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| One of my favorite shots of the interior of The Church of Holy Sepulchre |
You don’t need to be religious to visit Jerusalem. And you
don’t need to understand history all at once. To be honest, when my friends
told me that we are to travel Jerusalem, the first thing that came up to me is
the travel insurance because my insurance coverage is about to end anytime that
week (I end up purchasing one for 99 dirhams, eventually). Later did I realized
that this is the land of architecture and beauty, history and mystery for many.
Inevitably, Jerusalem does not attract only the believers but any tourists with
or without tour guides! So where is Jerusalem, ICYMI:
The flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv took us about 3 hours.
Then from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem via taxi took us about an hour.
Anyway, the first itinerary was The Garden Tomb to which while
exploring we had some talks and exchanging of opinions of what we know about
the holy place. We forgot that we have to be deliberately quiet, in short,
respectful because the rules says so. We travelled without a tour guide but two
of my friends visited once last year, so they took the initiative.
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| Look, there's grapes! |
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| A photo opt prior to entering the tomb. |
The second itinerary for the day, almost lunch time, was at
the Old City where thousands (or millions?) do a religious pilgrimage yearly
for over a century.
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| The Legendary Gate |
The Old City is still surrounded by fortification walls and
apparently sprawled as well of “suk” or souq (Arabic word for market) from
eateries and religious souvenirs, arts and paintings, pots and spices,
ceramics, traditional and non-traditional clothes, carpets to the trending
gadgets and accessories. It wasn’t bad at all, in my opinion. The history is
unbroken and still very much respected. It’s just that, people needs to live
and a market at this tourist-ladened place will simply generate profit.
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| Common souvenirs around the place |
I captured a lot of interesting architecture (and arts that
I think others overlooked) while touring by endless walking and rummaging
through slopes and steps here and there. My feet were screaming and hot even
with my white Adidas ultraboost on. Good thing I carried a sliders to loosen up
my burning feet but didn’t help that much too.
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| Random pointed archway |
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| Carpet for sale at one of the Stations of the Cross |
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| Photo opt while resting my tired feet |
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| Jesus touched this stone on his way to crucifixion |
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| Buttresses to act as adequate bracing |
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| Interesting architectural feature at some streets of the Old City |
These pathways are either sloping or sloping with steps as well, so imagine how
Jesus Christ went through while carrying a solid wood cross that’s certainly heavier
than him.
One of the many memorable experience happened at the Church of Holy Sepulchre; where it is considered to be the holiest site for
Christians. This church is built on the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion
and burial.
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| The Romanesque details |
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| View from the entrance after the market place |
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| Some carvings on the wall. |
The slab of stone placed inside the church, a few meters
away from the entrance, by local tradition, Jesus’ body was laid and prepared
for burial.
A friend asked if the rock has a scent because some people
apparently claiming that it possesses something that’s miraculous.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t detect any type of fragrance. But I was able to
take a picture of it closely.
Believers would leave letters of prayers and would let their cloths (or towels, handkerchiefs) touched by the marble slab (approximately 3 x 6 ft.) as it is said to be miraculous. People believes in miracles and miracles are the way people see God touching their lives.The next upper area of the Church is the place where a piece
of Jesus’ cross was believed to be found. Accordingly, after some minutes of
wild queue I was able to touch the spot and whispered a quick prayer. It was indeed
some seconds of joy of a lifetime! Though as usual, we cannot take time because
of the people herding all over the place.
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| Hanging vigil lamps are all over the the church |
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| A photo opt after touching the spot. Thank you Lord! |
After a day of tour, we splurged of just about anything our baggage can carry back to Dubai (bound to the Philippines, as well). I purchased a couple of souvenirs, pack of rosaries and whatnot. I would have a part 3 of this blog soon about our tour to Gethsemane. For now, please visit the Part 1 and my Instagram for reels and more. XX
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