Israel

In October 1997 I was in Israel for about a week. I was for work in Haifa, but also visited Jerusalem after the work.

Haifa is a port city located on a bay with fairly high hills right behind it. The major hotels are on one of those hills giving a nice view over the view. Here is the night view from the hotel where I stayed.

The Bahai temple is one of the major sights of Haifa.

But lots more religions have important holy places in Jerusalem. Here is in one picture the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall. There is a remarkably tight intertwining of important places for Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions. Mostly remarkable because after all these centuries of being next to each other they are not at all mixed. At best there is a peaceful coexistence. But in recent decades the city is loaded with military. For instance just after I stepped out of the bus from Haifa to Jerusalem, I stumbled over something and when I looked what it was it appeared to be an automatic firearm, I guess an Uzi, which was seemingly carelessly dragged by a cute Israeli soldier.

In the streets there is a fascinating mix of people from different groups with long standing cultural traditions which don't seem to be affected very much by the hordes of tourists which overwhelm their city.

Only some of them trying to bridge cultural differences.

Of the most holy places, the Christian things are easiest to get into and make pictures. I tried several times to get on the temple mountain, but each time they said it was closed for the public, though according to my guide book it was at the time it would be open. That's why you are finding a lot of pictures from the Christian church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is built on the place where Christ is supposed to have been crucified. It is therefore very holy for all Christian denominations, that is how this church became a patchwork of part governed by different groups.

This is something of the orthodox catholic church, the place where the body of Christ is supposed to have been cleansed.	Some parts in this church are more holy than others, leading to waiting lines in order to get real close to those places.
Due to the dissension among the denominations governing this church, it appears to be a problem to keep up lots of parts of it, which do not belong to a particular denomination.	Though this very old part, which dates back to the time of the crusades, is now getting a thorough restoration.

A less frequently visited place in Christian tradition is this alleged place of birth of the Virgin Mary.

Though the old city of Jerusalem is flooded with tourists, just besides the most frequently visited streets, there are also places which appear as if there are no tourists at all.

The ancient history of the city makes it an extremely interesting site for archaeology. I understand that lots of sites are inaccessible for archaeologists. But here is an excavation of the site of the Pool of Bethesda. Here are layer over layer of versions of the buildings around this watering place, spanning thousands of years of history.

The old city walls get lit up at night. They are built in the 16th century, therefore much newer than a lot of buildings of the city.

Here at the Damascus Gate

And here the Western side of the city walls.

I am closing off this page with some pictures from a higher standpoint.

Here highlighting the magnificent golden Dome of the Rock.

And here showing that the ancient looking houses do have modern satellite dishes and sun power systems.