Jerusalem- orientation
by FruitLover
You're watching the most fascinating strip of land, geologically, topographically, historically, archeologically and more, a picture taken by a sattelite.
Geologically it's part of unstable Syrian-African rift. This area suffers earthquakes from time to time, not destructive, fortunately.
In the middle you see the city of Jerusalem - its altitude is 700 m above sea level. The northern part of Dead-Sea, in the lower right, is the LOWEST point on earth - 400m under sea level. Jordan river(upper right, not rich in water), which is the international frontier between states of Israel and Jordan, goes(from north to south) to Dead-Sea from Kinnereth(Lake of Galilee, not seen in the picture). Distance between Jerusalem to Jordan river (left to right, west to east) is not more than 50 KMs.
North to Dead-Sea you see a green stain. That's the oasis of old Biblical Jericho, one of the most ancient cities [if not most] in the world - about 10,000(!) years.
Left(west) to Dead-Sea is Judean Desert where Qumran Scrolls were found, amazingly well preserved for 2,000 (!) years, thanks to extremely dry climate.
Check, enlarge and explore the original sattelite's photo belongs to NASA:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/aster_jerusalem_03apr00_15m.jpg
visit the Wailing Wall and all...
by tvdm
visit the Wailing Wall and all the sights around it. Here you are at the very place that three of the world's main religious deem holy. With the Christian churches behind you, the Jewish Wall right in front and the Muslim Al'Aqsa mosque above, you can't help but be astounded. See the travelogue for some more pics. Dusk over the western part of town. As all the buildings are made of a light sandstone, the whole city turned a pink hue... really beautiful!
Gates in the Old City
by Ekaterinburg
If a city is walled then it must have gates. The Old City walls in Jerusalem have eight gates, seven of them made during the construction and one added in the 19th century. Gates are heavily symbolic and the very act of going through one is of significance. It's a much more exciting way to enter a city than via a motorway or a tunnel and calls to mind all kinds of dramatic scenes from ancient legends.
The Damascus Gate is the entrance into the Muslim Quarter.
The Jaffa Gate is the traditional entrance for pilgrims, next to The Citadel.
The New Gate is indeed the newest of the gates, opened in the 19th century to give access to the Christian Quarter.
Herod's Gate is very close to the Damascus Gate and allows access to the Muslim Quarter also.
St Stephen's Gate/Lion's Gate is on the eastern wall and gives access to the Mount of Olives.
The Dung Gate is on the southern wall and is the smallest of the city gates. It gives access to the Western Wall Plaza.
Zion Gate was added to give access to the Franciscan monastery left outside the walls by Suleyman's architescts.
Golden Gate is perhaps the most interesting of all. The entrance to the Temple Mount, it is sealed and some believe it will only be opened when the Messiah comes.
Before you come to Jerusalem, looking at the location of all these gates and checking which area of the Old City the give access to is a very good way of orientating yourself.
Lost (and Found) on Jaffa Road
by gilabrand
Keep an eye on your belongings as you walk around Jerusalem. Leave your backpack on a park bench or forget it at a bus stop and chances are you will never see it again. Not that anyone will walk off with it. On the contrary, the police will be summoned in a jiffy, the streets will be cordoned off, and a police robot will be rolled out to prod, poke and possibly shoot a volley of bullets into the “suspicious object.” Within minutes, nothing will be left of your backpack, bag of groceries or precious laptop.
But if you do happen to lose something that doesn’t have a suspicious look about it – say, sunglasses, or a wallet - the police station on Jaffa Road is the place where it might end up. In fact, this is also the place where remnants of suspicious objects are brought after the police robot has done its stuff…
How will you recognize this building? It is an old 2-story stone building, rather gray and shabby looking, with a pair of sculpted lions guarding the entrance. It may be a grim piece of architecture today, but in the 19th century it was quite a distinguished place. It was the home of the British consul in Jerusalem, Noel Temple Moore, and was surrounded by a beautiful garden. It became a police station during the British Mandate.
Now, in addition to being a police station, it is Jerusalem’s Lost & Found office. The Lost & Found is located at 107 Jaffa Road, just past the entrance to Mahane Yehuda market and across the street from the Sun Dial house.
Hours: Sunday to Thursday, 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Friday & holiday eves, until noon. Closed Saturday.
Phone: 02-5391360
Old City Jewish Quarter
by Kuznetsov_Sergey
The Jewish Quarter is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City. The Quarter is situated in the southeastern corner of the Old City. You can enter it through the Zion Gate or the Dung Gate or through the Jaffa Gate passing along the Armenian Quarter.
The most interesting sites there: the Western Wall Plaza, Cardo Street, Hurva Synagogue, Ophel Archaeological Park. The most famous site of the Jewish Quarter is the Western Wall, ha-kotel ha-ma'aravi in Hebrew, the only surviving portion of the retaining wall around the Temple of Jerusalem.
You can watch my 2 min 13 sec HD Video Jerusalem Wailing Wall in the evening out of my Youtube channel.
You can watch my high resolution photo of Jerusalem on the Google Earth according to the following coordinates 31° 46' 33.24" N 35° 13' 59.97" E or on my Google Earth Panoramio Jewish Quarter.
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Israel / Palestine Border Wall
Church of the Nativity - Roof Renovation
Westen Wall - Head Must Be Covered
Rotunda - Church of the Holy Sepulchre
