But I'm sort of ok with that, since I'm more into seeing the whole environment than going inside every place. Thursday afternoon Father Dimtri (from the Greek Patriachate) is going to take me in the major places of the old city (Church of the Holy Sepulchure, etc.), and those are the ones I really wanted to see.
Anyway, today I decided I would have a walk up to the Mount and stay for sunset. I walked to the old city and in through the Jaffa Gate, cutting through and exiting out the Zion Gate. Since I'm so smart, I thought I would ignore the guidebook's advice to take a bus or taxi to the top of the mountain and walk down. Um, yeah, I'm smart. It's not only a pretty long haul, but bloody steep to boot. I soldiered up passing many important places on the way including the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of All Nations and the Church of St. Mary Magdalene (a stunning Russian Orthodox Church complete with gilded onion domes).
The hike was totally worth it. Of course this vantage point is most famous for its view of the old city, including the famous Dome of the Rock, which I haven't been able to visit because it closes to non-Muslims at 2 pm. Equally stunning, though, is the view of the other side of the mountain, where you see the desert that just seems to go for miles and miles, it's own image disappearing into itself. This particular photo is of the road leading to Bethpage village, from where Jesus is said to have ridden on Palm Sunday.
Upon arriving at the top very hot and sweaty, I rewarded myself with a Magnum ice cream bar (a favorite that I discovered in Europe, not sold in the US), which I ate while sitting on the steps of the Mosque of the Ascension (yes, that ascension).
After finishing, I had some time to kill before sunset so I wondered around the Arab village of Al-Tur, which sits atop the mountain. There I was once again offered assistance by several locals who were anxious to show me around. Of course many of them are children, and they're smart. They've figured out that in some areas you can be within 100 yards of something, even be able to see it, but have trouble finding the entrance because it's off some alleyway or "street" that you would never guess to walk down.
Although I had already seen everything up there I really wanted to see, a particular young lad of about seven or eight was very insistent that I needed his assistance. He started following me, pointing things out in his very broken English, and very proud to tell his friends on the street that he was taking me around. After a bit I decided to get rid of him, and gave him a five shekel coin. He immediately bargained me up ten; he knew I had it because I had made the mistake of taking two coins out of my pocket and giving him only one. He said "goodbyes," and I walked off down the street.
Well, perhaps he thought he hadn't given me my money's worth. As I was walking down the street several hundred yards away a car screeched up and he hopped out, flashing his big smile. He had actually gotten someone to give him a ride down the road to find me. He immediately started talking again, asking where I was from, and pointing out various scenic interests (although it was pretty obvious to me that I was looking down on Jerusalem). He followed me down the mountain a bit to the point from where I wanted to watch the sunset, at one point wiggling his skinny little body through a wrought iron fence to take an olive branch from someone's tree as a gift for me.
At this point I figured he was around to stay for a bit, so we walked together down to the Tomb of the Prophets and sat on an ancient stone wall, dangling our feet off the side. He asked my name and then introduced himself as Massah. So there Massah and I sat, occasionally exchanging a word or two, him flipping through looking at all the pictures in my guidebook and pointing out the things he knew. He asked where I slept and I said a hotel, I asked where he slept and he pointed to the top of the mountain.
As the sun set I started taking pictures and he wanted to try his hand at it so I gave him my camera, only midly worried that he might take off with it. He didn't and actually had a pretty good eye for it, carefully examining several landscapes before framing his photo, which he was very pleased with when he examined it on the screen.
After the sun had set and I had taken my pictures I bid Massah goodbye, and we parted ways. After I was part way down the mountain I heard someone calling and turned to see him way up there, waving to me.
I got to the bottom of the mountain and decided to continue around the old city so that I would have walked the entire circumference (a little bit inside, mostly around the wall itself). The old city doesn't seem so big when you're in it, but walked the perimeter gave me a much better idea of its size (I later looked it up adn they say walking around the wall is about 2.5 miles). By that time it was totally dark and the city takes on a whole new life.
So I've got some sore feet that will probably be moreso tomorrow, but am glad to have met a little opportunist and had some company for a little while.
No comments:
Post a Comment