Port 46 Ashdod, Israel

by Ed · April 13, 2022

Shalom!

We entered Ashdod’s harbor a little before 5 AM on Apr 10th, 2022. It was inky black darkness. Dozens of ships lay at anchor outside the harbor awaiting their turns at the commercial docks. We quietly slide by them…

…and then into the harbor where the commercial docks light up the water.

We are docked on the other side from the Norwegian Jade.

Welcome to Ashdod! Yay! We’re officially in Israel!

We have excursions for all three days in Israel – day 1 in Ashdod and days 2 and 3 in Haifa. We’re going to Jerusalem today. We were supposed to go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but on Apr 7th (after leaving Malta) the ship was notified we will have to do a PCR COVID-19 test 3 days before (we did the test on Apr 7th) and another PCR COVID-19 test on arrival in Ashdod. Then we will have to wait for all of the PCRs tests to be processed before we can be allowed to leave the ship to go through immigration then go back on the ship until the port authorities would allow us to go ashore! The ship believes no one will be allowed to leave the ship before noon, so our full day tours were cancelled and we had to choose half-day tours. Whirled! We elected to go to Jerusalem and leave Bethlehem for another time.

Since we arrived at 6 AM the Israeli test team began PCR testing on the ship at 6:30 AM. We were tested around 7 AM. Then it was “hurry up and wait!” Long story short – we were not cleared to leave the ship until 3 PM! Whirled! Our tour is scheduled for 5 1/2 hrs. All aboard is 9:30 for a 10 PM departure. Getting tight, given the distance to Jerusalem and the unknown traffic situation due to Palm Sunday!

We’re on the road to Jerusalem. It’s gonna be different because today is Palm Sunday! I am amazed at some of the scenery we drive by! The valleys and the highrise units overlooking the valleys are very interesting! There are very few single family dwellings – just about everything is a multi-unit building!

We are told there are neighborhoods that are strongly Muslim and those that are strongly Jewish. The homes tend to reflect the ways of life of each. Arabs keep their boys at home, and build up additional floors for them to live at home. Daughters are expected to go live at their husband’s parent’s home. Our eyes don’t see the difference yet – but these seem to be smaller homes that have additional floors for the boys’ familes to live with the parents.

We arrive at Jerusalem, and stop at an overlook. We see the walled city across the valley with the beautiful gold Dome of the Rock shining through the haze. We’ll be heading down there shortly.

When we slog through the Palm Sunday traffic we come to an intersection where we’re denied access by the police. They won’t tell the driver why, so we decide to bail out of the bus and walk to where the bus was supposed to take us. That’s our bus in the middle, and some of our group coming up the hill! The driver will meet us on the other side of the city.

We learn why we’re stopped – there is a mini-parade that hasn’t finished! We’re happy we decided to walk so we could see this! We’re not sure what the groups represent, but it’s great hearing the bagpipes and drum corps! This is only the first group!

This is something like a girlscout (brownies?) troup!

Then something like a boy scout, or more correctly a cub scout group!

A drum corps comes by.

And this bagpipe band was coming up but was not close enough to start playing yet. Too bad!

Never in my life would I have thought I’d see a street sign like this! I love it!

We continued on up the hill, and found some amazing views! We stare across the valley at the Mount of Olives! So close and so high!

I was surprised to see these beautiful churches. The lower collonaded building with beautiful mosaic artwork on the pediment is the Kirche allen Nationen catholic church that houses a rock that Jesus supposely prayed at. The upper Russian-styled church is the Church of Mary Magdalene.

Then there is this massive cemetary stretching all of the way down the Mount of Olives, and wraps around the southern slope of the Mount. The tall tomb on the left is the Pillar of Absalom, and the pyramid-topped tomb on the right is the Tomb of Zechariah. Amazing!

In the middle of that cemetary photo is this very special event!

We continue our walk down the eastern wall.

Here’s another view of the Mount of Olives and the valley between the Mount and the walled city. Incredible landscape!

