Bethlehem to Jerusalem

 Sunday afternoon  .... September 24, 2023

After our lunch near Bethlehem Square, the tour bus took us to a Wood Souvenir vendor.  This was a "factory" of wood carvers who made religious statues and items from the Olive Trees grown in the Bethlehem area.  Some of the Christmas Nativity groups were life size and quite impressive.  The store also had beautiful icons.  We inquired about some of the icons and found their price tag too steep for us.  ($200-$400) This company boasted that they were 100% Christian and supported over 67 Christian families by their work.   The issue of the Christian population in Israel being as low as 2% at this time was of concern to our tour guides.  And they emphasized that our tour helped the Christian economy by spending our money with them.  We did buy some smaller items such as wall crosses, honey dipper, and kitchen tools.  As we left the Bethlehem area we needed to pass through an Israeli check point to enter the Jerusalem area.  One could notice the large wall that has been built to separate the West Bank from Israel.

A grafitti artist associated a local Palestinian struggle with George Floyd and painted this on the Wall.

We traveled on to Jersalem and entered Mt Zion in the Old City via the Zion Gate (or David's Gate).

Here we hoped to see the Cenacle or Room of the Last Supper or the Upper Room.  However, since it was the eve of Yom Kippur in Israel, many tourist sites were closing down early.  So we exited the Old City and visited the Church of the Dormition (re Mary's final days) which is close by just outside the Zion Gate.

  

         Photos:

    top left:   Zion Gate or David's Gate
    above center:  signs to Upper Room

    to the left:  doorway to Upper Room

The Abbey of the Dormition is a Catholic Abbey belonging to the Benedictine Order in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion just outside the walls of the Old City near Zion Gate.  The Abbey is said to mark the spot where Mary, mother of Jesus, died.

Dormition Abbey (above and to right>>>)

Church crypt has a statue of the "resting"  Virign Mary.   Our group said a decade of rosary in the crypt and sang some Marian hymns.

We returned to our hotel in West Jerusalem, the Market Courtyard Hotel, about 5 pm.  Buffet Supper, sundown and Yom Kippur.  We watched from our hotel room while the police set up barricades on the street to prevent driving on the holy day.