The Mount of Olives
taken from in front of the Eastern Gate
The Eastern Gateup close and personal
St. Mary Magdalene Church
Jerusalem from inside the Chapel
Jewish Cemetery on the Mount of Olives
Absalom's Tomb
Bnei Hezir's Tomb (left)
Zecheriah's Tomb (right)
On our day off this week (Tuesday) we walked out the Lion's Gate and up the Mount of Olives. We visited Gethsemane and the church of Mary Magdalene (Russian Orthodox) with the beautiful golden onion domes.
St. Mary Magdalene Church
We also went to Dominus Flevit Chapel where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. It is a steep ascent up. Then we started walking down and came upon a funeral in the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
Jerusalem from inside the ChapelJewish Cemetery on the Mount of OlivesWe walked down into the Valley. Went to the tombs of Zechariah, Absalom and Bnei Hezir in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Then we walked back up from the valley and through the Moslem cemetery to the Eastern Gate up close. While walking out a funeral procession passed us. We stopped for lunch at the Austrian Hospice, a guest house in the Old City, and then walked the Via Dolorosa (the way of the cross) to visit a friend in a shop. In case you wonder, Jesus and the disciples must have been very fit! We kept thinking, as we went up the Via Dolorosa, that Jesus did this after a scourging.
Absalom's TombBnei Hezir's Tomb (left)Zecheriah's Tomb (right)
It is great fun for us to be able to leisurely visit places and reflect on the life and times of Jerusalem in the first century. How exciting to be in the city of our LORD!
1 comment:
I have been catching up on all your adventures and am feeling like "wow! You guys get to see all these wonderful places!" It must be amazing! I'm going to make sure Zack see's the picture of the tomb of the man he was named after. Very neat!
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