On our second day in Jerusalem, we got up early to be at the entrance to the Dome of the Rock as early as possible. The Dome of the Rock is one of the most sacred places in Islam. It stands on the sight where the Prophet Muhammad rose up to heaven on a magical horse. This is a famous story in Islam.
The public is not permitted to enter Dome of the Rock (and I am not sure if services are ever held there because there is another operating mosque just off the grounds), but you can get to the grounds by a passageway over the Western Wall. We walked this pathway and arrived at the entrance. Here, we were stopped because my dress, which fell to just above my knees, was too short. I was told that I needed to buy a scarf to cover my knees. At first, this seemed to me like a gimmick to make money (and it partially could have been), but there were also serious implications. I had to walk about 100 yards away from the group to buy the scarf and after I had bought it and began to take it out of its packaging, I stepped onto the grounds of the mosque. A guard told me sternly that I needed to remain off the grounds (meaning I needed to take two steps back) until I was appropriately covered. I was a little bit alarmed by this, but I stepped back and then because I was flustered by what had happened, I had trouble getting the scarf around myself while holding the plastic packaging. I noticed that there was a trashcan, but it was on the grounds of the mosque. I timidly asked a guard if I could step onto the grounds to throw the packaging away. I think he realized that I was somewhat frightened by what was happening, so he took the plastic for me and then when I had the scarf securely wrapped around myself, he smiled and told me it looked great and I was let finally let onto the grounds to rejoin my group. It was definitely a culturally shocking experience, and although I was flustered I was not angry. I think it is important to learn what is culturally acceptable here and this was definitely a good lesson in that.
The Dome of the Rock is beautiful. The artwork on the building is unbelievable. And the view of the city from it is also breathtaking. You can see clearly the tomb of Mary Magdalene, which looks somewhat Islamic in art form and has several golden domes. From afar, I would say it was one of the prettiest sights we had seen in Jerusalem.
After leaving the Dome of the Rock, we decided to walk around the Mount of Olives a little. This was easier said than done, as it is definitely a mount. Near the base is the Garden of Gethsemane, which is beautiful. We were lucky enough to witness part of a mass at the Grotto there. It was a small mass and it was being said in either Latin or Italian, but it was nice to be able to experience mass in that setting. (The day before we had seen chanting at one of the chapels we visited along the path of the Stations. That was also a very peaceful and faith-affirming experience that I enjoyed very much). After walking around the Garden (you cannot enter it) and looking at the bell tower, which I liked very much, we continued up the hill. When we finally reached the top, we briefly took pictures at the Church of the Ascension of Mary. We then took in the view of the whole of Jerusalem. It was a beautiful place to view the entire city from. The religious sights could clearly be made out, as could an Israeli flag. I thought this was an interesting mix of state and religion (and possibly politics and religion. On that note, I was also surprised to find while in Jerusalem that Jerusalem has its own flag).
After descending from the Dome of the Rock, we went to the same café that we had gone to the day before for breakfast. While we were finishing our breakfast, we saw two of our friends from AUC, who sat down with us. They had just arrived from Jordan and were planning to stay in the hostel where we were staying. We were tired and wanted to have a relaxing day (which, of course had it’s not so relaxing part during which we spent on the phone with the Egyptian transportation company that we hoped would be picking us up at the Taba border the next day. There were several phone conversations, some in English and some in Arabic (because our hostel manager was nice enough to act as the go between after it was clear that there were some communication problems), and a few e-mails (some to incorrect addresses that had been given over the phone) exchanged before we were fairly confident that someone and some sort of vehicle would be waiting for us at 1PM at the border the following day). Some of us planned to visit the markets. Some of us wanted to do the gate tour. (Jerusalem, or at least the old city, is a gated city. This means it is basically a walled-in city. The gates are never locked; they are more figurative than they are for a purpose today, and they are mostly used in describing location. For example, our hostel was just through the Jaffa Gate. There is also a Lion’s Gate, where bullet marks from 1948 are still visible. I am not sure how many gates there are or the significance of each one, but this is definitely something that is very interesting to me. I don’t think I got the full impact of it until we were leaving Jerusalem by bus the next morning and from afar, the fact that the old city was enclosed by walls was distinguishable).
Anyway, the two guys we had met up with only had a day in the city so they wanted to begin touring the city right away. We planned to meet up with them later at the hostel for dinner. It was strange to be so far from AUC and to see people we knew, but it was something that happened to us at every place we went actually and it was always a great surprise.
That night we had dinner at a nice restaurant near Ben Yehuda Street and then went to another bar for a while before turning in early for the last full day of travel that lay ahead of us.
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