Jerusalem, Israel

With still nine days left before our friends arrive to meet us in Egypt, we had no where to go and decided to head westward to Israel. After 4.5 hours at the border crossing and an intense interrogation by Israeli border patrol, we were happy when we were called to receive our stamped passports. We caught the first available bus to Jerusalem from the border and as crested the Mount of Olives we were surprised to see a much different middle east than we had so far experienced. Jerusalem is a beautiful city. The fully walled old city is surrounded by modern architecture, lush gardens and a wonderful "new city" which is newly built yet holds to the style and tradition of the old stone walled Jerusalem. It's a fantastic blend of modern and antiquity. We headed into the old city via the Damascus gate on the north side of the city. The gate opens into the Muslim quarter of the city and we immediately found ourselves in a fantastic marketplace with narrow streets snaking off in all directions. We managed to navigate our way through the streets to the tourist office in search of a place to store our bags for the day. We had found a fellow traveler on couchsurfing.com who was willing to put us up for a couple nights (seeing as Israel is very expensive! More so than Canada) but had to wait till he was home from University at 9:30pm. We found a hostel willing to keep our bags for the day and decided to catch the "free tour" of the old city. It turned out to be a very good idea. Jerusalem is a city with so much history hidden in every corner and every stone that to walk the old city without some guidance would mean missing some of the best stuff. The old town is separated into 4 quarters. The Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Armenian quarter. Each quarter is very unique to its people and is filled with all sorts of important religious and historically significant sights. From the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre constructed on the site of Jesus's crucifixion and tomb, to the Dome of the Rock in the Muslim quarter where Mohammed ascended into heaven, to the Coenaculum just outside the Armenian quarter and the site of the last supper, followed by the Wailing Wall in the Jewish quarter where the faithful still come to offer prayers and mourn the fall of the second temple. Jerusalem truly is the city of God, or at least the city of religion. Each church, tomb, mosque, and synagogue is constructed with elaborate architecture and fabulously decorated with mosaics, gold leaf and beautiful paintings. There was so much to see it is impossible to name it all. We spent two wonderful days touring the old town and walking up into the trendy new town for supper and a visit to the central market. In the evening we caught the sound and light show about the history of the city at the Crusader's Citadel. The show was spectacular!
The only thing to put a damper on the days was our lack of knowledge about all the sights. In the church of the Sepulchre, (which is a massive building containing 4 different churches the catholic, greek orthodox, Armenian and the Coptic church) we spent almost an hour looking at and taking photos of the different areas of the church where people stopped to take photographs and say prayers. The only difference between us and these other tourists were we had no idea what we were taking a photograph of. Most of the time was spent trying to listen in to the tour guides as they passed by with their groups of tourists in tow. At one point Jeff turned around to find Anelia standing in line to an ornately decorated room. "Watcha doin?" Jeff asked. "Standing in line" said Anelia.
"For what" asked Jeff.
"I don't know" said Anelia feeling a bit sheepish.
"Neither do I" said the lady behind her, instantly making us feel less like impostors.
"I believe it's the site of the tomb of Jesus" the lady in front informed us.
" Oh good," said Jeff, stepping in to line. Well seriously, you'd think they'd put a big neon sign or something to let you know what you looking at!
Anyways, for not being very religious ourselves and feeling a little unsure about what to expect we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed out time in the delightful city of Jerusalem.

Pictures:
1- Havla in the market place. Yummy!
2- Old city street
3- Stage 9 on Via Delorosa (The path of Jesus carrying cross)
4- Russian Orthodox Monastery
5- Dome of the Rock
6- Crusader's citadel
7- Jewish men discussing the Torah
8- Anelia in Sepulchre