Frankie's Adventures and Misadventures : The Holy Land

1/20/2017

Getting into Iraq was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I thought with so many stamps for the UAE and Iraq that I would receive lots of grief and or they would insist on stamping my passport but a quick questions as to what I did in Iraq and a low tech D2 I was on my way.

Being in Jerusalem is liking walking through the pages of the Bible and walking through the pages of time.

It is thought to see it all in such a short time and I was sick in bed with the flu for 5 days so it became necessary to start prioritizing. The first place I went to was the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which is supposedly where Christ was crucified and it also where his alleged tomb is.

It was really amazing to see this. I think it is mostly bunk but I do believe in the historical figure Jesus Christ. And if I think once he rose from the grave and if he saw is shadow there was six more weeks of winter.

The priest that were guarding or controlling the crowd were more or less a bunch of pricks. I was surprised at just how thuggish they were in dealing with the crowds. I can’t imagine what it would be like in the summer with the heat and with it being a lot more crowded. Follow if Jesus indeed.

It was such a spiritual experience for some with many people crying, wailing, passing out all for their love of Jebus. I didn’t want to detract from the people that this meant something to so I was in and out as quickly as possible.

The Wailing Wall

From my hotel it was a short walk to the Damascus gate and then it like walking back in time with its labyrinth of alleyways and stone passages. As you make your way to the Temple Mount, Wailing Wall etc you pass by the 10 stops where Jesus stopped.

The Western Well is nothing like I have seen. Jewish worshippers in their traditional dress. I am embarrassed that I don’t more but you can see their arm straps and something on the head that I thought was a Go Pro but I don’t think so. Some are quite animated when they pray and while others write prayers and slip it into the cracks of the Wailing Wall. For some it seems to be a very joyous occasion with lots of traditional singing and dancing.

From the Wailing Wall you can make your way to Temple Mount which has an extremely important site for the three monotheistic religious. The Muslims believe this is where the Prophet descended to heaven while Christians and Jews believe this is where Ibrahim was going to sacrifice his son Isaac.

For the next few days I was sick as a dog and pretty much stayed in my hotel.

Time was running out so I did those day tours that I normally don’t like doing but I was running out of time so over the course of two days I went to amazing Acre, Nazareth, Valley Armageddon, Capernaum (where Jesus stared his Ministry).