Fifteen years ago today, March 16, 2009 Antiques Road Show pt. 5

Although it's a gorgeous day, it's a tad chilly for me to walk outside, so I've been on the exercycle watching reruns of Antiques Roadshow again. I thought of one of mine and rustled around in a cabinet and found two.

 
The first was a printed copy of my blog written 15 years ago, March 16, 2009, the day after we returned (and were recovering) from a Holy Land cruise with about 170 travelers--
members of our church, their friends, and members of 2 other churches. I must have written furiously--it runs for 65 pages (with photos) and was finished on March 18! Of course, I was much younger then.
Here's what I found written for March 16, 2009--advice from Beverly Miller Meyers who had been on a similar trip some years before. With tears, I copy it here, safe and true 15 years later.

"Bon Voyage! Have fun and be safe. I am still green with envy. Wear your support stockings on the plane and any long bus rides. In Egypt follow your guides rules but if you get a chance the people are so poor especially in Cairo that a few shekels is always appreciated. In Israel climb up to into and around everything. There is so much history there. At Bethlehem crawl under the altar under the main altar and look through the star to the dirt. If Jesus wasn't born there it had to be close by. In Greece buy some Ouzo it tastes like licorice. Drink it with ice and the same amount of Ouzo and water. At the Parthenon go into the back of the temple of Athena and see the best representation of Nike bending to tie her sandal. If you get there please take a photo for me. Nike might have been moved to the museum by now though. At Ephesus look at everything again for me. Ephesus is my new favorite ancient city. I want to go back there some day not on a tour and just wander. Check out the history of the evil eye in Greece and Turkey.
Lots of Love,
Bev"

And we did it all, but in reverse order leaving from Cairo, 31 hours back to Columbus.

Just having fun--miscellaneous photos

Being an architect, my husband takes mainly photographs of buildings--over 700 this trip. A few slip-ups--here are some of people and animals.

With Dottie on Mars Hill

Resisting in one of the approved shopping sites

Gene, also an architect, inspecting the softness and quality of Turkish rugs, while the rest of bus 5 boldly looks on

Clothing contrasts in Turkey, the traditional woman

and the modern teen-agers
Our neighbors and fellow members of UALC on the Sea of Galilee

Mentors and friends for over 30 years

At the Church of All Nations

At the foot of a pyramind, early for the peace demonstration

Always, always listen to your tour guide. Don't even make eye contact. This guy stole 50 euro from us.

Joyce and I window shopping in Cairo before the stores opened. The painted sign probably says SALE!

Cairo Kitties waiting for lunch. I think there were 7 or 8 in that bin.

Some in our group used the hotel pool; some just used it for drinks.

The Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations

If my photos are in order, we saw the Garden and the Church after we saw the birthplace of Jesus.

In the 4th C a church was constructed at this place, but was destroyed by the Persians in 614AD. It was rebuilt by the Crusaders in the 12th C, but was destroyed by the Arabs in 1187. A Catholic Franciscan church was built in 1924 by donations from many nations--thus its name, Church of All Nations (also called Basilica of Agony). The remains of the Crusader church were embedded into the modern basilica. It is located on the east bank of valley Kidron at the foothill of Mount of Olives.

Cemeteries all around us, before we enter the Garden. Some walked down from this point.

I took a short cut and rode the bus, meeting them at the bottom.



I don't know the age of these trees, but they are very old, and in the Garden.

In The Garden
(written by C. Aus­tin Miles)
Verse 1:
I come to the garden alone,
while the dew is still on the roses.
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear,
the Son of God discloses.

Chorus:
And He walks with me,
and He talks with me,
and He tells me I am His own;
and the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known

The front of the church, facing the temple mount, is covered by a large mosaic picture. According to the Gospels, this is the site where Jesus had his last prayer before he was betrayed and arrested by the Romans.

According to tradition, this is the Rock of Agony where Jesus prayed.

If it's Thursday, is this Bethlehem?

Oh little town of Bethlehem,
how strange you seem from the bus.

