Or should that be City of Faith? It’s everywhere with many different expressions and interpretations whether Christian, Jewish or Muslim- and probably others, too. It’s open and welcoming. Sometimes there are restrictions, sometimes none. But this city has the feel of being significant: everywhere something has happened which has become a landmark in the history and thus the beliefs of one or other of the major religions represented here – and sometimes of all three.
Having last visited in 1978, I was excited at the prospect of a return and had some ideas about what I wanted to see and do.
An overnight flight – comfortable in an upgrade to Business – had me in Tel Aviv at 5am and an easy ride on public bus to Jerusalem, where a very helpful fellow passenger showed me how to get to the Jaffa Gate on the tram and my feet, had me at my hotel by 7am: incredibly, I was made welcome at the New Imperial and invited to have breakfast while the room was prepared. Of course it was way too early and the room wasn’t going to be ready for a while so I took myself off to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount to see how much they’d changed. They hadn’t really though non-Muslims are no longer allowed inside either the Dome of the Rock or the El Aqsa mosque and I found that disappointing as it messed up my plan! Despite this I had a couple of interesting conversations with the men who were gathered there – reading the Quran, meditating on the world around them or just chatting. They were all keen to tell me what a good Muslim I could be.
I thought I had done pretty well when I started to flag ( less than three hours sleep probably WASN’T enough!) and began to make my way back to the hotel. It was only 10.00a.m and, understandably, the room was not ready – but it was by 11 and I was able to grab a little more sleep before heading for….. guess where? The Western Wall again!
Living the Journey 