Eurasia 2012

Urrrghhh.
Today started off pretty crap. Woke up at 3:45 and really didn't get back to sleep. Have one of those stoopied mattresses that moulds to your body shape. Which is fine until you roll over and it's all lumpy in odd places :(

Breakfast was a bit average. Although that's probably coloured by my mood with this place. Someone having their phone stolen within a minute or two of her leaving it on one of the service benches also made me lose confidence in the security of the place. I was paranoid about leaving the window wide open all day after that, but of course then mum had a whinge because the washing hadn't dried by this afternoon (majority of stuff not even needed until tomorrow anyway). *sigh*

So headed out at the usual time (8:30).

First stop was the Israel Museum. Had a look at the 1:50 scale model of ancient Jerusalem which was pretty cool. Also went into the Shrine of the Book which was a little museum about the Dead Sea Scrolls, which even had a fragment from Isaiah on display which was also pretty cool.

The Israel Museum

Temple area in the model of Jerusalem

Temple area in the model of Jerusalem

Model of Jerusalem in the second temple period

Western walls in the model of Jerusalem

Lower Jerusalem and the Pool of Siloam

Shrine of the Book
Photo by Dad

Black basalt wall next to the Shrine of the Book
Photo by Mum

Next we headed back into Palestinian territory to Bethlehem. Security on this place was a bit more serious including massive concrete walls all the way around. Our regular guide didn't come with us as he's a Jew, and didn't want to make anything tense. Got a different guide instead for the day.

Berlin Wall style wall surrounding Bethlehem

Our first stop was a shop, The Three Arches, where they strongly encouraged us to support the local Christian business. I did end up buying something (against my better judgement - I hate buying things at "tour recommended" stores because they mark everything up enormously; I saw the same thing I bought at a street store a little while later - I was tempted to ask how much but knew I'd get hounded mercilessly by the vendor unless I bought it).

Beautiful wooden carvings of the Last Supper

View over eastern Bethlehem from near The Three Arches

Next up was the Church of the Nativity, or the Church of the Sepulchre or something. This church's claim to fame is that it is built on the traditional birthplace of Jesus.

Yah.

So they had the great idea that we should queue for nearly an hour and a half to see a silver star marking the birthplace and a marble manger. Yeah we were all pretty cynical about it by the end of it.

Armenian Monastery

Entrance to the Church of the Nativity

Inside the Church of the Nativity

Mosaic floor in the Church of the Nativity

Inside the Church of the Nativity

Gotta love the Christmas decorations hanging from the chandeliers

Icon of Mary and Jesus ("Mary of Bethlehem") near the staircase to the Nativity Grotto

Waiting to get into the grotto

Group awaiting entry into the grotto

Grotto of the Nativity. Supposedly the location of the birth of Jesus
Photo by Dad

Grotto of the Manger. Jesus really had a marble manger, didn't you know?
Photo by Dad

Inside the Church of Saint Catherine

Church of Saint Catherine
Photo by Dad

Then to lunch. They served us this time, with bread and dips to start, and kebabs and fries following. Too much food as usual :/

Stars and Bucks Café

The funny thing about Bethlehem is that it's Christmas every day there. It'd be cool to go there at night to see all the Christmas lights up in the streets.

Next stop was "The Shepherd's Field" - more churches, more vendors trying to sell stuff. But what was nice about this place is that we went and found somewhere to sit down and had a little Church service ourselves. It was good to just stop and get away from all the crazy crowds and just reflect. Plus it was overlooking another hill still used by shepherds, and who's to say it wasn't on that hill that angels appeared to the shepherds. Building churches and saying "this is the spot" seems a tad ridiculous to me.

Fields surrounding Bethlehem - maybe this is where angels appeared to the shepherds two thousand years ago!
Photo by Mum

Our final stop of the day was Herodium, which is a big hill where Herod the great had built a fortress, and they've only just recently discovered his tomb. There were no other tourists here so quite enjoyed the little time we had there.

Herodium from the road

Herod's Tomb model

Excavations north of Herodium

Herodium

Herodium

Looking out a hole at Herodium

Inside the tunnels at Herodium

Water cistern at Herodium

Inside the tunnels at Herodium

Theatre at Herodium

Boulders used to roll down the hill onto enemies

Then back to the hotel. Did all my photo stuff then got completely bored waiting to go down to dinner. Stoopid lack of internet :( Didn't eat much at dinner - was still full from lunch.

Mount Zion Hotel

View towards the Mount of Olives

Flowers in the middle of a roundabout on David Remez Street

Oh, this hotel failed again. When we checked in there were only two towels so we had to ask for another one. Tonight there was only one towel. At that rate there won't be any tomorrow.

There was a wedding downstairs tonight. It was super loud before but is a bit quieter now. Be quieter if I was allowed to close the window.. hrmmm..

Distance covered on the GPS: 50.5 km
Steps walked: 10320
Photos on the Canon: 334
Photos on the Sony: 40
Videos: 11
USD spent: 32