Jerusalem - The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Wailing Wall

After we got through passport control at Allenby Bridge, we had the somewhat daunting task of finding our way to Jerusalem. I say 'somewhat daunting' because actually we wanted to try and do it by going to Jericho first, but then leaving our luggage with the taxi driver or something whilst we saw Jericho, and then later on driving with the taxi to Jerusalem (and finding a hostel). Theoretically, all this is possible. In practice, its a nightmare.

First of all, you need to get a Palestinian taxi if you're going anywhere on the West Bank. The Israeli buses won't take you there. And a Palestinian taxi can't take you fully to Jerusalem, only to the outskirts, from where you need to pick up an Israeli bus (driven by an Arab though).

Now when we arrived, we found all this information out from the guy drumming up business for the bus to Jerusalem. So we really weren't sure if he was taking us for a ride (like the taxi driver in Homs tried to do). He told us the taxi to Jericho would be rather expensive (he quoted some huge figure and as we were just new to the country we had no idea what it was in real money). As we didn't have any shekels, and there was no ATM or bureau de change there (but of course the bus would accept payment in Jordanian dinars) we thought it better to get the bus to Jerusalem, sort out our accommodation and come back to Jericho another day. So that's what we did.

The main minibus stop in Jerusalem is just outside Damascus Gate. Opposite, there was a hotel, and we went in there to ask about accommodation. But even in this 'unsafe' time, a time when people are staying away from Israel in droves (allegedly) because of the unsettled situation between the Jews and the Palestinians - even now, the prices of the rooms in this hotel were extremely exorbitant. We couldn't afford to stay there. Fortunately, though, they could recommend some hostels nearby - and en route to one, we found the "Al Arab" hostel, in the heart of the souk in the Old City. This hostel cost us the grand total of 25 shekels per person per night (£3) and believe me, in this place, you get what you pay for. Nothing.

The hostel is extremely basic, the dormitory has 8 beds, very very basic - only 1 power point in the room, no fans or anything. To be honest, the linen wasn't all that clean either, and the bathroom, well. The latch was hanging on by a thread, and it was BYO toilet paper. There were 2 shower blocks of 3 showers in each, but in the whole time we stayed there I never managed to use the good showers because, as there were only curtains, if you went for a shower you locked off the door to the whole block. So the good showers were always in use. Still, it was a roof over our heads I suppose.

Anyway, we got ourselves settled and then it was time to go and explore the Old City. I had a quick look on the map and was surprised to find we were extremely close to the Via Dolorosa (the way of suffering) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which the Catholics believe is the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. So we decided to head off there.

Using a map in the Jerusalem Old City is pretty useless (particularly, as I've said in previous blogs, a Lonely Planet map - no wonder they're so lonely, no-one can find them! hehehe) so we just sort of wandered off in the general direction to the church (we hoped) through the very busy, bustling souks. On the way we stumbled across a place that advertised itself as the last station of the cross (how can that be? That would be the crucifixion...) and we went in. It turned out to be part of the original Roman road (where Jesus actually would have walked during the Via Dolorosa - if you accept this as the location for it - more on that later), and it also had a gate with a big arch. To the left of this arch was a small opening - the 'eye of the needle' which Jesus refers to in Matthew 19:24. It was really cool to see this.

Me at the 'Eye of the Needle'

The original Roman road and the 'Eye of the Needle'

We left this building and kept wandering around. We happened upon a small doorway leading to a courtyard, and going in we discovered we were standing in front of a huge cathedral - the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.Upon entry to the church you are confronted with a big slab above which 8 lanterns are suspended. The slab has got some faint red discolouration, and was surrounded by a load of people kneeling, praying, kissing the slab and laying various items over it for a quick blessing. Behind this slab is a big mosaic showing Jesus lying dead on a stone slab - so we deduced (such super sleuths we are) that this must be the slab that they laid Jesus on.

To the right of this is a stairwell leading up to what the Catholics think is Golgotha, Calvary, the place where Jesus was crucified. They have a cross there with Jesus on it, and at the bottom of the cross is a rock encased in glass. You bend down underneath the altar and you can put your hand through a hole and I think touch the rock, although when I did it, I couldn't feel anything.

Me, my solemn face, and 'Golgotha'

Going back down the stairs there's a little chapel underneath the rock, and again more glass encasing - now you can see a big crack in the rock where the earth split when Jesus died. There's also another rock in another glass case, with a bit of red discolouration - I'm assuming the Catholics believe that's His blood or something.

Then if you pass by the slab again and head off to the left of the church, you make your way round to a little free standing wooden chapel within the church - this is the tomb where Jesus was laid. It's really cramped inside and there's another altar, candles, icons and decorations where people lay stuff and pray.

Inside the remainder of the church are a load of other chapels, but as we didn't have a guide, we didn't really know what we were looking at. Agnieszka found one chapel with a picture of Mary that if you looked at it in a certain light, made it look like her eyes were closed, then open, and there was another chapel down in the basement of the church that originally I thought might have been the tomb of Jesus as there were a load of people holding an impromptu church service there, but later we found out that was the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Which confused me, because I thought that the tomb where they laid Jesus WAS Joseph of Arimathea's tomb - but anyway.

I was really pleased to be here at this church but I have to say that the load of people swarming around being actually rather noisy kind of ruined the experience for me. Plus the fact that I'm not really into a load of icons and gaudy decorations so that kind of detracted a bit. But for many other people who visited there it was obviously a very moving experience... I found it much more moving the next day when we tagged along with a 'Via Dolorosa - Stations of the Cross' walk being run by a bunch of Spaniards.

Anyway, it was getting dark after our visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and soon became clear, after wandering the streets, that there isn't anything to do in the evenings here in Jerusalem. However we couldn't go back to our hostel without a quick visit to the Wailing Wall.

The 'wailing' wall (proper name: 'Western' Wall) is the last remaining part of the Second Temple, and is the holiest Jewish site because of its close proximity to the Holy of Holies. To get to the Wailing wall, you have to go through the Arab quarter. Its very interesting to watch the Jews on their way to the Western Wall, because they put their heads down and basically hurry their way through the Arab quarter, not looking to the left or the right, avoiding eye contact - people on a mission. We were first at the Western Wall on a Wednesday evening, and to be honest it was very busy. It was very interesting. The Wall is divided into 2 sections, one for the men and a much smaller area for the women. Its just like an outdoor church I guess, in that you can pick up a Torah to use while your there (returning it of course), there's tables and chairs, but mostly people facing the wall and praying. The more Orthodox ones tend to bow whilst praying at the wall, its very interesting to watch. Also, when you leave the wall, you aren't supposed to turn your back on it, so you can people walking backwards quite a distance to leave the wall.

We actually stayed at the wailing wall for some time, it was just very interesting to be there. We managed to go into the women's section for a better look, but two nights later, Friday - the Sabbath - we weren't allowed down there. Actually it was really interesting being at the wall on the Sabbath - for starters it was absolutely packed. We watched some of the men, and they were doing some weird chanting thing, then we went over to the women who were having some sort of praise and worship session, singing and dancing. It was amazing. Of course though, being the Sabbath, you're not allowed to take any photos, much to Agnieszka's chagrin...

Anyway, back to Thursday night. After our visit to the wall we were really quite tired, and as there isn't anything really to do in the Old City in the evenings, made our way back to the hostel and crashed.