Carol, Jeff, and Cameron in Cairo: Our first visit to the Old City of Jerusalem

We arrived in Jerusalem after a four hour long bus ride from the border town of Eilat. We spent most of our one week in Jerusalem in the area of the Old City. It is a fascinating place. The Old City is ancient and vibrant. It's like walking back in time and walking through the Bible. There is so much history at every turn: the Wailing Wall, the Via Delorosa where Jesus carried the cross to the site where he would be crucified, the site where he was crucified, the tomb where he was buried, the Rock of the Dome (one of the most holy sites for Muslims) and more.

The wall surrounding the Old City dates back to the 1500's. Covering one square kilometer, the city is divided into four quarters: Muslim, Christian, Armenian, and Jewish. There are 11 gates to enter the Old City. Our hotel was just up the road from one of the biggest gates, the Damascus Gate.

I'll be doing several blog entries on the different parts of the Old City. For now, I'll just share some photos with you of our time walking around the city.

Map from this link:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Jerusalem2.html#four

The walls of the Old City. Here we are on our way back to our hotel.
This view of the wall is between the Damascus Gate and Herod's Gate.

I took these photos of people while we were eating dinner at a cafe table on the narrow street in the Old City. It was the Muslim Quarter, but there were many Jewish people walking by, I assume going or coming from a religious service since there were many coming at the same time and going in the same direction.

These gentlemen said it would be ok if I took their picture.

Here we are having dinner in the Old City: falafel, hummus & pita, freshly squeezed orange juice and pomegranate juice and french fries.

Here is the man squeezing our orange juice... I think this was the best orange juice I've every had... so sweet. I tried Jeff's pomegranate juice too and it was delicious.