Day One - Old City, September 27, 2026
What a full first day! We started at the Western Wall of Temple Mount. This is the week of the festival of tabernacles. A celebration of the harvest and the Exodus. Many Jewish people travel to Jerusalem for this festival and we were privileged to observe their traditions. Songs and prayers and raising of palms, citron (lemon like fruit), Myrtle and willow. At various times priestly blessings are broadcast at the wall. Orthodox Jews of many traditions around the world, in their distinctive dress, are here for the festival and of course many live here.
Passing through security, we walked up the bridge to the Temple Mount for Biblical study on the important events associated with Mount Moriah including the 1st and 2nd temples. During Sukkot, more Jewish groups are allowed up to Mount and were singing as they walked around the area where the temple was.
After exiting Temple Mount, we took a walk along the ridge of the Kidron Valley to get a feel for the topography of ancient and modern Jerusalem and the city of David, turning back in toward Temple Mount at the Davidson archeological center. Here we saw the remnants of the destruction of AD 70 at the south west corner. The southern wall retains original steps that would certainly have been used by Jesus and his disciples - a really overwhelming place to sit and ponder how close we are to the physical realities of our salvation history here! The excavations in the Ophel are right here and we were able to see quite a few examples of ritual purification bathes (mikveh) that dotted the way up to the Temple Mount entrance at the south.
A walk through the Jewish quarter had a Minnesota state fair feel!! So many people celebrating, loud music, outdoor Sukkahs (booths) made for the festival.
We ended at the Church of the holy Sepulcher; a site with tradition and archeological evidence for being the area of Jesus’ crucifixion and empty tomb, originally established in the 300s by Helena the mother of Constantine.
A quick stop to inhale some mold and see a huge ancient cistern, the entrance of which is mindbogglingly from the roof of the church.
Our last stop was the Russian Orthodox Church. Seeing that the beautiful building is right above you is much easier than finding the entrance - which we walked past at least twice before realizing it! There is an excavation inside the church of an arch and wall of the pagan temple Hadrian built over what is now the church of the holy Sepulcher - in an effort to obliterate the memory of the site of crucifixion and resurrection - which completely backfired and preserved these sites.
We had a strange guy trying to show us around here. Poor Barb took on the burden for the group and this fellow had her kneeling on the stone floor praying at various spots until Margery paid him off and told him “no touching - leave!”
By the time we got back to the hotel we had a solid 9 miles of walking in! A very full day for which we are very grateful. Time to sleep! God Bless, PB and Margery
The Western Wall during Sukkot
