Israel and Africa

 After taking a nap and eating an early dinner, I decided to walk back to the old city to check out Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is not as busy after 6 pm. It is the most holy Christian spot in the world. Its history began in the fourth century, when the Bishop of the Christian community of Jerusalem discovered a tomb that has since become almost universally accepted as the burial place of Christ. I was still in a queue for an hour or more to enter the tiny tomb chamber.  Today, it is shared by several Christian denominations, including the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic churches. I ran into a service on site. “The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a complex building that includes several chapels, each with its own religious significance. The most important of these chapels is the Tomb of Christ, which is believed to be the site where Jesus was buried and resurrected. The church also contains the Stone of Unction, where Jesus’ body was anointed befo...

 Since there was still time, I spontaneously picked City of David National Park to visit. The City of David water tunnels tour is interesting. The tour lasts around 2 hours and starts with a description of the City of David. It culminates in a 25 minute walk through the water channel cut to bring fresh water into Jerusalem from a nearby spring. Sandals and a torch are required, but I had neither. The water is ankle deep for most of the tour, but some section up to knee high. I was lucky to follow a German mother and daughter who had a headlamp, and I just took off my socks to walk in my trail runner. I was pretty exhausted after the wet tunnel walk, yet I took the wrong way and got into the dry tunnel to get back to the visitor center. However, when taking my lunch break, I realized that I missed the Shiloah Pool. I asked the staff the way to go down on the road instead of the tunnel, but then was told the Pool dried out a few years back. What a drag! I then had to walk uphill back...

 I walked from Temple Mount to Mount of Olives which houses Maria's Tomb, The Ascension Chapel, Domini Flevit Church, Church of All Nations, Tombs of the Prophets, Jewish Cemetery, Pater Noster Church, The Muscoviya, The Tomb of Lazarus, etc. There were tour buses and groups all over the place.

 I ate free breakfast at the hostel around 7 am, so I can walked to the entrance of Temple Mount by 8 am to avoid the crowds. Temple Mount is the third most important site in Islam (and the most important in Judaism), and it is a showcase for Islamic architecture and design from the Umayyad to Ottoman times. The site has 35 acres of fountains, gardens, buildings and domes, the Temple Mount houses many Islamic landmarks which only accessible by Muslims. By the way, I downloaded the free official Jerusalem video guide, which will provide offline guiding based on my phone GPS location.