Touring Jerusalem

I spent the remainder of the week in Jerusalem where I met up with friends in the evenings and toured during the days. On Wednesday I went to the City of David, which is adjacent to the Old City, as seen in the picture below. The city dates back over 4500 years, even before the first temple. It was David's son Solomon who was the first to build the temple. Not only does the City of David have ruins but there are currently people who still live within the city, making it hard if not impossible to continue excavations. The highlights of the tour was the walk through of two underground water systems. The first was through which water was carried from the valley up to the top of the city. it was through this tunnel that David was able to capture the city from the Jebuzites. Attacking the city from the valley did not work because the city was on higher grounds, thus he entered through the water tunnel. The second water system was created in order to transport water from one valley to the center of the city which had since expanded. Additionally, in the case of a seige the water from the valley would have been cut off without this tunnel supplying water to the city. It was a half hour walk through the pitch black tunnel that was only wide enough for one person. We walked through the water which at one point came up to my thighs, but was only as deep as my shins for 99% of the walk. The tunnel was dug from both ends and it is amazing how they somehow managed to meet in the middle. There are theories but nobody knows for sure how this was done!

Map of Jerusalem:

1 - Tower of David
2 - Temple Mount
3 - City of David

blue line - water tunnel transporting water from right to leftWednesday night I randomly bumped into one of the Israeli soldiers that was on my birthright trip 2 and a half years ago! The total is now 6 people.

Thursday I went to the Tower of David. It is the highest point of the city and provides an amazing view of bot hthe old and new city of Jerusalem. The tour explained the history of the Old City. Following the tour I still had a long time to kill before I met up with a friend in the late evening, so I decided to take a free tour of the Old City. At the halfway point of the tour, when they got to the Western Wall, I decided to stay there and ditch the tour because there was a swearing in ceremony for a group of soldiers who had just graduated from basic training. I endedu p waiting 2.5 hours for the hour long ceremony to start, but I ended up with a front row view.

Tower of David

View of the Temple Mount from the Tower of David
Grounds of the Tower of David

Swearing in ceremony