Manni's Shvil: 22.4. Jerusalem: Ramparts Walk, St Helena's Cistern, Promenade, American Embassy, Visiting Betty and Flory

Today we went up to Jerusalem. The city was very crowded. Later we found out that 30 000 people were at the Kotel for the Priestly Blessing. We went away from the masses and took the “Ramparts Walk” on the city walls. We had to get our tickets (only 10 Shekels) at the Jaffa Gate. The Walk is divided into two separate walks, the north side walk and the south side walk. We started with the north from Jaffa Gate into the Christian Quarter and saw numerous churches and the gardens right behind the city wall. We passed the New Gate and went on to the Muslim Quarter and passed the Damascus Gate. The walk ended near the Lions Gate not far from the Dome of the Rock. The path along the wall was still there but we suppose that you can’t walk there for safety reasons. The entrance to the south side was again at the Jaffa Gate. On the way back we walked along the Via Dolorosa with various churches and had a look inside a few. After Easter they were very frequented and we said to each other as many times before: this sort of religiosity about places and churches is nothing that we like. One place was recommended to us by Ezra, the best guide in the whole of Israel: the Cystern of St Helena underneath the 12th-century Armenian Chapel of St Helena. Slippery narrow stairs led us to a massive underground cistern. As we were alone there we tested the amazing acoustics with a couple of songs.

We passed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which looked like a train station today and went on to a Falafel place in the Christian Quarter to get some energy for the next round. If there had been more time we would have liked to do the new virtual reality tour inside the Tower of David next to the Jaffa Gate, but tickets were sold out anyway.

https://www.tod.org.il/en/discover-jerusalem-vr/

We now took the southern route along the city wall and had a nice view at the Valley of Hinnom and the Mishkenot She’ananim, the first neighborhood build outside the old city (in 1860) with the Montefiore Windmill. We read that before 1967 there were a lot of sniper attacks by Jordanians at this neighborhood and only the poorest inhabitants remained. Now it is a one of the most expensive neighborhoods. Today there are many artists who live here and cultural events that take place in the valley. In the west we could also see the prominent King David Hotel and the YMCA building. We walked on in the Armenian Quarter and saw the Dormition Church (that Manni had mentioned earlier) and an Armenian Cemetery. Further south we had a good view at the Jewish Quarter with the dome of the Hurva Synagogue and the City of David to the south. We reached the end of the walk near the Temple Mount and decided to pass the Kotel. Masses of people were praying there today and we could only go with the flow very slowly. The boys started complaining now and we rather went back to the carpark.

Manni drove up to the promenade in the south and we stopped for a last view at Jerusalem in the evening sun. Being there we decided to pass by the American Embassy to take some pictures there. We very much support the move of the American Embassy and hope that many more countries will follow.

And now the best was yet to come: We went to see Betty and her daughter Flory. We became friends in 2015 and have visited her ever since when we were in Jerusalem. We feel very blessed that we got to know them and had a nice time together of exchanging news, fellowship and eating Flory’s nice meal. Later Will, a friend from Holland joined us. We took Will back to Abraham’s hostel. This seems to be a very lively international place which needs to be checked out in the future.

Betty’s testimony can be found at Yad Vashem and the people in Holland who were hiding here are among “The Righteous among the Nations”.

http://db.yadvashem.org/righteous/family.html?language=en&itemId=4022394

https://vimeo.com/210168466