Ever since I was a kid at school, I've always wanted to go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem. As an adult, it felt quite surreal to see through my own eyes all the things that you learn at school.
I started the day at the Mount of Olives, which overlooks the city of Jerusalem. It's a pretty impressive sight when you look down and see the old part of the city and the city walls that surround it with the famous gold domed roof of The Dome of the Rock, where it enshrines the rock from which Muhammed was said to have ascended to heaven.
I entered the old part of the city through the Zion Gate and made my way through to the first quarter. Jerusalem within the city walls is split into 4 quarters; the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters, each with their own charm and character, all of which you genuinely feel like you are stepping back in time with huge amounts of history around every corner.
I started in the Jewish quarter, and like the others, is full of beautiful cobbled streets alleyways and arches that have little boutiques, shops or cafes in. The whole place was peaceful with many ultra orthodox jews going about their business. There was lots of smells that filled the air from the fresh baked bread as several guys walked past carrying huge amounts of bread on their heads!
I found my way to the Christian quarter to a lovely little square with a small church and fountain. I walked through the archway to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and into the church itself, where Jesus' tomb is said to be. You could queue to go in one at a time into this tiny caved room to pray. The building itself is so impressive when you think how many thousands of years old it is.
Next it was onto wander around the Armenian quarter and then to the Muslim quarter which had a different feel to the others with it's many bazaars and market feel.
It was then on to the Western 'Wailing' Wall which i was really looking forward to having heard and read so much in the news and at school. There was tight security going into this area so everyone is screened and security scanned which was expected. When I first saw the wall, the first thing is felt was how peaceful it was. There were different religions mixing and it felt like a place of peace and celebration despite it's history. Men and Woman are separate in the areas of faith. I wandered down to the wall part itself where many Jews were praying. There was a fabulous Bar Mitzvah celebration happening with dance and signing, they tried to get me involved in the dancing but I politely declined as was carrying to much! Plus i can't dance! You look at the wall itself and there are really thousands and thousands of messages scrolled onto bit of paper and tucked tightly in to the crevasses. There is a heavy security presence here but I felt totally safe and relaxed. I really did love just people watching for an hour.
See more of Jerusalem in my video or on my Vlog page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRhDnwMQyLM&t=4s
Onward to Bethlehem which is in Palestine and a really short journey from Jerusalem. This was another interesting experience! In the group I was in of 10, only 3 of us were allowed to travel into Palestine due to having non-Israeli heritage. Unlike Jerusalem, the wall surrounding Bethlehem is a man made wall that resembles a prison inside the border part. We walked up to the security gates and through the border control which felt very uneasy. We were walking with several hundred men who must have had work permits for Israel, no women were present; we cleared the security barriers and carried on walking through to the other side and a busy market place. There were still no women or tourists at this point and it all felt very strange. We were transferred to a small bus and then to another which had tourists is which was good to see! Bethlehem itself I felt was more run down but when we got to the hill where the church of the Nativity is, where Jesus was born, it was a beautiful little oasis from Bethlehem itself. The church on the hill is perched overlooking the fields where the shepherds watched their flocks at night and where the angel gabriel came down. The history and age of the church is incredible, you can see the original carpets dating back to BC. You walk down some steep steps into a room below the church where he was born. I'm personally not religious myself but I could not help being emotional and blown away by it all. The manger was in a separate room and there were a small group of pilgrims singing quietly 'Silent Night'. It was a moment I will never forget.
