Day 4 - Sunday, March 12, 2023

Another beautiful sunny morning in Tel Aviv.

We would have liked to attend the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem for Sunday worship but the service starts at 9am and it is a two-hour trip by taxi, train, bus and on foot so we didn't attempt it.

We did go in a little for sightseeing and had our usual assortment of interesting travel complications but it all worked out in the end.

We decided to take a taxi to the train station as it should only take about 15 minutes and getting there by bus would have been involved with multiple buses. Right after we got the taxi, we ended up behind two (!) street cleaning machines that were just inching along. We made it to the Tel Aviv Savona train station just in time.

The military must be returning after the weekend as the platform was filled with different uniforms and arms. It was strange to see cute young women with assault rifles. We certainly didn't have to fear for our safety.😀

The train ride from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem takes about 40 minutes on a new train line that was completed in 2019 and stops at the Ben Gurion Airport along the way.

Of course coming out of the train station we started in the wrong direction towards the bus stop but did find it and when we got on the #1 bus, the driver asked us where we were going. He helpfully told us this was the bus going in the opposite direction so we crossed the street and waited for the bus going to the City of David. 11 stops and 22 minutes later we were there.

The City of David is an excavation just south of the Jerusalem City Wall and the Western Wall. It is claimed to be the site of King David's Palace from the 10th century BCE. Archeologists and scholars aren't in agreement about whether this is true. None the less, it was very interesting and there are many ancient ruins that have been excavated. There was an interesting 3-D movie about the history of the Jews from the time of King David conquering a Jebusite fortress until the destruction of the second temple in 60 CE. We walked down an incredible distance to King Hezekia's tunnel that brought water into Jerusalem to protect from the Assyrian siege in the 8th century BCE. One has the option of walking through the original water channel with water 1-2' deep or walking around in a parallel underground tunnel which we opted to do. The water channel involves 20-40 minutes of walking bent over carrying flashlights.

After coming out, we entered the Old City through the Dung Gate and went through security to the Western Wall although we didn't go all the way down to the wall. This is scheduled as part of our tour in a few days.

There is a maze of narrow streets under the Old City that are filled with venders selling crafts, knick-knacks, candies and pretty much everything imaginable. Carmen bought a small bag of "zatar" spice which contains hyssop and sesame seeds. It was getting a bit unnerving walking around underground as I wasn't sure how to get out. Eventually we came up into the sunshine by the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, one of the oldest churches in Jerusalem that was inaugurated by Kaiser Wilhelm in the late 1800s. We were accosted by a Bedouin jewelry seller who pleaded with us to see his wares and said he would be happy to see it with no obligation to buy anything (right!). He told us about his Bedouin family living in the Beersheba desert that had been making silver jewelry for generations. We made the mistake of admiring a few beautiful pieces but of course he didn't want to talk about price, only that he would give us a 30% discount and not charge us 17% VAT. In the end, he gave us a price on a pendant and earrings with beautiful Red Sea stones and Roman Glass. It seemed very expensive to me. Eventually we bargained down to about 25% of the original price, although still expensive, and paid for it.

From there we found our way to the Jaffa Gate and up to the light-rail station taking us back to the main Jerusalem train station where we could a train back to Tel Aviv. This was a bit confusing as the name of the station on the outside of the station, Sarona, isn't the name that is listed when arriving on the train, TLV-Central. But we figured out that it was the right one and got off.

We tried using the GETT app for a taxi but after it said a taxi would be there in 6 minutes, it came back and said no taxis were available. A taxi was sitting at the train station but when I asked about the cost, the driver wanted 90 shekels, double what it cost in the morning. So then we used the Moovit app to find a bus route but had trouble finding the stop for the particular bus we needed and my phone was running on fumes - the phone was also the only way to pay for the bus. An information person pointed us in the right direction and we got back in almost the same time as a taxi for only 11 shekels. Public transportation must be highly subsidized as it cost the equivalent of $6 to travel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and buses and light rail cost the equivalent of $1.50 for most rides.

We stopped at Molly Bloom's for a beer before meeting the rest of the group and dinner at the hotel. Then a short orientation meeting with Yonatan. There are 17 people in our group.