Tower of David and King David’s Tomb: Week 5 / Day 30 / Feb 9
Jerusalem, Israel: Heading out this morning, I was taken aback at how deserted things were. Dealing with first things first, I had to walk over a half a mile to find someplace that was open to buy coffee. Needless to say, it was crowded with other non-Jews looking for their caffeine fix. In addition to all of the shops being closed, the streets were also deserted.
Although clearly some people are present, the pedestrian traffic is about 1% of the rest of the week and all public transit (light rail and busses) is shut down. If you’ve ever wondered what a post-apocalyptic landscape in which 99% of humanity disappears would look like, come to Jerusalem on the sabbath.
One benefit of everyone being gone and all of the market stalls being closed, is I had the opportunity to look more carefully at many of the market doors that are usually rolled up or obscured by goods.
Many of the doors within the Mahane Yehuda market have been painted by the artist Solomon Souza. They are much more interesting than the bare or poorly graffitted doors seen elsewhere.
Even though the streets were empty, the cats were still out in full force.
After passing through Jaffa Gate things became a lot busier. I first stopped by Christ Church Jerusalem.
This was the first protestant church within the city built in 1849. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures of the interior as worship services were going on. One of the interesting things about this church is that it does not look at all like a Christian church on the interior. There is a not a cross nor crucifix to be found anywhere – well, except one stylized one that is a tree with a cross-member on it. Instead, there are carvings of the Torah, menorahs, and other Jewish symbols. This church was originally built to proselytize to Jews and they did not want to scare away their target audience. However, there were times at which synagogues were getting destroyed in the Old City that they put a large cross out front just to be on the safe side.
Directly across from the church is the Tower of David or Citadel of Jerusalem. Having been built and destroyed repeatedly over the last two thousand years, the complex is very interesting to visit.
The top of the main tower provides very nice panoramic views of the entire city.
Originally fortified in the eighth century BC by King Hezekiah, the fort has been overrun and built upon by the Romans, Byzantines, Muslims, Crusaders, Mamluks and Ottomans. The various components and time periods blend together into the citadel seen today.
Continuing the theme of King David, I headed out of the city walls and to his tomb just beyond the Zion Gate. Pictures are not allowed within the tomb room itself unfortunately. However, this site has only been held to be the tomb of King David since the 12th century, so, there may be some softness in that claim.
Building upon that claim of King David’s Tomb, the upper room of the structure would then be where Jesus and his disciples had the Last Supper. Also, this room would be where the events of Pentecost took place.
I went back by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on my way towards the apartment.
While I got excited for a moment when I saw some Orthodox priests pushing people out of the way so their tour group could get through, sadly, none of the other orders present fought back.