What is blowing my mind is I never pictured the terrain around here as being so mountainous – I always had images of relatively flat areas with hills far shorter than what I’m seeing in person for the first time!

This is the south wall. Just above us, at the center of this photo, are the steps Jesus climbed to enter the city. That gate is now closed, but the steps are still there!

That window in the very center of the photo above revealed this to me when I saw something obscuring a chandelier inside! Interesting, huh?

We enter the city wall at the Dung Gate. The name of the gate is not what we would interpret it to be. This is a poor translation of “Trash Gate” that has stuck due to use over time. The trash from the city used to be brought out through this gate.

This is the closest entrance to the West Wall. We now see centuries of sexual segregation at work. This is the security checkpoint. Our bags are scanned. Women enter on the right, men on the left!

Then we are at the West Wall! You may know this as the Wailing Wall, but we were told that is a Protestant name. The Jewish community calls it the West Wall as it is the only remaining wall of the Temple Mount and as close as they can get to the Temple Mount now that the Muslims hold control of the Dome of the Rock. Again, segregation is at work. Women go to the right side, and men to the left. The women get about 30% of the wall, and men the other 70%!

I enter the area with a fellow traveler, Jean-Paul. Respecting the Jewish requirements our heads are covered. We approach the Wall and take our turns to approach, make our wish, say our prayer. It was a special moment!

We leave the West Wall and begin walking down the aisles of shops. They start as mildly crowded. It is nearing sunset and folks are thinning to go to dinner, I guess.

It does not take long for the aisles to empty! It feels like we have the city mostly to ourselves!

The smells are incredible! I loved the aromas as I passed this incense table!

Then I had to double back to confirm what my eyes saw but my mind took a moment to process. Roast beef! Schnitzel! Hot dogs! Smelled great!

Shops were beginning to close, but this woman looked like she was ready for long night, just sitting down to her dinner.

We turned and the aisles opened up! More interesting views!

This is one of the stations of the cross. Station V is where Simon offered to help carry the cross for Jesus. There is now a church here dedicated to Simon.

Station VII is where Jesus fell for the first time. We didn’t chase down all of the stations, and we were moving so fast we missed Station VI, so these are the only two I can show.

But we had to stop for a moment while folks bought some dates to snack on!

And then we popped out into the open again. This church was nicely lit against the failing sunlight!

And we arrived at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

We arrive at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 7:15 PM. We thought it was supposed to close at 7 PM, but find it is still open! We’re allowed to go in!

As we begin to enter a few ladies I thought are nuns appear and enter with us.

Once inside the make a hard right turn and climb a very steep staircase!

We go straight ahead and see this view. The frame with the suspended lanterns has my interest. I learn the focus is at the bottom.

This is the Stone of Unction, the stone on which Jesus’ body was laid and annointed before burial in the tomb. Actually, there is a stone placed on top of the actual Stone of Unction to protect it since people like to touch things.

On the back wall is this painting of, right to left, the descent from the corss, the cleaning of the body, and the entombment. (In case you didn’t know, Hebrews and Arabs, just like the Japanese, read right to left.)

This is Golgatha – a visible portion of the stone on which Jesus was crucified and around which this church is built.

Chana, our tour guide, encourages us to go downstairs to see the beautiful mosaic.

It is worth the descent! This is the Chapel of St. Helena.

The design was supposedly created by a Jewish man for a Muslim motif. It IS beautiful!

But wait! There’s more! Another set of stairs go further down!

There is an interesting image of what appears to be a woman holding the cross. Mother Mary? I found a reference that said this is the area where St. Helena sat and watched while remants of the True Cross were excavated.

There are no signs to tell me what I’m seeing here, but perhaps this is the excavation area.

Then we see the Angel’s Chapel, which holds the stone on which the angel sat and announced the resurrection of Jesus to the holy women, and further inside is an empty slab in what may have been Jesus’ burial place. We were not allowed to enter since we had to leave immediately to catch the bus! Schedules. Grrrr.