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LeatherandLace Travel Blog - Not all who wander are lost

  • Thread starter DeletedUser13231
  • Start date

DeletedUser13231

After the Jordan River the guide drove back to Tel Aviv to drop us all off. Those of us staying in Jerusalem had to do the bus switcheroo again and get on one with a Palestinian driver.

It was late by the time I got back to my hotel but rather than head straight to my room I ordered a drink from the hotel bar and took it outside to enjoy it on the smoking veranda with a few cigarettes (yes I smoke..I know..bad habit..lol).

Halfway into my drink a lady from the UK sat down at my table to share my ashtray and we struck up a conversation. My plans for the next day were originally set to go to the Dead Sea until I heard what she had to say. A traveling companion of hers spent the day at the Dead Sea swimming in it and ended up acquiring a very nasty infection that was so bad she had to take him to the hospital there in Jerusalem where they admitted him. I nixed the Dead Sea off of my itinerary right then and there....being unemployed with no health insurance to speak of I can't afford to get sick. The Jordan River was bad enough and a big enough risk...I wasn't taking this one.

So I figured well...I could do the Garden Tomb the next day and the old city again. I had way too many sheckels left out of what I had brought with me that I needed to get rid of so I thought I'd do some more shopping.

It was beginning to get very cold in the evenings and windy. After I finished my drink and a few cigs I went back to my room and called it a day.
 

DeletedUser13231

Day 6 - Thursday - Nov 6

Found out over coffee in my room while reading the online news that there were Palestinian - Israeli clashes the day prior in Jerusalem while I had been touring the north. People were injured and killed during it. It happened only a few blocks from my hotel. Next thing I know I'm getting emails from worried family members back in the states wanting to know if everything's okay.

I wasn't sure how the day would go due to this but I was bound and determined to make the most out of my remaining days of my trip. I just had to be a lot more mindful of what was going on around me within my vicinity and try to side-step any potential problems.

So I went outside to have another cup of coffee and to smoke while waiting for the sun to come up to start the day.

An hour or so later I headed to the Garden Tomb. It was only a short walk downhill from the hotel. When I got there it wasn't open yet so I patiently stood outside the gate...listened to my Ipod music..and smoked a few cigarettes while waiting for the green doors to be unlocked and open.

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DeletedUser13231

Fortunately I got there early enough to where there were very few people there besides me.

The garden tomb is amazing! This is where the Shroud of Turin was found and is believed to have been the burial tomb of Jesus Christ. The tomb was on the property belonging to the wealthy Joseph of Aramethae. Archaeological digs found Joseph's wine press nearby..within feet..of the tomb.

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Part of Joseph's property unearthed near the tomb:

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Inside the tomb:

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There is a white wrought iron locked gate inside the tomb that prevents physically touching the above stone slab area where Christ's body would have lain and painted on the wall in red above the slab is an insignia:

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Another pic of the exterior of the tomb:

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The garden area around the tomb:

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- - - Updated - - -

After spending some quite time exploring the Garden Tomb and surrounding gardens I decided to head down the street on foot to the Damascus gate of the old city. It was a short walk of only a few blocks in the Muslim neighborhood of East Jerusalem...

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Off in the distance in the center of the photo you can see the towering wall of the old city coming into view:

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Coming to the intersection to cross the street to get to the Damascus Gate which is located to the right in the photo on the other side of the road...the stairs to the gate lead down:

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DeletedUser13231

The Damascus gate enters into the Muslim Quarter of the old city. Usually by this time of day the shops are open for business with shopkeepers setting out their wares to sell while throngs of tour groups begin to show up. Not so on this day.

The old city was like a ghost town. Nothing was open and there were hardly any tourists at all. The streets inside the old city had few if any people on them. Those who were there were trying to quickly find the nearest way out of the old city.

I stopped dead in my tracks...chills went across my body and my blood ran cold when the realization dawned on me that something was going on and I might not be in a very good place. Red flags were all over my instinctual radar. The thought "Danger Will Robinson...Danger!" came to mind.

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So I made a quick beeline on foot towards the Jaffa Gate area to see what was going on there...that maybe I was mistaken and the normalcy was just a little delayed that morning...that the morning surely would be okay.

I was wrong...the Jaffa Gate area was locked up tight...nothing open...

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It was eerie...it was so quiet...hardly anyone around:

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In the photo directly above you can see St Georges tower to the left.

So I headed along another street to see how things were there...still eerily vacant for the most part....

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By this time I'm really beginning to feel tense...what the heck was up!! I had no clue..so I headed down another street where I found one shopkeeper who appeared to be opening up for the day. I sort of breathed a sigh of relief..thinking okay..so maybe things are just delayed...

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But it was not to be. I headed into the Muslim Quarter again to scope out the streets there. I came across a couple young Palestinians who were hanging outside a family shop and I stopped and asked them what was going on figuring if anyone knew they surely would.

They told me that the Palestinians were on strike due to the killing of a Palestinian the day before by Israeli forces. They said the entire old city..with the exception of the Jewish Quarter...was closed for the entire day. I was thinking they have got to be kidding...not to sound self-absorbed or anything but I was starving at the time having not had anything to eat since the day prior and I had planned to eat there in the old city. No such luck.

