Jerusalem

Overview:

The promised Land, the city of Jerusalem is a site of great beau­ty and the holy sites for Judaism, Chris­tian­i­ty and Islam, with the old city being the reli­gious and his­tor­i­cal cen­tre of the world fea­tur­ing unique reli­gious won­ders as the west­ern ‘wail­ing’ wall, the Church of the Holy Sep­ul­cher, where Jesus was believed to have been cru­ci­fied, and the Dome of the Rock where the prophet Mohammed is believed to have ascend­ed to the heav­ens, mak­ing the con­test­ed city of Jerusalem a place of not just indi­vid­ual beau­ty, but a spir­i­tu­al and reli­gious won­der that con­tin­ues to influ­ence life as we know it.

Believed to have been found­ed in 3000 BC – mak­ing it one of the old­est cities in the world, Jerusalem is also a place with a bloody and sor­rowed past, with the city being the sub­ject of fre­quent wars and cru­sades as empires, kings and reli­gions fought over it, with access to the city today heav­i­ly guard­ed and mul­ti­ple secu­ri­ty check­points estab­lished before entry at one of the still stand­ing 8 gates that date back thou­sands of years is per­mit­ted.

Yet despite the bloody past and the six-day war of 1967 which saw Jerusalem become part of Israel, the fact that Jerusalem’s diverse reli­gious sym­bol­ism and sig­nif­i­cance is also reflect­ed in its mul­ti-eth­nic pop­u­la­tion and in the four quar­ters of the tru­ly stun­ning Old Town, gives hope that a path towards peace is pos­si­ble, which helps to add fur­ther beau­ty to this tra­di­tion­al, reli­gious and spir­i­tu­al won­der of the world.

Where:

Jerusalem is claimed by both Israel and Pales­tine, although gov­erned and looked after by Israel, and sits in the Judean Moun­tains act­ing as a bor­der between Israel and Pales­tine — in terms of find­ing it the best option is to head from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem using a car or pub­lic trans­port and then enter­ing the old city though one of the 8 gates.

Get­ting there: For those with­out restric­tions, get­ting to Jerusalem is quite easy, with the city being acces­si­ble by bus, taxi or train. The best option for access is to fly into Tel Aviv air­port and either take the high­way direct to Jerusalem, or after a day in two in Tel Aviv, get the bus from the cen­tral bus sta­tion (about 8 shekels) to el Aviv – which should be on either bus 405 or 408.

You also have to option of using the train from Tel Aviv to West Jerusalem but be warned the train is some­what slow – although the scenery is beau­ti­ful, we’d rec­om­mend using the train if this is a one off trip as the scenery on the way can be beau­ti­ful.

Once in Jerusalem, be pre­pared for strict secu­ri­ty mea­sures, met­al detec­tors and pat downs, which will increase depend­ing on where you’ve come from, and giv­en that the old city is 1 km in width you can frel­ly walk along on foot to explore it at your own pace.

In terms of enter­ing the old city, you have the choice of enter­ing, as explores have done over the course of thou­sands of years from one of the fol­low­ing 8 gates, while each is spec­tac­u­lar we’d rec­om­mend the Dam­as­cus gate for it’s his­to­ry and as it’s at the north­ern part of the old city, with taxi drop off points and is the scene of cel­e­bra­tions on Israrl inde­pen­dence day.

The 8 gates from which you can gain entry are:

The Dam­as­cus Gate:- built in 130 CE by the Romans, this gate is at the North of the old City and is also the scene of inde­pen­dence day cel­e­bra­tions.

The Dung Gate – expect bus­es to drop you off here, it’s on the south side and close to the Wail­ing wall (you’ll hear it on approach)

The Herod Gate – on the north side of the old town, fea­tures a house once believed to be the place of King Herods heir.

The Jaf­fa Gate – the busiest gate of them all and com­plete with a taxi rank, it’s near the tow­er of David, we’d advise avoid­ing this one as the crowds are nor­mal­ly large and the secu­ri­ty mea­sures tough.

