Mt. Zion, Church of the Dormition, Room of the Last Supper, Armenian Quarter . . . and Lunch!

Whew! Just reading the title makes me tired all over again. And that isn't all we did after leaving the Western Wall on the second day of our exploration of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem's Old City is comprised of four quarters:  Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Armenian. During our visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, we walked through the Christian Quarter. Exiting the Temple Mount, we entered the Jewish Quarter, where Gila treated us to a bite of pita bread sprinkled with Za'atar, a delicious spice/herb blend, something I'd sampled my very first day in Israel. Since returning home I've ordered my own supply of Za'atar. 

Gila kept us moving along, viewing remains of the Roman cardo, the main north/south street that traverses the Jewish Quarter from the Damascus Gate in the north to the Zion Gate in the south. The distance between the level of the present-day walkway and the remains of the cardo amply illustrate the layers that have accumulated over the years as the city has been rebuilt as well as the number of civilizations that have occupied the space.

Remnants of the Roman Cardo, the thoroughfare that went from the Damascus Gate
through the Jewish Quarter to the Zion Gate 

A restored fresco along the Cardo. I took this photo from the current level of the pedestrian walkway. Where the folks are
standing in front of the fresco indicates the level of the cardo in the time of the Romans.

To view a map of the Old City, go here.

After a short time, we exited through the Zion Gate 

Zion Gate

Old City wall and Ancient Olive

toward the Church of the Dormition, where Mary is said to be buried.

The artwork contained within the Church of the Dormition is simply phenomenal, as it is with most of the religious buildings in Israel. 

Mary's resting place
  Not sure what my buddies were looking at--Marilyn, Mary, Lorenzo, Gila, 
Bob (behind Gila), Jerry, Marcia and Shelby.

Icon in Church of the Dormition

Our Lady of  Guadalupe in Church of the Dormition

None of my photos do justice to the beauty of the places or the artwork we were privileged to visit, but as I spent most of two days preparing the latest posts, looking at the photos brought back many warm memories of both people and places.

We made our way to the room of the Last Supper, also called the Cenacle. By the time we reached this area it was shortly after noon, and the sites were extremely crowded. It was hard to even move, and for those of us vertically-challenged, hard to see. That would get even worse as we went toward David's Tomb. That space was divided between men and women, and the women's side was packed shoulder-to-shoulder. I took a quick look at the tomb alleged to be David's and left as quickly as possible.

The group left the area of Mt. Zion, walking single-file through the Armenian Quarter's narrow cobblestone streets shared with motor vehicles. Where we could, we had to duck into alleyways to avoid being run over.

Gila instructed us to wait in one of the alleys, and when we were all assembled, she shepherded us across the street and into an Armenian Quarter restaurant. I am embarrassed to admit I don't know its name because the food was absolutely delicious (as was virtually all the food we had during the entire journey).

Most of our meals were buffet-style, but a few, including the Armenian restaurant, were served family-style. The wait-staff first brought out the typical array of salads, hummus, baba ganoush and the ever-present pita bread. As if that weren't enough, the rice came next and then ground-lamb kebabs to die for. There was dessert, and it was delicious. For the life of me I can't remember what it was.

After this meal, we waddled back to the bus through the Jaffa Gate and headed to the hotel--for a nap before our scheduled speaker that evening.