Our first day full day in Jerusalem started by getting swindled by the Taxi Cab driver. Cab drivers are supposed to turn on their meters (by law) and we assumed the man had done that...but as we arrived we noticed the meter had never been turned on and the driver demanded 30 Shekels. We were told a taxi from our hotel to the Old City was at most 15...but what are you going to do? Cause a scene? Argue in the streets? So we paid twice the fare and headed to this morning's destination....the Western Wall Tunnel tours.
The Western Wall square...which you see in so many pictures....is only a portion of the Western Wall. Many centuries ago, the ravine next to the wall was filled in...to make the ground even. Hence, parts of the wall are buried. When Israel took over this part of Jerusalem after the war, they began excavating a tunnel next to the visible section of the old Wall...looking to uncover/expose more of the old Wall.
This caused problems....and trouble....people living above the tunnel had concerns about their foundations/homes.... the majority of people living next to the wall are Muslims and were concerned about a tunnel being built below them....truly....who wouldn't be concerned if some new government took over your neighborhood and started excavating under your house?
Anyways...they were able to dig a narrow passage next to the wall and with careful foundation supports keep the neighborhood above it from caving in...and hence the tour of the underground section of the Wall began.
The leader of our tour of the underground tunnel was an ex-American who obviously was a wanna-be actress. Head-covered by a scarf and wearing a long skirt....she was the epitome in exaggerated story telling and gestures...it was borderline comic. After a few minutes, I closed my eyes while listening to her and didn't subject myself to her grand arm movements although her voice was still very theatrical.
The tunnel had some incredibly intricate and dynamite models of Old Jerusalem and the Western Wall area underground... so you visually understand what the temple and area looked like through the ages.
If you don't learn this fact...the first 24 hours you are in the Middle East/Jerusalem/Jordan....you will learn this nugget your second 24 hours....everything is built upon everything else....everyone liked the same spots...and many of the same areas are holy to several different people.
The Western Wall is part of a huge wall that holds a mound where Abraham is supposed to have offered his son Isaac up to God. Herod, during Roman Times, built a Jewish Temple there which the Romans destroyed but the area was preserved and built upon again because Muslims venerate Abraham and believe that The Prophet ascended to heaven on that spot too....hence you have an ancient sacred site...which had a sacred site built upon it....and then another scared site built upon it.
All around you ....you find temples and buildings which have been pancaked....it was meaningful in ancient times....remained meaningful and scared with the next group of people who moved there came along. Of course, this is very logical.... in a small desert area people congregate where there is water and shelter......things happen....even holy things happen....and hence many of the same places have long rich histories.
You find pancaking in Rome too....a beautiful site acknowledged as scared has a temple built on it...a new religion enters the life of the people and they say....why knock down that great building?...let's just modify and reuse it. Thanks to pancaking....many of the world's ancient artifacts were saved because other religions used the same buildings rather than going through the expensive building process.
Anyways....the tour underground was amazing....seeing how different layers of the wall were built....seeing various arches that led to the temple area that are now underground ..gives you a tiny glimpse back in history. There is one spot underground...which is even considered very holy....in the Jewish Temple of long ago...the Ark of the Covenant was sheltered and stored there ...the Ark though disappeared before the Romans destroyed the temple.
Some people say the Ark remains buried deep in a side tunnel under the Holy Mosque which is there now...others believe it was taken away and buried somewhere else....if you believe the Ark is still there...then there is a section of underground wall which would be the closest area to where the Ark might be....women (and I don't know why or where the men are) often come down here to pray next to this holy spot.
When we arrived at this spot....the hysterical girl I saw the night before was there! She was swaying and saying prayers in front of the holy spot...although without tears and much more together....there were also a few other women....sitting on white plastic chairs in the background....two of them were completely covered head to toe with scarves and shawls.
I looked at them and thought....hmmmmm....I wonder if one of them is a soldier with a machine gun under her skirt? I'm sure somebody was a guard...but I don't know which one was the soldier or soldiers.
We emerged from the tunnel tour and the actress leader said we would now walk through to the Western Wall square under armed guard. What? And sure enough two soldiers with guns...one in front and one in back of our group marched us down the Via Dolorosa....which if you are Christian...you know is the path that Jesus walked on with the cross towards his crucifixion.
There were all sorts of tourists around and about.... looking at the shops (in the Muslim section). I decided I wasn't going to be marched along...and hub and I slipped quietly into a shop for a cool soda. As we ambled back to the square we must have missed a street and although we ended up in the Western Wall square...we missed the street with the Church I wanted to see.
I had found in some tourist info that there was a church called Our Lady of Spasms...I thought....wow...what a great name....and who is our lady of spasms? my second thought was....if anyone needed to visit a church for spasms it was me...since my hamstring injury was still giving me some trouble. Unfortunately....I missed the church and spasmed for the rest of the day...lol.
We quickly left the square and hoofed down the street because we had another tour lined up at the Tower of David. This enclosure was part of King Herod's castle near the gates to the old city of Jerusalem. We had a great guide....a former lawyer historian from Canada...who filled our brains with so many facts....I could feel neural matter leaking out onto my t-shirt by the time we ended the tour. I was so filled with info from the tunnels and the tower, I told hub I couldn't even walk...because my head was so big through the intense mid-day heat...so we discovered a small cafe in the courtyard of the castle and bought ice cold drinks and sat back quietly and looked around.
King Herod....King Herod's castle...here...right here two thousand years ago...Romans....Jesus....slaves from all over the world...commerce...mystery ...intrigue....all right here...in this court yard I was sipping my ice tea in.....two thousand years ago....King Herod...walking....strolling through this area in Jerusalem so long ago.
Amazing.