The New Gate – close to the Chris­t­ian quar­ter, this is a good gate to exit from as it’s close to west Jerusalem.

The St Stephen’s Gate – for those want­i­ng to vis­it the moun­tain of Olives or trek the Via Dolorosa – this is the gate for you, carved out by Chris­tians it also hon­ours the death place of St Stephen – although his man­ner of death is dis­put­ed.

The Tan­ner Gate – only recent­ly open despite Jerusalems age, the tan­ner gate was once home to house of simon tan­ner, who was a friend of the apos­tle Peter.

The Zion Gate – The qui­etest gate, this gate pro­vides access to the Armen­ian gate and reflects the vio­lent his­to­ry of Jerusalem, with mul­ti­ple bul­let holes, scratch­es and carv­ings still etched on the wall.

Best time to Visit:

Between March and May or Sep­tem­ber and Octo­ber are best based on the cli­mate and the tourist sea­sons, how­ev­er for those who want to expe­ri­ence a true Israelis expe­ri­ence in Jerusalem time your vis­it on the sab­bath to see the wail­ing wall prayers or for an even more intense expe­ri­ence dur­ing the Israel inde­pen­dence day cel­e­bra­tions in mid-April when the Dam­as­cus wall comes alive – although be warned shops will be shut dur­ing this peri­od.

Explore:

In attempt to set­tle the ongo­ing and bloody dis­putes which enshrine Jerusalem’s his­to­ry, the city is now divid­ed into two sep­a­rate sec­tions; West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem – with East Jerusalem being divid­ed into 4 sep­a­rate quar­ters; the Jew­ish Quar­ter, the Mus­lim quar­ter, the Armen­ian quar­ter and the Chris­t­ian Quar­ter that make up the famous old city which is sur­round­ed by walls – and which is acces­si­ble by one of the eight gates.

While the divi­sion and struc­ture of the Jerusalem – two halves, with one divid­ed into quar­ters, the city itself is just shy of a kilo­me­tre in width, which is real­ly hand for explor­ing every­thing the his­tor­i­cal and beau­ti­ful holy sites that still stand there, with each quar­ter hav­ing a unique iden­ti­ty and its own spe­cial atmos­phere.

The Jewish Quarter:

The main site to see is the west­ern wall, which is one of the last stand­ing walls of the tem­ple mount from over 2,000 years ago and as allud­ed to in the name was once the west­ern wall of the Tem­ple Mount. Believed to be built by Herod in 20 BC, it also goes by the wail­ing wall – not pri­mar­i­ly because you will see peo­ple chant­i­ng, pray­ing, danc­ing and scream­ing at it — but because it was once a place of pil­grim­age to morn the destruc­tion of the holy Jew­ish tem­ple in 80bc.

For explor­ers, it’s fine to approach the wall as long as you’re respect­ful and for a true buck­et list expe­ri­ence it’s advised to not only say a prayer at it, but place a piece of paper in one of the walls cracks to ask for for­give­ness of your sins.

While those fur­ther inter­est­ed in the wail­ing wall can expe­ri­ence a trip in the remain­ing tun­nels of the tem­ple mount, which still remain from its ear­li­er con­struc­tion, a fur­ther reli­gious expe­ri­ence open to the pub­lic in the Jew­ish quar­ter is a trip to either the Ram­bam Syn­a­gogue (a Medieval syn­a­gogue destroyed in 1540 and rebuilt in 1967, the once destroyed Huvra Syn­o­gogue or the rebuilt Four Sephardic Syn­a­gogues.

Final­ly along­side the wail­ing wall and mul­ti­ple small muse­ums, the Jew­ish quar­ter fea­tures two small squares, the Hur­va Square and the Machase Square, which while being beau­ti­ful are both sad­ly draped in sor­ry his­to­ry, hav­ing been the place of last stands and ulti­mate­ly town down and rebuilt and now offer eat­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and a chance to learn fur­ther about the his­to­ry of Jew­ish set­tle­ments with­in Jerusalem.

