Before going to bed last night (and some amount of beer into a nice evening), we reminded ourselves that this isn't just tourism / sightseeing / religious stuff, but indeed, this is vacation. Our first real vacation in some time (if you don't count being surrounded by 34 Laurings, this is the first real vacation Diana and I have had since our honeymoon). So we slept in and almost missed breakfast (again - what's with closing the buffet at 10am?) But we grabbed some cold stuff (still Sabbath, still no cooking), and walked towards the Old City. Specifically, we were headed for the Damascus gate. We missed. There are lots of gates into the Old City and they all get you where you want to be eventually. There are not a lot of (legible) street signs on the way from here to there. So we missed and ended up at the New Gate. A nice gate, but one off from our target. The boring idea of going to Damascus gate on the outside of the walls didn't appeal - I thought we should wander. Diana was less convinced and wanted a map, but I sort of just starting walking. We knew, more or less, what to look for (a gate?), so nothing could go wrong. We wandered lots of little tiny alleys, back streets, main streets covered with markets selling all sorts of things (including ladies' undergarments again - really?). We ultimately found the Damascus gate, but not before siting my falafel friend. Well, smelled it first (the falafel, not the man)... I love falafel, I could write a whole post on the topic (oh, wait...). He asked if we wanted everything on it so I just said yes. Then as he was putting stuff on, I'd say no to things I didn't want - kind of the same as 'everything', right? So it had humus, falafel (4-6 balls - take that, cheap American falafellers who only give 3), 'salad' (cucumber and tomatoes, usually with some olive oil / lemon juice / maybe parsley), tahine, and of course, chips (that's French Fries). We split the first one, loved it, and couldn't wait for more.
We went out the Damascus gate and found what we were looking for in the first place on the way to the city, the Garden Tomb. While many believe the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is on the site of the tomb where they buried Jesus, another option is at the Garden Tomb. Not sure who is right; figure we'll check them all out, just to be safe. Well, by the time we get there of course it is noon - remember everything is closed from noon to 2pm. Everything. Everyone here knows that - that's when it's really hot - why would you want to wander around a courtyard in the full sun? I don't know, but Diana and I just cannot remember that. So we headed back inside the gate (oops - continuity - this is when we actually ate that falafel). We wound down the market to El Wad street (that's Arabic for The Wad), and then turned left on Via Dolorossa. We're taking a full tour of the sites tomorrow, so we'll get into that then. We headed east out the Lion's gate (I'm assuming it's a crusader's gate, by the name).
From there you can head up the Mount of Olives. Mount is short for Mountain - it was a serious hike! At least along the way are some nice sites: we spent some good time among the ancient (2,000+ years) olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, looked in the Church of All Nations, checked out Dominus Flevit (walked past the Church of Mary Magdalene, only open Tuesday and Thursday; Diana renamed it the Golden Onion Dome church), and eventually summited the Mount of Olives. The view is amazing. Jerusalem spreads out in front of you and is much bigger than it felt (indeed, the Old City is geographically tiny next to the city as a whole). I don't know how much outside the Old City we'll see; not out of a lack of interest, but simply a scarcity of time to cover it all. From up there you can see the blockaded "golden gate", the double arched gate that Jesus entered the city and that the Jews' savior will enter through some day; the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque; the city walls and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. You can't see the Wailing Wall (the Western Wall; it was on the other side of the Temple Mount), but we'll get to that Sunday. You aren't supposed to take pictures there on the Sabbath anyway. We tried to get a good panorama shot with the camera; I hope it can begin to do the view justice.
Finally we headed back down the hill, stopped in at a church built on top of a shrine for the site recognized as Mary's Assumption, went in the city the way we came out and headed for Damascus gate. I told Diana it was because that was the way we knew, but it was really because that was the falafel I knew. We grabbed two more from our friend (this time mine had pickles!) - oh and they're only 6 NIS each, that's less than $2! - and found a shaded spot to eat. It was after 5pm, but the sun was still quite hot. Finally having my fill of falafel (for the day), we went to our hotel for a rest.
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