A memorable trip to the Holy City of Jerusalem

Since 2000, Good Friday and Easter brings me back memories of once in a lifetime visit to the holy city of Jerusalem, particularly the Church of Holy Sephulcre. 

I and my colleague landed in Tel Aviv on  Thursday and immediately traveled to Gaza Strip in Palestine for a presentation to the UN Agency. We were booked to stay back in Gaza after the presentation until Sunday for our return flight. 

It was afternoon by the time we finished the presentation and the UNO Staff, most them expatriates, were leaving for the weekend which is Friday and Saturday in the Middle East. They were surprised that we planned to stay back. Their Finance Director, a Sri Lankan, took pity on us, explained the challenges of staying back, drove us to Jerusalem and put us in a hotel in East Jerusalem just outside the Damascus Gate. 

I will write about the travel to and from Tel Aviv later that was an adventure in itself. I was happy to just hit the bed after 4 days of stressful travel but little did I realise that this was going to be a memorable experience that I would reminisce even after 20 years. 

The City of Jerusalem is holy to all three religions of the book dating back to Pagans over which so much blood has been shed during the many wars fought over the last 3000 years. You can literally feel the history and religious fervour with every single step you take through the old city. I shall limit myself to the travel experiences and not venture into the geo political and religious issues. 

On Friday, I and my colleague went into the Muslim Quarters of the old city to see Al Aqsa mosque but didn't go in. Saturday saw us joining a walking tour of the Jewish Quarters and saw a synagogue from outside. That evening our Sri Lankan friend took us for a quick drive across the Mount of Olives and dropped us at Ben Yehuda Street where thousands of youngsters would gather for dining and parties at the end of Shabbath. 

On Sunday, we wanted to visit the Christian Quarters and tagged along another walking tour that started near the Lions gate and a school in the Muslim Quarters. In no time,  a sizeable crowd gathered and we found ourselves walking along the 12 stations of Cross which Jesus is said to have carried the cross to his crucifixion in the area where the Church of Holy Sephulcre stands today. This path of about 600 metres is called via Dolarosa and marks one of the holiest journeys in Christian faith. 

The Church of Holy Sephulcre was a surreal experience in itself. Having been to a Catholic school for a few years I had a basic appreciation of the story of Jesus and knew about Roman Catholics  and protestants but little did I realise that there were so many denominations in the faith. The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic, and to a lesser degree the Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox. We spent almost an hour visiting various shrines within the Church and prayed at the Jesus' tomb from which he resurrected which is celebrated as Easter. 

It was time to rush back to Tel Aviv for the flight. It's a deep regret that we missed visiting Armenian Quarters and Bethlehem, something that I couldn't accomplish on subsequent trips.

A souvenir carving depicting the last supper that Jesus with his disciples reminds me that I should complete that sometime soon - May God Bless!

Comments

  1. RajApril 4, 2021 at 5:02 AM

    Amazing experience and write up.. keep blogging.

    ReplyDelete

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