It certainly doesn't look like the Bible stories we heard in church (and in school) or the carols we sang. But we knew it wouldn't. Still, it's a shock. Early tradition says Jesus was born in a cave, although that's not the Biblical account. I think people hid in caves to worship after converting, however. Anyway, another church over another sacred place--Justin Martyr mentions it in the mid-2nd century, as does the Protoevangelium of James (2nd century). Origen notes that the cave of Jesus' birth was pointed out in his day, and that was most likely where the Byzantine church was erected.

That said, we didn't see anything fearful and awful the way some Christian and anti-Israel tourists have reported--at least I didn't. Maybe it looks worse if you walk in. Our Israeli guide had to leave us, and a Palestian guide boarded the bus. Tourism is an essential industry but we saw many small store front and kiosk type businesses. We had a wonderful Palestinian Christian guide who was so informative and kind. He also pointed out to us the area believed to be the fields of the shepherds "keeping watch over their flocks by night." We had a bit of a wait at the guard house to enter the Bethlehem section, but I think that was a paper work snafu, or an irritable employee.


The entrance to the Church of the Nativity is so small, only a child could walk upright--a good message.







A member of our group (bus 5) read the Christmas story from Luke, and we all sang "Silent Night," the prettiest I've ever heard.

I'll do a bit more research when I get back from our Easter travels. Some of our photos from this church are a bit fuzzy, and I may have to borrow some from others on our bus.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher and The House of Caiaphas

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher according to tradition is built on the hill of Christ's crucifixion and the tomb of his burial--although there are disagreements. The other location of the tomb was found in the 19th century, so on strength of tradition, it would be the Church. It was first built in 330 AD, destroyed in 614, rebuilt, destroyed in 1009 and rebuilt by Crusaders. The line to visit the tomb (there's a rotunda over it) was too long, so we didn't stay. (And neither did Jesus, come to think of it.) But we were close! In fact, Israel is so small, you're never far from anything or anyplace even if you're not sure of the location.

"The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built by Constantine I the Great during the fourth century, after he became christian, and turned Christianity to the official religion of the Roman empire. In the year 326, Constantine I sent his mother, Helena, to seek the Crucifixion location in Jerusalem. Helena found the place and also found the remains of the cross itself. In that same place, 7 years later, Constantine I founded the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the year 333." Trekker

The facade is from the crusader era. The architecture and art is a real hodge podge, reflecting the many Christian groups and cultures that have cared for this church. Byzantine, medieval, Crusader, and modern elements mix and each Christian community has decorated its shrines in its own distinctive way.

This is possibly the place of the crucifixion; we waited to be able to touch it.

This is thought to be the stone where Jesus' body was prepared for burial.

After Jerusalem's occupation by the hands of Tslah A-Din in the year of 1187, The Holy Sepulchre Church was given for safe keeping to two Moslem families, the Nusseibeh and the Joudeh families, who own the place today, and currently hold the keys to the church.

Church of St. Peter on the eastern slopes of Mount Zion was erected in 1931 to commemorate Peter's denial of Jesus and his remorse.

Beneath the church are a series of carved-out chambers from the Second Temple period which Catholic tradition says is the site of the palace of Caiaphas, and therefore Jesus may have been imprisoned in one of these caves.

Click to enlarge for the explanation why this is thought to be Caiphas' house where Jesus was imprisoned and where Peter denied his Lord.

According to the Wikipedia site, a Byzantine shrine dedicated to Peter's repentance was erected on this spot in 457 AD, but was destroyed by Muslim invaders in 1010. The chapel was rebuilt by Crusaders in 1102 and given it's present name. After the fall of Jerusalem the church again fell into ruin and was not rebuilt until 1931. Today a golden rooster protrudes prominently from the sanctuary roof in honor of it's biblical connection.

I know that these are not in chronological order; we saw these on Wednesday March 11, scenes of the last hours of Jesus' life, but on Thursday March 12 we traveled to Bethlehem for his birthplace, and also then saw Gethsemene. Others in our tour group (about 170 of us from Upper Arlington Lutheran Church and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of Columbus plus friends and relatives) saw these sites in different orders.

