6/4 - 6/10
I tried to get a bunch of representative shots of the old city we spent so much time wandering around. The Jewish quarter seems to have more new buildings up and has the massive square by the wall as a focal point. The Muslim quarter is vibrant, noisy and full of activity, with the off-limits to us golden dome as it's focus. The Christian quarter is completely deserted as apparently lots of rich Christians around the world have bought property there but rarely visit.
This is the lower half, along with a ridiculously huge foundation stone:
So right below your feet as you walk around the city are the buildings, roads and structures that were built ~700 years ago. Go underground, as we did, and you can even see the excavations of the buildings that were built ~2000 years ago, directly underneath the 700 year old tunnels!
The tunnels lead to an underground waterway and cistern.
In order to make the tour a circuit, instead of having people double-back down the narrow tunnels, an exit was made at the other end... into the Muslim quarter. During the riots that followed about 80 people died.
Two escorts met us as we left to shepherd us back to the Western wall and the tour start point. I asked our guide why this was necessary and he said that at the end of one tour he had been pelted with stones before getting back to the safety of the Jewish quarter. The escorts were for him, not us.
Jerusalem has so many layers! This was never more apparent to us than when we took the tour of the Western Wall tunnels. The part of the wall that you can see is only the top half of the original:
So right below your feet as you walk around the city are the buildings, roads and structures that were built ~700 years ago. Go underground, as we did, and you can even see the excavations of the buildings that were built ~2000 years ago, directly underneath the 700 year old tunnels!
The tunnels lead to an underground waterway and cistern.
In order to make the tour a circuit, instead of having people double-back down the narrow tunnels, an exit was made at the other end... into the Muslim quarter. During the riots that followed about 80 people died.
Two escorts met us as we left to shepherd us back to the Western wall and the tour start point. I asked our guide why this was necessary and he said that at the end of one tour he had been pelted with stones before getting back to the safety of the Jewish quarter. The escorts were for him, not us.
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