We began our day at the Garden Tomb where some believe Christ was intombed.
It was a lovely place, peaceful and serene, but as our guide said maybe not his tomb.
The Garden surrounding the area was lovely.
The area by the cave is where they think Jesus was crucified. This was all within the area of the Garden Tomb.
We next traveled to Mount Zion in Jerusalem to The Cenacle, dining room in Latin, which is the upper room traditionally known to be the site of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus had with his disciples. According to our guide, this is very unlikely and what most likely took place was that Jesus said to look for a man who is carrying a pitcher of water. Since women usually carried the water, the most likely man who carried water would be a monk or Essene Jew like those in Qumran. A sect was within the old city of Jerusalem and that is probably where the last supper was held.
Zion Gate, a historic gate of the old city of Jerusalem was built in July 1540.
During the nineteenth century, a leper colony, slaughter house and livestock market were located in this vicinity until they were torn down under British rule.
For lunch we traveled to a Bedouin camp where some of our crew went for camel rides. Our friends, Sandy and Scott were up for a ride!
The story of Abraham unfolded as we ate at his table. I have to say the hummus in Israel is amazing.
In the afternoon we headed back to Jerusalem and walked the Via Delarosa, which was the path that Jesus walked toward his crucifixion.
Our final stop was at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which contains two holy sites- one where Jesus was crucified and one where he was intombed.
People were kneeling down and kissing a slab of marble on which they believe Jesus was readied for burial.
The cave in which Jesus was intombed was inside the church. Our tour guide went inside but would not allow us to go inside stating it wasn’t safe.
This is part of the church. It was very crowded with the exception of this section.
After our visit at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we headed back to the hotel. Tired but happy! Our tour is over but Bruce and I head to Dubai tomorrow!
#churchoftheholysepulchre#jerusalem#viadelarosa#mountzion#zionsgate#israel#gardentomb
thefouramigosblog 