Jerusalem the Green & Mount of Olives

Everything is green.

From Mt Zion, looking north to Mamilla (Yemin Moshe on L)

 
Jerusalem really looks completely different after a winter of heavy rains.  These pictures were taken last Monday when Theresa and I took the morning off and walked up Mount of Olives and over to Mt Scopus (where the university is). (Photo credits: TT)

The route to the Mount of Olives from the German Colony goes by a boatload of historic and sacred sites, not all of them were on our itinerary.

From the Cinematheque bridge looking north toward Jaffa Gate (Yemin Moshe on L)

Yemin Moshe was the first Jewish neighbourhood outside of the walled city. Built in 1891, it was constructed to relieve crowding in the Jewish Quarter. Today it's considered a premiere neighbourhood in Jerusalem, but it's not always been so desirable. When the City was divided from 1948-1967, Jordanian snipers often volleyed shots into the neighbourhood!

Yemin Moshe

The Dormition Abbey is a Benedictine abbey just outside the Zion Gate on the south end of the Old City on Mount Zion. [ed. note. Mary is meant to have died at the Dormition Abbey]. King David's tomb is also on Mt Zion. And, the Last Supper is meant to have been served at Mt Zion.

Mt Zion - Old City and the Dormition Abbey (04.02.2013)

At the Dormition Abbey

The Dormition Abbey

We passed a bar mitzvah celebration. Some families celebrate by coming to Jerusalem, hiring some musicians and dancing into the Western Wall.

A bar mitzvah party

At the southeast corner of the Old City there are great views of Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

Theresa (Al-Aqsa behind)

Continuing east we descended into the Kidron Valley (in the Bible this is the Valley of Jehoshaphat).

Kidron Valley looking southwest toward Silwan

The east side of the Kidron Valley is the western slope of the Mount of Olives. This is where the burial sites start.  Observant Jews and Christians consider it an honour to be buried on the western slope of the Mount of Olives. Why? Because when the Messiah comes, he'll come here first.  King David and Jesus both ascended Mount of Olives as they exited Jerusalem.

Kidron Valley -- Tomb of Zechariah and Tomb of Benei Hezir

Here's another cemetery in the Kidron Valley. East beyond the walls of the Old City is the Temple Mount where you find the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Kidron Valley looking west to Old City

I'm not sure if this part of the cemetery has its own name. It's across the way from the Garden of Gethsemane ("oil press" named for the olive trees) and the Church of All Nations.
 

Church of All Nations - Garden of Gethsemane to left

The Garden is most famous as the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before he was arrested.

On the way up the Mount of Olives there are more churches, including the Russian Orthodox Church of Maria Magdalene...

Church of Maria Magdalene

and more gravesites. This is the Jewish cemetery:

Jewish cemetery Mt of Olives

And then the view from the top of Mount of Olives:

Looking south -- at the centre top is the Dormition Abbey

Looking west to the Old City

Still looking west - wide angle

From the Mt of Olives we walked the rolling 2 km route to the Hebrew U campus on Mt Scopus. Right at the edge, where Mount of Olives turns into Mount Scopus there is a Lutheran Centre on the west side of the road, and a Christian Hospital on the east. The road narrows, acquires fencing and the sidewalk disappears. It's as if one isn't meant to walk from Mount of Olives to Mt Scopus. Thankfully, it's a short walk and the traffic was respectful of us on the road.

From Mount Scopus there is a spectacular view east to the Judean Desert (the West Bank) and beyond, the Dead Sea, and the mountains of Jordan. In the summer this view is of burnt desert -- it is astonishingly green right now. And you can really see how the amount of precipitation falls off precipitously! In the bottom right of this photo the road you can see disappears into a tunnel. This road links to Hwy 1, the Israeli road that goes to the Dead Sea; there's a checkpoint on the west side a bit east (around the hill on the right of the picture) of the tunnel [ed note: earlier I made an error in describing where the checkpoint is. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused!)

East to the Judean desert from Mt Scopus

The east side of Hebrew U's Mt. Scopus campus

Isawiya the Arab (Palestinian) neighbourhood that is on the eastern slope of Mt Scopus

Me, calling our friend Amit to meet us for falafel lunch

After stuffing ourselves with falafel for lunch we hopped on the bus and headed down to Mahane Yehuda (the shuk) to get some groceries.