So I stood and chatted with these friendly young Palestinians who seemed eager to speak with an American. They seemed like nice kids (kids to me compared to my age). They wanted me to take their photo and begged me to so I obliged :) They kept saying 'America is cool!' 'America is great!'
lol. I'm always up for making new friends no matter where they are from plus they really eased my anxiety and lightened my mood...

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DeletedUser13231

After hanging out with them for a while my tension was gone and I felt secure enough to just take advantage of the fact there were hardly any tourists to have to dodge and use this opportunity to explore in the middle of the peace and quiet. So I grabbed a protein bar out of my backpack to stave off the hunger pangs and went wandering around. I really thought things were going to be okay...

..until suddenly my eyes started to burn and water and my nose started to burn and run and my throat started to burn and felt like it was starting to close up. I thought I was getting sick...it felt like a massive weird cold had just hit me out of the blue. It was awful! My first thought was oh no..I can't be getting sick now...not now!!

I waited a while but it wouldn't go away or let up so I headed to where I thought I could catch a taxi but there were none in their usual parking spots. So I headed back to the hotel on foot up the street past the Garden Tomb. On the way back something just didn't seem right. I was getting some very odd feelings that something was very very wrong. I passed St Georges Cathedral and a man quickly cracked the door open to peek outside to see who was passing by and then hurriedly closed the door when he saw I was harmless. That bothered me. It bothered me too that now there was no one but me out on the street. I decided to pick up the pace and walked faster. Off in the distance I began to hear loud reports of either firecrackers or gunshots...I didn't know which. I rounded the corner to my hotel and snapped the next photo just outside the entrance to my hotel....

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I quickly headed up to my room where I stayed for the rest of the day after learning that tear gas that had been thrown by Israeli forces at rock throwing Palestinians was what was responsible for my burning eyes nose and throat. That evening all hell broke loose in Jerusalem near the old city and over 3000 Israeli forces were deployed in and around the old city nearby. It was not a night for anyone to be out and about for any reason. Later that evening I stepped outside to smoke and heard firecrackers and mayhem happening not far away. Billows of smoke were rising between some of the buildings off in the distance.

I went back to my room and prayed for peace.

I had hoped the next day would be better.
 
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DeletedUser13231

Day 7 - Friday - Nov 7

The next morning while waiting for my water kettle to boil for coffee I went online to see the news. It was not good and was not expected to get any better. I took my coffee outside to sit and mull over what I was going to do that day...my final day in Israel before flying out the following morning. I didn't want it to be wasted. By this time my nerves had me chain-smoking.

I finally told myself ..look..I've come this far..I've dealt with worse..I'm strong..God is with me..I'm smart...I'm American...and if anyone messes with me..well..I feel sorry for them not me. So I 'pulled up my bootstraps' so to speak...sucked it up...and hailed a taxi.

The Palestinian taxi driver informed me that the old city was not safe that morning and for me to not even think about going there...something else was going to happen but he wouldn't elaborate. So I said okay..where is it safe for me to go then. He turned the car around and headed to Bethlehem...I was like 'What!! Bethlehem is one of the roughest neighborhoods in the country!!' He assured me that I would be fine and that he would show me the 'real' Bethlehem..the Bethlehem that tourists don't get to see. I knew I was in good hands as I had used this driver before earlier in the week..he is a good hearted guy.

So off to Bethlehem we went but this time I did not have to get out and walk through the security wall checkpoint...he went a different and more direct route.

Bethlehem is only a couple of miles from Jerusalem..it's very close. It wasn't long and we were pulling up to what appeared to be a very very old part of the city. According to the driver he said that this was the oldest part of the city where the walls and buildings are from the ancient Roman days. I had never seen this section of Bethlehem before and wasn't aware it existed until then. It was awesome!
 
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DeletedUser13231

I'm going to finish up the blog on this trip here. Much of where I went and what I saw later in the day I really don't feel comfortable talking about in this forum..too political in part..too emotionally painful in part as well. I flew out the next morning..Saturday Nov 8th and arrived stateside in the afternoon of the 9th.

There were a few places I did not get to see on this trip due to current circumstances in the region. I stayed away from Hebron..side-stepped the Western Wall and Mt of Olives...chose not to go to the Dead Sea...lost interest in Massada...and there were a few other places I skipped. It is doubtful I will ever return. I've been to Hebron..the Western Wall..and the Mt of Olives before in 2010 so that wasn't much of a loss.

All in all it was a fairly eventful trip and I did get to experience a lot as those who've read this blog up to this point have seen. This time around I made some pretty cool friends who I plan on keeping in touch with and will always remember and hold dear to my heart the wonderful people I met who made this trip the awesome trip that it was! May God bless those people and keep them forever safe!

Now I'm busy planning my next major challenge...walking the Camino de Santiago next year from France..across the Pyrenees..and across Spain to Santiago de Compostella :)

"You don't choose your life...you live one" Emilio Estevez in 'The Way'

Please feel free to comment or ask questions - it's meant to share!

God Bless! :)

LeatherandLace
 

DeletedUser8796

Thanks for sharing it was neat to see and learn a bit i hope the rest of your travels go well :)
 
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