Back in Jerusalem - Days 5-6

It's stinking hot in Jerusalem. While this has done wonders for my pores and complexion it's also reduced my capacity to wander the hills and streets. Yesterday (Tuesday) I managed a little bit of a wander through the Jewish and Arab/Muslim quarters of the old city. It was really quite a wonderful if sometimes wierd and tense experience.


I met a friendly Ethiopian security guard while I was entering the Western Wall complex (you have to go through metal detectors). When I told him I was from Australia he asked if I'd sponsor his visa application. He wasn't joking either. I suggested he seduce a nice Australian girl and ask her to sponsor him.

This is the Western or wailing Wall. It is the western side of the old Jewish temple that sat where the Al Aqsa mosque now resides. It's the holiest site for Jews and it is quite a sight watching many of those praying become emotional, some even hug the wall.

This is an inner section of the Western Wall. Bizarrely, I was asked for money by two different Jewish beggers and I saw more of them outside. I've read that poverty and the rich/poor gap is increasing in Israel so it was sad to see it 'confirmed' like this.
I had a bit of difficulty entering Musjid-e-Al Aqsa complex. It was beyond the tourist opening times and I found it difficult to convince the Israeli soldiers, police and paramilitary folks (all six of them!!) that I was Muslim. I rattled off the few suras I still remember but it wasn't enough. So I resorted to showing my driver's licence and press passes. The end product of all this - the mosque complex, which is huge and quite beautiful, was close to deserted.

I really liked this lamp.

Here you can see the main room of Musjid-e-al Aqsa. It's actually the smaller of the two domes in the complex. According to canon, this is where Prophet Muhammed teleported from Mecca to Jerusalem via winged-mule before being transported to heaven at the Dome of the Rock (the bigger dome) where he hung out with other Prophetic lumeries such as Abraham, Jesus and Moses. Oh and Allah too.

Beautiful wall art outside Al Aqsa.

A street market in one of the halls exiting the Al Aqsa complex.