The Muslim Quarter:

The Mus­lim quar­ter fea­tures the most strik­ing and arguably beau­ti­ful part of Jerusalem, with the Tem­ple mount (Knows as the holy site to Mus­lims ) which also fea­tures the icon­ic large Gold dome known as the dome of the rock at its peak which is a Islam­ic shrine – from which non Mus­lims are pro­hib­it­ed from enter­ing.

As with all things in Jerusalem the Dome of the rock and the tem­ple Mount have been destroyed and rebuilt on mul­ti­ple occa­sions since its con­struc­tion in 691 CE, with the tem­ple believed to be built over the ruins of the first ever tem­ple (Solomon’s Tem­ple) and the scene of many sig­nif­i­cant reli­gious events for all reli­gions includ­ing being the place where Mohammed ascend­ed to heav­en and Abraham’s sac­ri­fice of his first born — a trip to vis­it the Tem­ple mount is tru­ly a spe­cial and spir­i­tu­al­ty trans­form­ing expe­ri­ence.

The Mus­lim quar­ter is also home to mul­ti­ple mar­kets and Bazaars for those want­i­ng a keep sake and is home to two key catholic sites, the Chapel of the Con­dem­na­tion – where Jesus was put on tri­al by Pon­tius pilot and the Fla­gel­la­tion Monastery where Jesus was tor­tured and beat­en before his cru­ci­fix­ion death. While the l‑Aqsa Mosque, which dates from 701 CE is cur­rent­ly off lim­its to non-Mus­lims, the Mus­lim quar­ter undoubt­ed­ly con­tains a series fo his­tor­i­cal and reli­gious sites that under­line the reli­gious impor­tance of Jerusalem.

The Armenian Quarter:

The small­est and qui­etest of the quar­ters, the Armen­ian quar­ter fea­tures two incred­i­ble mon­u­ments, the first being the cathe­dral of St James which was con­struct­ed in the 12th cen­tu­ry and is the final rest­ing place of St James and the sec­ond being the sacred citadel, which is now a muse­um that tells the his­to­ry of the old city and Jerusalem, which is well worth a vis­it.

The Christian Quarter:

The home of Catholics fea­tures church­es, with the main and most spec­tac­u­lar one being the Church of the Holy Sepul­chre, which is believed to be the place where Jesus was cru­ci­fied, was buried and rose again, an event which rep­re­sent the cor­ner­stone of Chris­t­ian beliefs. Despite this the church is split into mul­ti­ple sec­tion between the var­i­ous Chris­t­ian and catholic groups, each fight­ing for spe­cif­ic areas of the church – so you will see mul­ti­ple chapels, prayer booths and con­fes­sion room as you explore the church.

Along­side the Holy Sepul­chre church, is the church of the Luther­an Redeemer, which fea­tures a nice bell tow­er and the church of the St John the Bap­tist, which is unfor­tu­nate­ly closed to the pub­lic, but which was used in the cru­sades for mul­ti­ple pur­pos­es, includ­ing a hos­pi­tal. For those who are keen to explore Jerusalem from a high­er ele­va­tion, there are a series of steps on St Mark’s Road next to the church of St John the Bap­tist which leads to both the fan­tas­tic court­yard of Khan el-Sul­tan and then to rooftops of the Chris­t­ian quar­ter, which you are able to walk along to explore Jerusalem from the sky.

With­in the Chris­t­ian quar­ter is also the lit­tle known road of Dolorossa, which allows you to walk the way of the sor­rows – the road that Jesus sup­pos­ed­ly took on the route to his cru­ci­fix­ion which ends in the Holy Sepul­cre where he is also believed to be at rest.

