draw), with little slabs here and
there parceled out. Why all the fuss? Well, this is the church that was built
on top of the site of where Jesus was crucified, died and was buried, and rose
again on the 3rd day (I promise that is the last time I quote the ‘I
Believe’). Some of this has to be taken at face value, but the most certain of
all these claims is probably the ‘crucified and died’ parts, where a chapel
(broken up between the Greek Orthodox & Catholic churches) is over the
rocks where Roman Empress Helena excavated and found three crosses in AD 320 or
so.
Probably due to the fly-by-night nature of the building and
its feuding tenants, it is not well kept, but the incredible mix of cultures,
languages, creeds and peoples milling around, feeling various levels of
sacredness and connection, is pretty special. There were lines for both to pray
at the Altar where Jesus would have died, and then visit his tomb (where a
piece of rock said to be the stone that capped the tomb still lies). For the
altar, it was a solemn moment. For the tomb, it was rushed, with a Greek Orthodox priest rushing people in and out in a hectic fury.
We finally left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre area with
nightfall having descended early upon Jerusalem. Our day, despite starting
pre-sunrise, was far from over however.
First we took a stop to the Machene Yahuda market, Jerusalem’s
famed quasi-open air market, which was buzzing in the same way all main city
markets do. The best little piece of food we picked up was a cheese filled
baklava, warm and heavenly. My mom took in the spices and fresh fruit as well,
happy to take some spices home, sad because the fruit would prove a bigger
challenge, not that it stopped her from getting a basket of figs.
There was no real plan as such for dinner. One of the
restaurants that I had looked up and shortlisted, Jacko Street, was around the
corner from the market, but had a truly uninspired menu for the prices
(overall, Israel is suburban or Midwest US prices). Across the street, however,
was a bustling place called Haztot. It required a 15 min wait, but the style,
the menu, and the tag-line of ‘original mixed grill in Jerusalem’ – however specious
those types of taglines are – drew us in.
The overall experience at Haztot was great. There was a
varied starter set of pita with myriad dips and pickled vegatables. We got a
starter set of XXXXX and YYYYY, both quite good, and large portions, which made
the price easier to take. Not that it is too expensive, but overall it took us
a bit to understand that Israel in nature, in experience and in economy, is not
3rd world – price is very much a part of that. Our one main was the
mixed grill, which included chicken, veal, and chicken liver – not my favorite
but my parents who swear by it loved it.
After dinner, I said goodbye to my parents and wandered
backwards to the Mahene Yachuda market for drinks at Beer Bazaar, tucked away
at the very back end of the market. It was still rather early (relatively, for
drinks) and the place was full of mostly locals (i.e. people speaking Hebrew).
They have their own set of house-made brews covering all the bases with quirky
names like Bindhi for their IPA and Wheatney for their Wheat beer (OK, some
were a bit on the nose). I tried both their stout and their wheat, both quite
pleasant. Around 10pm, a DJ came in and played fairly soothing house music for
all of us. When I left, the main strip of Yachuda market had fully changed into
a mix of bars, hookah shops, and the like. It was truly a stunning change, one
that made me feel a bit sad that tiredness and schedule conspired to end my
night early.
It was a full first day in Jerusalem. Since with Christmas
Eve and Christmas Day coming up, and unsure about how open the sites would be
(mainly the Christian ones – though to note, most of the Orthodox church’s don’t
celebrate Christmas, or at least don’t on 12/25), we packed a lot into a first,
literally full, overstuffed, day.
