Beloved Israel

Israel is an ultimate travel bucket list for me.  As a Christian, it is my dream to visit this biblical land, and setting foot in the holy land with my fellow believers was truly an amazing experience - a dream come true. 

Me and my friends took a spiritual journey from Jordan to Israel. Trip500, a travel agency in Amman, arranged our tours to these two countries. We left Amman early morning and reached the Allenby border (also known as King Hussein Bridge) before 8 a.m. A staff from the agency assisted us in the Jordan immigration until we were boarded in the bus that will bring us to the Israel border. It took us 15 minutes to reach Israel border from Jordan for a fare of 10 Jordanian Dinar. The common question asked by the immigration officer to our group is our reason of visiting Israel, which we answered based on our purpose - to  visit the places that were important to our faith. 

After passing the immigration, we waited for our transfer service. A man approached our group with my name written on a white paper and introduced himself as Rajan. He was our tour guide for the day. We headed to Bethlehem in the West Bank (an autonomous area administered by the Palestinian Authority) and visit the Nativity Church - the birthplace of Jesus Christ. Beneath the church is the Nativity grotto that has the silver star on the floor - the mark or the spot where Christ was born. We followed a long queue of pilgrims wanting to touch the star. I felt truly blessed when it was already my turn to put my hand on the star. I knelt and silently prayed. That was only a very short moment compared to how much I waited in the queue but it was all worth the wait.

My turn of touching the spot where Christ was born

We then went to Gethesemane garden, the place where Jesus went with his disciples to pray the night before he was crucified. It suddenly rained very hard when we reached the place and we all rushed to get inside the Church of All Nations which is inside the garden. As expected, there were so many pilgrims. After an hour in Gethsemane, we hit the road and went to Mt. Zion. We parked near the Mt. Zion gate and from there walked through an alley that led us to the Room of the Last Supper - where Jesus and his disciples had a Passover dinner before he was captured, trialed and crucified. Just below the upper room is the Tomb of King David.

At the garden of Gethsemani

It was already late afternoon when we left Mt Zion and because it was raining, we decided to check in to Grand Park Hotel in Jerusalem, our accommodation for three days. Overwhelmed by the first day experience, we forgot to take lunch. After resting in the hotel, we walked around the city of Jerusalem and had early dinner in one of the restaurants in the city.  
The second day was a free day for us to explore Jerusalem on our own. Our internet research and a map helped us to reach our itineraries. We walked from our hotel to the old city, and seeing the ancient architecture of  its churches and basilica, the aged stone formation of the city walls and the old structures of the different establishments gave us a sense of amazement. Jerusalem, really, is an ancient city.

King David's tomb

Room of Last Supper

We first went to the Garden tomb, which is outside the walls of the Old City, a placed believed by some Christians to be the burial site of Jesus Christ. 

From there, we headed to the Old city and entered through the Jaffa Gate.Within the historic walls of the Old City are the famous sites of Holy Sepulchur Church, the dome of the Rock and the Western Wall which are significant sites to Christian, Muslim and Jewish faith. The Via Dolorosa road is also within the old city - the road with fourteen stations where Jesus carried the crucifixion cross. 

Following a crowd of Christian pilgrims, we stopped at each of the fourteen stations. Despite the area is full of stores or converted as market/suq, the feeling of walking to the path Christ followed carrying the heavy cross to Calvary brought us back in that time. 

The road led us to the Church of the Holy Sepulchur, one of the holiest churches in the world, and is the place of the crucifixion and the tomb of Jesus Christ. 

We got inside the Holy Sepulchur Church. Right after entering the main door, we saw the anointing stone, the stone where Jesus body was laid after He was removed from the cross. I cried and can't contain my emotions when I knelt and prayed touching that stone knowing Christ body has been placed there. I felt beyond blessed and so grateful and still couldn't believed I was there at that moment. 

At the garden tomb

Our group in front of the Holy Sepulchur Church

In front of the Holy Sepulchur church

We started to move and explore the many rooms and corners of the church and a stop at each holy site gave us a memory we would treasure for a lifetime. 

We left Holy Sepulchur church late afternoon and went to Dome of the Rock, Muslims sacred place in Jerusalem .We were not anymore allowed to enter the dome as it was already past 3pm. Anyway, we had seen the dome in the station 2 of the Via Dolorosa Road as it is clearly visible from a viewing deck there. 

Dome of the Rock

We just bought bread, boiled egg and anything we could easily carry for a quick lunch. We were eating while walking the alleys of the old city.  Since we got very limited time to explore the whole city, having a quick lunch instantly became part of our day tour. 

We then headed to the Western Wall (also called Wailing wall), the holiest Jewish site. After our bags were checked by the security in the entrance , we went down a stair leading us to the praying area. It is an open area  facing the Western walls divided into two sections, the sections for male and female worshipers. A huge crowd was already in the praying area that we have to wait for our turn. We wrote our prayers in a paper, prayed facing the wall and put the papers in the tiny holes and small cracks of the walls. 

Praying at the Western Wall with Sis Mikay

After leaving the Western Wall, we started searching for pasalubongs (souvenirs and items we can bring home). Filipinos are one of the many tourists visiting this site regularly as obvious from the vendors who greeted us with Filipino greetings. We exited through Damascus gate and walked back to the hotel. Jerusalem especially the area of the Old City is a walk city, it is a small city and the must-see places are just situated close to one another.  
Jerusalem is an expensive city. Food prices and hotel rates are expensive. It was a tiring second day but the thousand years old stories of the alleys that we walked and the sites that we visited were enough to give us an amazing and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. On the third day, we checked out early from the hotel so we can reach our itineraries as scheduled. We went to Mount of Olives where we had a great view of the entire city of Jerusalem.

Viewing the entire city of Jerusalem from a spot in Mt of Olives

We next stopped at Sea Level, a mark in the road telling us that we reached sea level. It is also the road to the Dead Sea. The quick stop at sea level allowed us to have nice photos in the place. 

Our group at sea level

At sea level

From there, we headed to Jericho City in Palestine. I got a separate blog on our visit to Jericho city which you can check from the travel escapade menu.

There are still many places  that we have not explored like Galilee and Nazareth, and this gave us reason to return to this amazing country. 

I know it was an incomplete journey, but having walked to the lands where Christ walked was a life-changing experience. I know I will be back, and Israel will always be in my list of priority destinations.