Joe Pallugna
TEL AVIV--In a quarter of a century as a tourist, I have never been as impressed and as overwhelmed than when I visited the Old City of Jerusalem.
The Old City comprises of about one square kilometers only which is enclosed in a tall, white limestone wall erected on the orders of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman The Magnificent in 1537.
Inside it were divided, though unequally, into four quarters. So we have the Armenian Quarter, the Muslim Quarter, the Christian Quarter, and the Jewish Quarter.
In the Muslim Quarter, surprisingly, is located the first seven of the 14 Stations of the Cross of the Via Dolorosa that Jesus Christ passed through carrying the Cross on his way to his crusifixion on Mount Golgotha.
That Station of the Cross now is no longer lined with Romans shouting insults as during the time of Christ. It’s now lined with shops of locals selling souvenirs and trinkets and scarves and carpets and food of all kinds. It is now a Shoppers’ Paradise.
Inside the Muslim Quarter are the al-Aksa Mosque, the third holiest place of Islam, after -Mecca and Medina, and the Dome of the Rock (which is not a mosque).
In the Armenian Quarter is located the Church of St. James and David’s Tower (which has no connection to King David at all). It is to the right as one enters Jaffa Gate.
And not boring you on geography, we moved to the Christian Quarter where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is located. It is a magnificent ancient structure which housed underneath its very foundations the slab of stone where Christ was cleaned after his death on the Cross, and the very cave where his body was hidden prior to His intended burial as Jewish tradition forbids burial on a Friday (the day He died as He was then intended to be buried that Sunday), and in it is the place where Jesus ascended into Heaven.
In that supposed place of the Ascension, Christians built the Dome in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This huge church is reverred by Christians as the site of the crucifixion, the death and the ascension of Christ.
Millions of tourists visit this Old City every year. Walking around the laberyntine marble and cobble streets and alleys could not even be completely done in a week. The underground tunnels and byways and aqueducts constructed during the Roman times are still being discovered up to this day.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre alone is still an area of continuing discoveries as reconstructions after several earthquakes and fires are being done. New discoveries of parts and sections are made.
It is a building so rich in history and tradition that its administration and maintenance are shared in diffent parts of it by Roman Catholics, Armenians, Greek Orthodox and Copts.
The Jewish Quarter and the Wailing Wall, or properly called the Western Wall, is another place oozing in history and architecture and culture that it is apt for another column.
And the food--the food!--in all these places are just superb to the palate that even roadside meals and restaurant buffets of lamb and beef are a marvel to discover.
And my feet were aching that I have to stop at a cafe to rest. Then a man approached our group selling wristwatches and bracelets adorned with stones of various colors. Wonderful items, but nobody was in the mood of buying anymore.
The mood was to go back to the hotel as the sun has set and the lights in the city have beckoned for rest to start another day of educational tours to Nazareth, our next destination. Then came our bus and I got on and slept all the way to our hotel.
E-mail: ajpallugna@gmail.com