While the four quar­ters are all unique and full of life chang­ing spir­i­tu­al mon­u­ments, it’s impor­tant to note that the areas are still dis­put­ed, espe­cial­ly fol­low­ing the six day war between Israel and Jor­dan in 1967 and the con­tro­ver­sy sur­round the west bank set­tle­ment, so it’s advised to absorb both the spir­i­tu­al sites of the area and it’s his­to­ry as well as be on your guard for any events or inci­dents.

Out­side the old city and into the west of Jerusalem, you’ll find a bustling city and a series of embassies, cafes and shops, cen­tred around Ben-Yehu­da Street, along with night­clubs that can make a bit of a noise in the evenings.

You’d also be advised when vis­it­ing Jerusalem to explore the Church of the Dor­mi­tion, believed to be the bur­ial site of Jesus’s mum Mary and the final Tomb of the great King David who con­quered Goliath, even if you’re not a fan of the tales, the church is a fas­ci­nat­ing site with beau­ti­ful arte­facts and tapes­tries.

Final­ly a trip up the mount of Olives (or a taxi ride up it for con­ve­nience is rec­om­mend­ed) with the sun­set view of the old city a tru­ly stun­ning sight and some­thing not to be missed for that per­fect pic­ture, with the trip down also fea­tur­ing fur­ther mosques, church­es and the incred­i­ble Tombs of the Prophets, which is still pre­served from the 5th cen­tu­ry and is the final rest­ing place of revered prophets includ­ing Malachi and hag­gai – for a nice stop on the way down and back into the stun­ning city of Jerusalem.

How long to stay:

As the old city is only a kilo­me­tre in width, and can get very crowd­ed, we’d rec­om­mend spend­ing a few hours explor­ing the old city and it’s var­i­ous sights, with a stop out­side in west Jerusalem for lunch before a trip up the moun­tain of olives – mean­ing a day is a good time to stay in and around Jerusalem, for those lucky enough to be there on a Fri­day be sure to spend extra time at the wail­ing wall as the Sab­bath approach­es – it’s tru­ly an awe­some sight.

Top Tip:

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, the dis­pute that has sur­round Jerusalem for thou­sands of years con­tin­ues to this day, so it’s advised to be on your guard and check offi­cial warn­ing before vis­it­ing the west bank or east Jerusalem – and expect vol­umes of secu­ri­ty when enter­ing. It’s also advised for females to be par­tic­u­lar­ly cau­tious, par­tic­u­lar­ly around large crowds, with sin­gle Pales­tin­ian men banned from enter­ing some sec­tions of Jerusalem in an effort to address mul­ti­ple grop­ing inci­dents and sex­u­al assaults.

For those we are inter­est­ed in a guide, it’s advised to book well in advance, with a top trav­el­ling tip being to explore Jerusalem as an extend­ed day trip which also includes a vis­it to anoth­er unique won­der the Red Sea – and for those with extra time use a trip to Jerusalem as a start­ing point for a trip to Petra.

Cost:

The main sites in Jerusalem, includ­ing the Tem­ple Mount, the wail­ing wall and the church of the nativ­i­ty are all free of entry, although there are of course restric­tions on what you can do based on your reli­gion and nation­al­i­ty. The main costs for vis­it­ing Jerusalem will like­ly be the cost of a bus or Taxi in (expect to pay at least 8 shekels if stay­ing in the area and 30 if vis­it­ing from Tel Aviv) with food, drinks, dona­tions and sou­venirs like­ly to set you back anoth­er 50 shekels dur­ing the course of the day – for those explor­ing Jerusalem with a guid­ed tour, you can expect to pay a fur­ther 80 shekels for a good qual­i­ty guide.

Best photo spot:

While any­where in the Old Town is unique, a shot of the whole city from atop the Mount of Olives – where you can take in the Dome of the Rock, the wail­ing wall and the Dam­as­cus Gate is not only a beau­ti­ful pho­to, but one rich is both beau­ty and his­to­ry.