Thursday, June 20, 2019

Holy Land Tour 2019 (Day 5-6)

Here are clips I took from day 5 and 6 of our vacation.

Day 5:
It's the most relaxing day in our trip and the last day in Nazareth. Our tour director was really nice. She rearranged our itinerary to fit the time of day, traffic, and whether there are a lot of tourists in our destination. Because of that, we were able to go to places outside our itinerary. After buying ice cream for all of us, we went to Jericho and saw the Mt. of Temptation. There were kids giving camel rides to tourists for a fee. Brief stop to see the mountain, buy dried dates from the local shop and then headed out. We also saw the oldest Sycamore tree, believed to be Zacchaeus's tree.

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Our next stop was in Palestine, so we crossed the Israel-Palestine border wall to get to Bethlehem. The Church of Nativity is built on the cave where Joseph and Mary stayed and where Jesus was born. Our main goal is to see the grotto of the nativity where Jesus was born, marked by a 14-point star and the manger across from it. Usually, there would be a long line here with all the tourists, but we got lucky and only waited about 30 minutes in line. After that, we headed to our hotel in Jerusalem.

Day 6:

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This was a full day. We went to the observation point at Mt. of Olives to see the Old City of Jerusalem. Afterwards, we went inside the Old City starting with the Muslim Quarter to see Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock on Temple Mount. We walked the streets towards the Jewish Quarter for the Wailing Wall (the Western Wall). Walked the streets again towards the Christian Quarter to walk the Via Dolorosa (Way of the Cross) where Jesus carried the cross to Calvary (Golgotha) for the Crucifixion.

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We started at the 1st Station of the Cross in Via Dolorosa all the way to the 8th station of the cross. The 9th Station is inside a church and they don't allow tourists inside. The last 5 stations are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was our next destination after lunch. Saw the rock on Calvary encased in glass, the Stone of the Anointing, the tomb of Jesus, the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea and the prison of Jesus inside. Heading to our bus, we saw the Tower of David.

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We went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed before he was arrested. Went inside the Church of Gethsemane as well. Our last stop for the day is at Mt. Zion to see the Last Supper Room and King David's Tomb.



To be continued...

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