For our last day at the port of Ashdod, we took a tour to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Our first stop of the day was in Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity. This is where some believe that Jesus was born. At this site and many other places we went through throughout this tour churches will built over these religious sites to try and help protect the place. It did make it hard, however the feel what it must have been like in the time of the Savior.
After seeing a little in Bethlehem, we went back to Jerusalem and walked along and saw some of the other religious sites in this area. For lunch we branched out a lot and had pizza. It did have green olives on it so I think that makes it more authentic - right?
Like the churches built over some important sites in religious history, the path that the Savior carried the cross was also a little hard to envision as there were shops lined up on either side of the pathway.
We went to the Wailing Wall and then outside the walled part of the city. It was very interesting to watch people as they approached the wall and did various rituals.
We went to the Garden of Gethsemane and even though there was yet another church there were still many olive trees around the church. It was very quiet and peaceful when we went to the Garden and this was probably my favorite place that we visited on that day.
Before we made the long journey back to the ship we stopped at a look out above the Garden to look at the city as the sun began to set. Despite the commercialization of the different sites we went and visited we still had a very nice time in Jerusalem.
No comments:
Post a Comment