The public transit system in Jerusalem is awesome.  One card covers everything – bus, train. Light Rail – and  foreign seniors get half fare! Our cards are good for 8 years. There are places everywhere to top them up  and with the help of the Moovit app,  it’s almost impossible to get lost (although we managed to do so a few times).

Using buses in a language which you cannot speak or read is always exciting.  When the drivers bellows at you, he might be saying,  “Dear tourist person, please try to board a little faster” or he might be saying,  “Get on the @#$#@#@  bus before I drive off with you hanging out the door!”  We like to think it’s always the first version!

The following picture is a typical sight on the bus.

Temple Mount was our adventure today. It is only open at very specific short times during the day. We have tried four times to visit and today we were successful. To get there we went over the wooden bridge past the Western Wall.

Looking back from the bridge towards the market and the graveyard.

Temple Mount is known to Muslims as Haram esh- Sharif and is a hill in Jerusalem’s Old City which has religious significance to Jews, Muslims and Christians. Judaism sees it as the Holy of Holies and the site of the First Temple, Muslims as the point from which Muhammed ascended to heaven, and Christians as a place where Christ walked. Temple Mount is under Jordanian authority, but under Israeli security control.  It is one of the most contested religious sites in the world …

and so protected

at all possible entrances.

In the evening we went to the market and enjoyed this dish. Fried cottage cheese with  angel hair pasta and lots of honey.  Delicious!!

It is still surprising to see so many guards with guns and doubly so when they are all female.

Across from where we are staying a display at a market set up for Christmas had these lovely banners with a slogan saying Israel recognizes all religions.

We located all the Stations of the Cross with a downloaded walking tour guide. It was a challenge as many are in the Muslim Quarter and not well highlighted.

A trip to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial) museum was another sobering experience,  however amazingly done and very moving.  Begun in 1953,  it was completely rebuilt in 2005 and now includes many thematic areas as well as a very comprehensive history of the background and events leading to the Holocaust.

The Hall of Names commemorates millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust. No gravestones or cemeteries exist, and so the names here provide a remembrance of the victims for their families and for the world.

A tree was planted for individual persons who assisted Jews during the Holocaust. It is called the Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations.

We lightened the day with a visit to the food market in the centre of Jerusalem.

The Museum of Israel was a lovely feast for our eyes.

I chose the art garden first at it is considered one of the world’s great sculpture gardens.

This model of ancient Jerusalem at its peak in 66 CE, shortly before its destruction by the Romans,  was also a feature in the garden.

A few other highlights of the museum.

One exhibit included examples of a wedding carriage, wedding attire, a dowry and the first night bedroom set up in the family home.

Weaving prayer shawls.

Getting John’s back pack repaired.

The round yellow date bread is delicious.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City houses the place where Jesus was crucified, as well as Jesus’s empty tomb where he was buried then resurrected.

While sitting outside, we saw pilgrims from Russia as well as from Poland.

The tomb of Jesus Christ.

Above the tomb.

Inside the tomb.

After the visitor’s line up was completed these Franciscans took turns going into the tomb.

This little chapel houses the rock that supported Jesus’s head when he lay in the tomb.

Upstairs in the The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Here, as in Turkey, when you light candles for loved ones they are placed in sand and water.

The Western Wall  has survived since the days of King Herod and has been Judaism’s holiest place for two millennia.

The women’s section is separate from the men’s.

In the plaza you see an amazing variety of detail in the traditional dress of the men.

After the Six Day War archeological excavations began across the Jewish Quarter. Jerusalem’s Upper City from the days of  The Second Temple and King Herod was uncovered. Our tour today took us through tunnels under the Western Wall Tunnels which combined history, archeology, interfaith conflicts, and crumpled prayer notes stuffed between the Wall’s crevices.

Our guide standing beside a 2,000 year old column that was part of the city market place.

We have a hard time resisting the treats.

Dec 12 Today we oriented ourselves to the Jerusalem bus system by heading down to the Old City.  Getting there was fine but stopping at a grocery store on our way home turned us totally around so it was a taxi the rest of the way.  The Jewish Quarter has such interesting old winding streets with lots of shops.  People here are so very friendly.

Look at the writing on the wall in  the above photo then a close up below.

The streets have so much character.