St. Anne's church and the Pool of Bethesda

The Church of St. Anne is a 12th-century Crusader church of Romanesque architecture, built between 1131 and 1138, and erected over the traditional site of the birthplace of Anne (Hannah), the mother of Mary. In 1192, Saladin turned the church into a Muslim theological school, which is commemorated in an inscription above the church's entrance. It was restored in the 19th and 20th centuries, but most of what remains today is original.



The church is right next to the Bethesda Pool, believed to be the site where Jesus healed a paralytic (John 5:1-15). There are also ruins of a Roman temple to the god of medicine and remains of a Byzantine church built over the temple.

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked." John 5:1-9

Wednesday, Ashdod and Jerusalem

On Wednesday, March 11 we arrived in Ashdod. Our handout says this Mediterranean port city was a major Philistine city in ancient times, the archeological remains here have uncovered no fewer than 23 cities since the Bronze Age. Modern Ashdod was founded in 1956 and during the recent past it has had many new immigrants--70,000--mainly from the former Soviet Union, swelling the city's population to 190,000, becoming the 5th largest city in Israel. I found the port area very impressive.

From Ashdod we started out for Jerusalem, a 5000 year old city revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims. I'm not sure how many buses we had (we were bus 5), but we had different routes so that we weren't all jammed up in one place. Some of us saw the Western Wall on Wednesday, some on Thursday, same with Bethlehem.


Here we are at the Western Wall (also called Wailing Wall), the holiest of Jewish sites, a remnant of the Herodian retaining wall that once supported the Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. In 1967 after the Six Day War, Israelis leveled the neighboring Arab district to create the Western Wall Plaza and made the wall higher by digging down to expose two more tiers of stones buried over the centuries.

The men and women pray in separate sections (women need to be modestly covered); some sitting and rocking back and forth reciting the Psalms or Lamentations. This photo is of tiny pieces of paper with prayers put into the cracks in the walls. Every years thousands of people insert these prayers for peace and health, or give thanks and praise for answered prayer. If you're in my family, your name was placed there with a prayer for peace.

According to tradition, The Via Dolorosa (Path of Sorrow or "Way of the Cross") is the route the Lord Jesus walked, from his trial by the Romans to his crucifixion and burial. It begins near Lions Gate (St. Stephen's Gate), in the Muslim Quarter, and ends within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in the heart of the Christian Quarter. This route is marked by the 14 Stations of the Cross.

"As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. (Luke 23:26-28).

Eighth station of the cross where Jesus spoke to the women.

Capernaum and River Jordon

The city of Capernaum was built on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, about two miles west of the Jordan River. This ancient town is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament, but is referred to as our Lord's own city, where it became the center of His Galilean work and ministry. Jesus traveled there from Nazareth, to the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, and called his first disciples, Andrew, Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee (Matt 4:13-22). He taught in their synagogue (Jn 6:24-59), and it was here that Peter found the coin from the mouth of the fish, upon the command of Jesus, to pay the tax-gatherers (Matt 17:24-27). He resided for a time at Peters house in Capernaum, teaching and healing the sick (Lk 4:31-41). Once He had left, He rebuked the city for their unbelief (Lk 10:15).

Recently there have been excavations that have uncovered the 2-story synagogue. Today, near the synagogue, there is an octagonal Byzantine church with a mosaic floor built upon the site believed to be the house of Peter.

This seems to be the only photo we have that shows "bus five," the group we traveled with up to Cairo. I think we're sitting in the ruins of the synagogue.

Recent excavations beneath the church has revealed houses dating back to the first century. Some believe that one of these houses could very well be the house of Peter.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, after having heard about the River Jordan all my life, but it looks like any little stream in the Midwest. This is the spot where I dipped my hand into the water, made a sign of the cross on my forehead, and prayed. Lutherans don't rebaptize, but many in our group did go into the water and prayed with our pastor. People who do wish to be baptized can rent a gown--not sure if they also rent clergy.

I think this group was Chinese and they were singing beautiful hymns by the water.

It was nearing dusk after a time in the gift shop, so we boarded the bus after a busy day and returned to the ship and the moon over the Sea of Galilee was the prettiest sight I've ever seen--but the bus was moving to fast to get a good photo. When we docked on Wednesday, we were in Ashdod, ready to go to Jerusalem.