This art gallery had an interesting storefront
Before the three months statute of limitations expires on this trip, let me tell you about our last full day in Israel. In the morning we had some free time to go to the Old City in Jerusalem, shopping being the name of the game. I was disappointed that we couldn’t find one food stand that we’d seen the day before; they had something that looked very much like the “empanadas árabes” that we eat in Córdoba, Argentina. Apparently the stand opened later. During Ramadan, Muslims don’t eat until after sundown; they often open their stores to let them sleep in after evening festivities.
Gate into the Old City
On the way back to the hotel, Tony, Carolina, and I made a quick stop at a site called the Garden Tomb. It’s a tomb that was found that could look like where Jesus was buried. It’s almost certain that it’s not Jesus’ actual tomb, but it makes an interesting visit.
Garden tomb
A stone like that that would have covered Jesus’ tomb
The garden tomb
Then we went to an unusual archaeological site. A few years back, the Muslims got permission to do some renovations on the Temple Mount. Instead of the small changes that were authorized, they bulldozed a large section and dumped the dirt away from the site. Archaeologists were outraged… until they realized that they now had access to materials from the temple mount. It was all in a jumble with no respect for strata, but treasures could be found by sifting through the dirt.
The Temple Mount Sifting Project enlists the aid of tourists to go through what was discarded. Much of what is found has no value. However, just last month a young boy found a 3000-year-old cone-shaped stone seal.
Temple Mount Sifting Project
It’s an interesting process. First, you get a bucket of dirt.
Selecting a bucket
Then you empty it onto a large sieve, rinsing out the bucket with water to make sure nothing is left behind.
What is on the sieve is carefully rinsed with water, then the sifting begins.
Dirt is placed on sieve and washed; bucket is rinsed
What is found is put into six categories: pottery, mosaic, stone, bone, metal, and glass. Once the tourists have gone through the contents of the bucket, they call a worker over to inspect their work.
Sorting into six categories
Archaeologist checks the work of some of our group
Then the sorted things of value are put into buckets.
Placing sorted materials into buckets
The rest of the dirt is discarded, and the process begins anew.
Discarding the sifted dirt
Once in a while you find something that the experts find interesting. That’s fun!
“This is interesting”
Finding a treasure!
After we left the dig, we went to the Gallicantu church. Built at the site of Caiphas’ house, it’s name means “rooster crows”; it remembers Peter’s denial of Jesus. Underneath the church is the Holy Pit, where tradition says Jesus was held. It’s a dungeon with holding cells, complete with equipment for flogging prisoners.
Door to the Gallicantu church, remembering Peter’s denial of Christ
Dungeon where Caiphas’ house stood; ropes in place for flogging victims
Tradition says this was where Jesus was imprisoned
Outside are the Holy Steps, where Jesus would have walked several times on the night of his arrest. Those steps were very moving to me, for that’s one significant place in Jesus’ life that isn’t covered over with a church. I could imagine him walking those steps on his last night before the crucifixion.
It’s almost certain that Jesus walked these steps several times after his arrest
It’s almost certain that Jesus walked these steps several times after his arrest
This was one place that I found to be very moving
We then went to the Herodium. This was one of Herod’s fortress palaces. It was where he chose to be buried. He wanted to have a palace that could see both the temple in Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. To accomplish this, he chopped off the top of one mount and placed it on the one where he was building. Even at that, he didn’t reach his goal.
You can see the mountain Herod took dirt from to elevate the Herodium
The Herodium was an imposing fortress that would have dominated the area around, including Bethlehem. No one would have questioned who was the King of the Jews.
Swimming pool at the Herodium
The Herodium
From there, we went to Bethlehem. We made a quick stop at the souvenir shop we had visited, then went to a restaurant for a final banquet.
Final banquet
We had gifts for our guide and our bus driver
Carolina and me with Nedal, our guide
Some were flying out that night; we had a flight to catch the next morning. We had been told that we could take a group taxi to the airport, that it would be quick and relatively inexpensive. The girl at the hotel was skeptical, urging us to call a private taxi. We went for the group taxi.
What we didn’t realize was that the driver would pick us up first, then go pick up the other 8 or so people who would be in the van. We got an interesting middle-of-the-night tour of residential Jerusalem. To make it more interesting, the driver didn’t seem to speak much English and charged us way more than we expected. We would have been much better off taking a private taxi.
Flight home was good. It was sad to leave Israel, but it’s always good to go home.