Mount of Olives to Bethlehem

We had another very full day here in Jerusalem. In the morning we left the hotel and watched as Badi (our driver) somehow managed to manoeuvre our bus backwards our of the congestion around the hotel and back onto the road. Absolutely amazing! Our first stop was to the top of Mount Scopus where Samir pointed out the various sites from high above Jerusalem. We took many pictures, then made our way to the Mount of Olives, and the Alesma Church – the Church of the Lord’s Prayer. Inside the crypt we all sang the Lord’s Prayer together. It was a very spiritual moment. We then wandered around the complex for a while taking pictures and finally locating the English words to the Lord’s prayer. Prior to that we found many other renditions including Cree.
We then walked down the hill and up to the top of the mountain where we had a group picture taken overlooking the city. It was a bit of a challenge as there were many other groups doing the same thing, and we tended to get in each other’s way.
We then continued our walk down a wall lined pathway to a Necropolis which contains the bones of many Christians who died outside the city, but wanted to have their remains moved to Jerusalem. This is a recent addition as they were only recently discovered after some heavy rain.
We continued down the hill to the Dominus Flevit Church, a lovely spot – again overlooking the city. There was a service going on within the church, so we remained outside.
Our next stop as we continued down the hill was the Garden of Gethsemane with its ancient olive trees which still produce new shoots and olives every year. The church located within the garden, and houses the rock on which Jesus prayed is a beautiful structure both inside and out.
We then drove through Jerusalem, near to the parliament buildings where we took some time in the Shrine of the Book Museum. There were two important parts to this facility. The first was the scale model of the old city which is located in a large area just after we entered the museum. The next stop was an amazing building as seen here, that houses exhibits relating to the Dead Sea Scrolls. There is a sense of going down into a cave which is where they were found, and most likely written by devoted religious individuals. The scrolls themselves are kept in deep crypts in special facilities which are not accessible due to their value.
Next stop was back to the Christmas Tree Restaurant for a quick lunch, then onto our Bethlehem sites. The first site was the Church of the Nativity. We waited in line for a long time, but eventually worked our way down by the crypt which houses a marble representation of the manger. Then onto the Catholic part on the left side of the church (where Christmas services are broadcast from annually) and into the area of caves under the church. This included the Grotto of St Jerome.
Our final stop in Bethlehem was the Shepherd’s fields on which of course a church is built. Some sang a few Christmas Carols on our way up. Here we also saw the sort of cave the Shepherds might have lived in at the time of Jesus birth. We also made a stop at the Canadian contribution - this lovely chapel.
Then a few minutes to shop at a Fair Trade Co-op Store, then back to our hotel to prepare for dinner and the folk show that several of us will be attending tonight. The Folk show was really great and a few—including our hosts had the chance to try a bit of Folk dancing with the dancers. Then we took a brief tour up Mt Scopus to see the city lights.
And now as we think of Remembrance day - Tuesday—I thought this “Dove of Peace” brings a stronger message than any others. Let us all work towards a better understanding of each other.