Mark Dreistadt

Today we entered the Old City…  but first we stopped at the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (the Cock Crow Church).  The church is build on the foundation of the house of Caiaphas.  In the lowest level it the prison where they would keep prisoners awaiting trial.  It is likely Jesus was held there.  George Powel led our devotionin this special place.

Then we went to the Upper Room where Dr. Larry Macon taught us from the scriptures… When you hear something, and you see something, and you feel something, you ought to say something! – based on Acts 2.

Then we began our journey back in time…

We entered the old city through the Zion Gate, still riddled with bullet holes from the War of Independence in 1948.  Then we walk through the Jewish Quarter that has been restored since the 1967 war.

Down a few steps and we are in the Byzantine Era Cardo (main street).  This section, a portion of which is lined with modern shops, goes back to the 4th century.

After a few informative stops, and a brief lunch break, we continue to make our way back in time and visited the Western Wall, the Southern Temple Steps and the Davidson Center.  These steps are authentic and from the time of Christ.  Jesus and his disciples walked these very steps.

From there we exit the Old City through the Dung Gate – cross the street and go back another 1000 years to the City of David, an active excavation site.  We walk through the Canaanite tunnels and end at the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus cured the bliend man.

Instead of climbing back up the hill, we were fortunately met by the bus that drove us to Bethlehem.  We had to cross the border into the Palestinian Authority. Because our bus was owned by an Arab Israeli bus company the bus could go through but our Israeli guide could not.  We picked up a new Palestinian guide – Aybee.

In Bethlehem we went to Manger Square and visited the Church of the Nativity. This church is very old – from Crusader times.  The altar is ornately decorated inside this ancient church.

Soon, we left Bethlehem and drove to the hotel.  There, we changed before attending “The Night Spectacular” light and sound show at David’s Citadel… followed by dinner at the Olive and Fish Restaurant.

What a day!

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Day 6. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.