Jerusalem and Bethlehem

Our first full day in Jerusalem! We had a busy day today, beginning with a visit to the area around the Temple Mount, also known as Mount Moriah. This is the place God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Issac. King David purchased this land from a Jebusite, 3000 years ago. But it wasn’t until King Solomon reigned that the temple was built. It was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. The temple was re-built by Zerubbabel and later enhanced by Herod. But again, it was destroyed, this time by the Romans in 70 AD.

Today, the Temple Mount is occupied by the Muslims because they thought it was a holy spot believing that the prophet Mohammad ascended into heaven there, even though there is no mention of Jerusalem in the Koran.

We had the opportunity to tour the tunnels under the Temple Mount. It was educational learning about the layers upon layers of generations that had built on top of each other. One interesting thing we found out was that one stone weighed 570 tons (jokingly named Albert by Ronin).

We also toured another one of King Herod’s magnificent castles, the Herodium. Herod built it as a government and administrative center, leaving Jerusalem as a religious center. The castle is built on top of a cone shaped mountain. We saw the palace which included a swimming pool and underground tunnels. Herod’s tomb was also found.

We stopped for lunch and shopping in Bethlehem. We were leaving but couldn’t get out because a small car was parked too close so a group of men came out and moved it out of the way! I mean they literally picked up the car and moved it. Our next stop was the Church of the Nativity marking the spot they believe Christ was born.

Before returning to our hotel. Meir drove us past our American Embassy now rightly established in Jerusalem.

Written by Michelle Ware with contributions by Joan Hull