With merry we rose long before the sun to see the main doors of the Holy Sepulchre unlocked at 4 am and walk through the church unhampered by the noise of daytime droves of tourists. Though the ceremony was missed, we were treated to a slough of enigmatic chants and prayers by three Armenian monks in front of the Aedicule (Google material) in the morning darkness of the rotunda. I encourage all students visiting this blog to read more about the round-the-clock undertakings of the many monks who live at the Holy Sepulchre, paying close attention to the sorts of activities taking place during hours when tourists are not present.
After two humiliating failures at entering the center of the Aedicule, we retreated licking our wounds, but not until we shared mass twice with groups of Italian and English speaking Christians in separate chambers. An old fashion Israeli breakfast fueled us for long walks through Golgotha (location of Jesus' crucifixion), the Mount of Olives, and the City of David's ruins adjacent to Suleiman the Greats walls built in the 16th century. The terraced slopes of the Mount of Olives were almost completely covered with rows of tombs laid above ground along with a number of churches dotting the hillside. One of the treats received for climbing the rather steap and unforgiving path up was the view of the entirety of Jerusalem from the east(a picture can be seen below)
One of the last highlights was an epic 550 meter journey through an underground tunnel constructed by King Hezekiah in the 8th century to bring water from the Gihon Spring to the Siloam Pool at the foot of the city. To this day the finished project is an engineering masterpiece, as the tunnel drops a mere 30 millimeters from source to end. With pants rolled to our knees and hiking boots switched with sandals, the three of us followed the tunnel in complete darkness with only a single phone flashlight or "torch" as it's called here. This was easily one of the most exciting experiences of this day and the entire trip! There was a point when we walked completely unaided by light. The image for today's post is captured above as the cover image
Other notes:
-After three full days of virtually walking non-stop in and around the Old City has left our feet brittle and raw. We will be turning in early tonight to regain our strength for our short trip up to Galilee and the Dead Sea over the next two days.
-Adam befriended yet again another clowder of rogue cats.
-Other locations visited: The Upper Room of the Last Supper on Mt. Zion, the Church and Abbey of the Dormition, Pater Noster (site where Jesus taught to "Our Father."
-Tomorrow we drive to Galilee to visit Nazareth, Capernaum, and other sites.