Today I had to don the poncho for the first time, though only briefly. We are docked at Ashdod in the midst of a tangle of cargo ships and towering cranes. The shuttle bus has to weave itys way through mountains of containers on the dock to get us out to the immigration terminal. Fisherman's Island in Brisbane is a breeze compared to here! The day has been warm, but overcast and a few showers. An early start, as we had to complete a face to face interview with Israeli immigration officials to get a landing card; then a thorough security check before we could exit to our tour buses. The run up to Jerusalem took about 80 minutes: Sunday traffic (first working day of the week) was like Sunshine Coast into Brisbane at peak hour.
Our visit started on the Mount of Olives to give us an overview of the Old City across the Kidron Valley. They still try to kid you that some of the olive trees there date back to Christ's time. Down to the Garden of Gethsemane then and the Church of All Nations. Mass was over so we were able to go inside. Bus then took us to the Dung Gate of the Old City from where we visited the Western or Wailing Wall. My little skull cap blew off, leaving me stranded at the wall with my head uncovered, so I had to beat a hurried retreat. We then crossed the Jewish quarter into the Christian quarter and followed the Via Dolorosa. Nothing changed since I was last here. Still narrow passageway lined with shops selling everything; still crowded with pilgrims; still hurrying nuns pushing their way through the throng. Still noisy and smelly as ever (I mean the smells of bakery, butchery, foods of all kinds.)
At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place was sardine packed. The Greeks had Divine Liturgy in full swing, and were making so much noise with their chanting that our guide gave up trying to talk to us via the radio sets we were wearing. We traced the final stations there, but didn't attempt to get into the Tomb as the Greeks had that blocked off for their liturgy. By now hunger was starting to kick in, so we headed out the Jaffa Gate to our bus and were taken to a kibbutz just outside the city where we were served a most marvellous buffet lunch -- all kosher of course.
Then it was on to Bethlehem. At the checkpoint in the notorious dividing wall between Israel and the West Bank we took on a Palestinian guide. Our Jewish guide is not allowed to work inside the Palestinian territory - a nice reversal of the general state of affairs there. We were delayed for nearly ten mintes while a shouting match went on between our guide and security officers. Once that was sorted out, we went up to the Church of the Nativity. The guide knew the workings of the place well: he sneaked us inside the grotto area just before the doors were closed for the Aremenians to have their daily procession through the church. So we did get to see the Star that marks the spot where Christ was believed to be born, and see the manger; then across into the Catholic church of St Catherine that is part of the complex: clean and less crowded. There they have the plastic bambino on show that the Patriarch of Jerusalem carries in procession at midnight Mass on Christmas and places in the manger. World War 3 could start at anytime here or in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre if any of the denominations puts a foot out of place. Hard to know which is worse: Jerusalem or Rome!
The bus trip back to the ship was in pretty heavy rain. The countryside (Judean Desert) is very rugged and steeply terraced. Amazing how they manage to crop areas of it with vineyards, olive groves and vegetables. It was 6 pm by the time we cleared security back onto the ship - so quite a long day.
I've selected some photos that might be of interest. They are here.
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