World Cruise Day 109/152 - Ashdod, Israel - Jerusalem & Bethlehem - l'chaim!

Cruise day: 109/152

Ports days: 49
Sea days: 60
Countries: 19
Continents: 5
Ports: 36

We docked last night in Ashdod, Israel as planned.  Today, Kate, our Cruise Director, announced once again there are ZERO COVID cases on the ship!  Woo!  That means that our one infected passenger has recovered - infected nobody else - and we're COVID-free once again.  Viking's protocols are working and our cruise continues.  Even with Israel's additional testing, we came in at zero cases.  That's awesome.

Ashdod is the largest port in Israel and it showed.  Many of the berths were filled with ships loading or unloading cargo.  

Is there some reason it's called "cargo" when it's on a ship and a "shipment" when it's in a car?  Asking for a friend...

It was supposed to be a sunny day in the mid-70s and the weather did not disappoint.

After a quick breakfast, we boarded bus #2 and were off to Jerusalem.

 Traffic was...traffic.  Honking horns seems to be required to drive in Israel. 

We drove for most of an hour and then arrived at the outskirts of Jerusalem. One thing we noted was how much cleaner Israel was when compared to the last three countries - Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt where the roadside was strewn with garbage.  Sure, there was a piece of litter here and there in Israel, but it was so much cleaner than in the Arab countries that it really jumped out at us.

We stopped at an overlook to view the Mount Scopus Forest area.

From here, we could also see the wall dividing the Israeli-controlled area (to the left of the wall) and the Palestinian-controlled area (to the right of the wall)

It was nice of the trees to match Arlona's top today

Our next stop was at Mount of Olives which provided a panoramic view of the old city of Jerusalem.

You can see the Jewish cemetery at the bottom of the photo as well as in the next few photos

Dominus Flevit Church

The Church of Mary Magdalene

Dome on the Rock - a Muslim mosque

We are approaching the walls of the old city of Jerusalem.

Our next stop was at the Church of All Nations, or the Church or Basilica of the Agony.

In the courtyard, they have olive trees - some of them range from 1,200 to 1,600 to over 2000 years old.

The following are photos of a section of bedrock where Jesus was said to have prayed before he was arrested and crucified.

Our next stop was in the old city of Jerusalem.

It appears that Monday is Bar Mitzvah Day in Jerusalem as we saw several Bar Mitzvahs in progress as we walked into the city.

Our first stop was at the Western, or Wailing Wall.  It is interesting as there is a women's area and a men's area to go and pray at the wall.

The men's section.

The lady's section.

We walked into the old city.

Interesting restaurants that were carved into the stone

Interesting juxtaposition of Israeli flags and a mosque tower

We wound up walking on the Via Dolorosa - the way of suffering or the route Jesus took with the cross on the way to his crucifixion. This is station #5 where Simon of Cyrene carried the cross for Jesus.

Next, we arrived at station VI - where Veronica wiped the face of Jesus, creating the Veil of Veronica.

The walk was interesting with multiple shops with a variety of products.

We passed of all things, a German Luthern church in the old city, the only Lutheran church in Jerusalem.

Next up was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian quarter of the old city of Jerusalem.  This church is significant for a couple of reasons.  First, it is on the spot where Christ was crucified and includes rock where the crucifix was mounted and more rock where his body was laid.  Next, it contains the tomb where his body was placed and where he was resurrected.

I found it interesting that industrial equipment was moving about in the courtyard and into the body of the church

This is the spot where Christ was crucified - the crucifix was mounted here

This rock is where Christ's body was laid, anointed with oil, and wrapped in cloth

This is the tomb where Christ was buried and ultimately resurrected

Christ's tomb

It is interesting to see such disparate religions in juxtaposition and living more or less harmoniously

Ultimately, we headed out of the old city and the walls of Jerusalem.

It was time for lunch and we went to a hotel and had a nice buffet lunch.

After lunch, it was on to Bethlehem! We had to pass through the wall that separates Israeli and Palestinian control.  While Bethlehem conjures up Jewish imagery, Palestine controls Bethlehem.  We picked up a local Palestinian tour guide for this portion of the tour.

We approached and then passed through the wall separating Palestine and Israel.

This is artwork from famed graffiti artist, Banksy, that adorns the wall

They seem to pride themselves in ripping off brand names.

We walked up a small hill to visit the Church of the Nativity.

Technically, the Church of the Nativity is three churches with shared spaces.  Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Catholic Christians all use this space cooperatively.

Does that doorway look low?  It is because it is - it was rebuilt to endure that anyone that entered - Ottoman rulers included would have to bow and show respect when entering

The original inlaid floor was discovered under the rebuilt wooden floor

All the columns and art on the columns were original, dating back to the 4th century AD

Our guide pointed out that this image of Mary and Jesus was different than any others as Mary had a happy expression - others around the world had an expressionless look

This church claims to hold the actual birthplace of Jesus - not a manger as popularly believed.

It was incredibly crowded

This 14-point star is said to be the birthplace of Jesus

This is where Jesus was said to be swaddled and laid as a baby

After the Greek Orthodox section, we also visited the Catholic section.

Our guide explained the Jerusalem cross with the main cross symbolizing Jerusalem and the four other crosses symbolizing either the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) or the four compass points (north, south, east, west), depending on who you believe.

We stopped at a local shop that had great views of the city.

The largest olive wood baby Jesus carving

They had the Popemobile that was used for the Pope's visit to Bethlehem.

Street art on the wall

We stopped at a local gift shop.  We didn't find anything that was a must-buy. After that, it was a return trip to the ship.

We started heading back to the ship. We passed tiered farming areas.

The Israel Museum - home of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Israeli Parliament

The Chords Bridge also called the Bridge of Strings or Jerusalem Light Rail Bridge

Once back on the ship, we had dinner with friends and called it a night as we have another big day tomorrow. We sailed at about 10:30PM to make the 70-mile or so trip north to Haifa, Israel for the next two days.  We have an excursion to Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee tomorrow so watch for that.