Dome of the Shrine of the Book with
the Knesset (Parliament)
building in the Background.
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Day 6 - Sunday 15 A more restful day started with a service of Holy Communion in the beautiful Anglican Cathedral of St George in Jerusalem. Our guide had left us to our own devices today and so in the afternoon we set off to visit The Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum. The Shrine contains the Dead Sea Scrolls and the building itself is constructed in the shape of the lid of one of the earthenware jars in which the scrolls were found. The white dome contrasts with a nearby black basalt wall symbolising the battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness, between Good and Evil. |
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Dome of the Shrine of the Book with
the Knesset (Parliament)
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| Following a frantic search for a number 29 bus we then visited a fascinating 1:50 scale model of Jerusalem, as it would have been at the time of the Second Temple. This proved to be very useful in putting the location of buildings and sites mentioned in the Holy Gospel into perspective. |
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1:50 Scale Model
of the Second
Temple in Jerusalem |
Model of Antonia Fortress,
the Temple, |
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Day 7 - Monday 16 A memorable day primarily because the city, and indeed most of the Middle East, had been hit by a sandstorm during the night. Looking out of our hotel in the morning, everything was covered in a yellow haze. Still, it was our last day in Jerusalem and we certainly weren't going to waste any of it by staying indoors. As this was also another "free day" we split into two or three groups, wrapped scarves around our mouths to keep the sand out, and ventured forth. |
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One group returned for a final look around the Old City and took in a tour of the Tower of David Museum - a fascinating place which sets out the history of Israel from Abraham, through rule under Saul and King David, the Hasmoneans, the Romans, the Persians, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, British etc up to the present day (the museum café also does very nice apple pie). The same intrepid group then went down into the Kidron Valley in search of (and found) Absalom's Pillar and the tomb of Zacharia. On the way back to our hotel we passed one of the other groups en route to the Gihon Spring and Hezekiah's tunnel.
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That evening, tales of the day's events were exchanged over dinner. Some of our people had viewed the famous stained-glass windows by Marc Chagal in the Synagogue of the Hadassah Hospital. Others had been deeply moved by their visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum. The Chagal Windows |
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Day 8 - Tuesday 17 Leaving Jerusalem our coach descended once more down into the Jordan valley before heading north past The Mount of Temptation and on to Jericho. The oasis-like setting of the city itself provided a reminder of how important a place it would have been in ancient times as did the ruins of the Tel (a man-made hill). Jericho |
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