In the Holy Land

One of the aspects of this cruise that made it interesting to me was the fact that it visited Israel, "the Holy Land".  While I am not particularly religious, I certainly went to Sunday school and remember a great deal of the stories we learned there.  So, the possibility of being able to visit where Jesus walked, performed his miracles and spent his life was certainly appealing.

The cruise spent two days in the port of Ashdod, one of two major ports in Israel and the one closest to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  There were a myriad of excursions offered by the cruise line.  I chose one called Jerusalem and Bethlehem and it was going to be about a 10 hour day.  It took just over one hour to get to Jerusalem from the port by bus and the countryside was much hillier than I thought it would be.  Our guide, Ryan, was originally from Waco, Texas, and had lived in Israel for 22 years.  As we drove toward the famous city, he explained that the name, Jerusalem, comes from ancient Hebrew words meaning "city of peace".  It wasn't lost on anyone that the city has not exactly lived up to its name.  I won't detail its history except to say that it has been tumultuous and continues to be somewhat controversial.  At times, it has been controlled by the Kingdom of Jordan and the Muslims; and other times, including now, it is Israeli and governed by the Jewish state.  Our guide was very clear on his perspective on it all and I cannot say I entirely agreed with him at times; particularly his very evident anti-Palestinian feelings.  He was clearly entitled to them, particularly because of his faith.  However, a more balanced narrative would have been nice.

Our first stop was at the Mount of Olives from which we could get amazing views across the city.  

After that, we were driven down the hill and entered the city at Dung Gate (so-called because that is where the city's garbage was dumped). From there it was a short walk to the Wailing Wall also known as the Western Wall.  This has been the centre of Jewish “yearning” for more than 2000 years.  Build to support the western side of the Temple Mount, it is the most sacred structure of the Jewish people.  This is where Abraham came to sacrifice his son, Isaac, and Jacob slept here dreaming of a ladder to heaven. 

The Western Wall Plaza is the cleared area in front of part of the wall.  It allows a dignified approach to this holy place and is the setting for national events.  We had to go through a security check to get to it and into the old city.  Women and men who want to approach the wall are segregated.  Until some 700 years ago, the wall’s entire length was accessible.  Gradually, Mamluke and Moslem conquerors built against it.   Jews who continued to pray at the Wall began winding their way through narrow alleys to reach it until Jordan occupied Jerusalem’s Old City in 1948 and Jews were denied access to the Wall.  In 1967, Jerusalem’s was reunified and access was restored to the Jewish people.  Today, the wall is the most visited site in Israel.

After that stop, we made our way through the labyrinth of alleys of the Old City.  Our guide moved very quickly through this part - so fast, in fact, that he was out of range in terms of some of us being able to hear his explanations.  I do know that some of it was along the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Suffering, along which Jesus is said to have carried the crucifixion cross.  What was unfortunate was that we had absolutely no time to stop and look in the interesting shops along the way or take time to savour the experience of walking where He had walked.  The guide pointed out only two of the seven of the stops along the Via Dolorosa - and, not that particularly cared, I know others did!  

We made our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed to be His final resting place.  

Following our visit to Jerusalem, we boarded our bus to Bethlehem.  First off, I was surprised how close it was to Jerusalem, basically a suburb, in a way.  I also didn't know that it is currently under the Palestinian Authority which means you have to cross into Palestine to visit and, further, because the Authority has its own Department of Tourism, our guide was not permitted to guide us while we were there and a Palestinian guide joined us.  Now, I had no problem with that nor, I expect, did any of the others on the bus.  However, our Jewish guide kept asking us if we felt unsafe having that occur and to let him know if we felt uncomfortable.  Pretty sure the only person who was uncomfortable was him!  Further, afterwards, he told us he wanted to "correct" anything we were told by the other guide.  Now, that did make me feel uncomfortable!  If anything, I would have liked to hear both perspectives but that, clearly, wasn't what he wanted!  The first thing I noticed from the bus when we entered Bethlehem was the graffiti.  Then, we saw the Walled In Hotel.  I remember seeing something about this during the Banksy exhibition I'd been to in Paris in the spring.  It was interesting to see the context of it.  

We stopped at the Church of the Nativity and spent some time there although we didn't visit the grotto.  

Returning to Israel, we saw the wall that separates the two factions and our bus was boarded by heavily armed Israeli soldiers who wanted to make sure we all had the appropriate passports.  As the guide said, the Palestinians don't care who comes onto their side of the border but the Israelis certainly do!!  They have the wall to prove it.

From there, we just headed back to our ship with our guide droning on and on, actually almost preaching, about his perspective for the over one hour ride.  Enough already!  Our next port is Haifa which is the second largest port in Israel and is near the Sea of Galilee.  That should prove interesting.