Day Eight

We began our day on the Mount of Olives. There is a Jewish cemetery on the side of the hill with an estimated 70,000 gravesites. I thought it was interesting that many Jewish people want to be buried here, even ones who don't live in Jerusalem. Those who are buried on the Mount of Olives have a prayer shawl on their back and are pointed with their feet toward where the temple was. There is a panoramic view of the Temple Mount and Old City walls from the Mount of Olives. We walked through the Garden of Gethsemene and the Church of All Nations.

We entered through the Lion's or St. Stephen's Gate to go to the Old City. The first site that we saw was the Pools of Bethesda, in the Muslim Quarter, where Jesus healed a lame man. They are alongside the Church of Saint Anne, built by Crusaders to commemorate the birth of Anne, the mother of Mary. We walked along the Via Dolorosa and through the Muslim Markets, right into the Jewish Quarter Markets. They looked very different. We walked a short distance further and saw the archeological dig of Hezekiah's wall. The ruins still stand over twenty feet thick and ten feet high. We walked to a traditional site for the House of Caiaphas, where Peter denied Jesus three times. Archeological evidence suggests that it was a high priest's house.

After a busy morning, we traveled back into the Judean desert for lunch at Genesis Land. We were greeted by Abraham's servant, dressed in costumes and then rode camels down to the tents where we ate. The food was awesome. Abraham talked to us while Sarah prepared the food that we were served. It was really windy but warm in the mountains and we could look across toward the Dead Sea.

We traveled back to Jerusalem and went to Golgotha and the Garden Tomb. Golgotha is part of Mount Moriah, where it is believed that Jesus was crucified. The Garden Tomb is where it is believed that He was placed after He died and from where He was resurrected. We went back to our hotel, had dinner and got our suitcases packed. Today was our last day in Israel.