21st September 2016
As ever I seem to be way behind with this blog. I am actually now in Turkey on (yet another!) holiday still writing about our last one. Still, my sense of completeness cannot allow me to leave the story to remain untold, so, probably rather briefly, here you go.
Well, Val and Claire set off to go shopping so your intrepid reporter set off for a jaunt around the Old City. I started with a walk past the Montefiore Windmill, built by the philanthropist, Sir Moses Montefiore in 1857 with the aim of helping the locals. It actually infuriated the local millers and, due to the fact that there are only about 20 days in the year where the wind is strong enough to drive it, it was not a great success. I then headed across the valley and up to the bullet-ridden Zion Gate (a result of a gun battle in 1948), taking in the Church of the Dormition, one of the oldest churches in the area, although technically outside the old city on Mt Zion. It is supposedly on the site of the Last Supper (see photo below) and the room is a nice gothic room, though presumably not the original room! It is also the site of where the Virgin Mary ‘died’ or, went to sleep (hence ‘Dormition’ all you linguists out there). Oscar Schindler is also buried there, though I had a bit of difficulty finding his grave, so no photo, sorry.
From there I took a stroll through the Armenian Quarter, dropping in on Claire’s Armenian tile maker friend who we met last time we were here. Apparently there are only about 600 Armenians in the Old City, down from a height of some 20,000 I believe. Lunch at the Armenian Tavern (wonderful air-conditioning), then through the Jewish Quarter, down to the Western Wall, through the Muslim Quarter and back to the Jaffa Gate with a quick walk around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the way. At the Gate there was an unusual parade of the Arab Catholic Group, who seemed to be made up of smartly dressed young men, a lot of monks and a pipe band (complete with tartan!). All very incongruous! Finally the walk back to Claire’s flat past the King David Hotel, scene of a huge explosion in July 1946, during the fight for Israel independence when 91 people, mostly either hotel personnel or members of the British Secretariat were killed. Britain left the running of Palestine in 1948.
We had an excellent curry that evening, thanks to Val and Claire with a jolly evening with some of Claire’s friends.
22nd September, 2016
There is a museum almost across the road from Claire’s flat, the Museum of Islamic Art, that we had passed every day, so finally, on our last day, we got ourselves organised and popped in – and was a treat it was. I will let the very selective photos do the talking…..
From there we picked Claire up from the Institute and walked off to find dinner, going past some lovely houses and dropping in to the Ethiopian Cathedral, which was a very unusual building. We were on the outskirts of the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish area, hence the interesting sign among the photos below. Then an excellent supper near Jaffa Street and a walk home through a quite trendy part of town – complete with umbrellas!
What a great stay! I hope this blog has inspired you to make the trek (pilgrimage?) yourself. Blog from Turkey soon!
John & Val's World Travels 