Day 5 - Sunday

As you might expect, this day began with worship in the local congregation of St. Andrews, Jerusalem. It must have been rather nerve-wracking for the Locum Minister, Colin Anderson. Not only was he preaching to 17 trainees for ministry, but to two Professors and a Doctor of Divinity. And as well as us lot, there was the local congregation. The service was very appropropriate and was relevant and accessible to both groups of people.

During coffee and refreshments after the service, I was pleased to meet one of the staff and his family from Tabeetha School in Jaffa. This school was founded by Jane Walker-Arnott, a Glasgow lady, in 1863. It is linked with the Church of Scotland, who appoint the Principal and Deputy Principal (the Principal's position is currently vacant).


After coffee we headed out to lunch at the Nafoura Jerusalem Wall Restaurant. We lunched here on several occasions and the photo shows the restaurant's courtyard dining area adjacent to the Old City Wall by the Jaffa Gate. Following lunch many of us went for a walk round the City Walls, although others in the party chose to explore the Suks instead.


From the city ramparts there were many fine views. The above photos look South from the Northern Wall, beside the Damascus Gate (to the left) and show the Dome of the Rock in the left image, and the twin domes of the Holy Sepulchre Church in the right image. The photo below, from below the Eastern Wall, shows the church at the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Mount of Olives, with its Russian Orthodox churches.



The Southeast of the City Wall is closed to walkers where it passes around the Temple Mount. Rather than continuing our walk around the walls, the rather smaller band now headed down into the ruins of the biblical city down the southern slope. Here Adrian and I experienced one of the highlights of the trip for me. We walked through the ancient tunnel between the Gihon Spring and the Pool of Siloam.

The tunnel was built by order of King Hezekiah around 900BC when the city was under threat of siege. The siege failed, but when the city fell 100 years later at the time of the Babylonian exile, the tunnel ends were destroyed. The tunnel remained hidden until it was rediscovered by archaeologists in the 19th century. The water was cold compared to the 31C air temperature outside but was warm once we got used to it. The water was up to 70cm deep and flows fairly slowly since it drops only 30-40cm along its 538m length. As you can see, we walked through in our street clothes and shoes, having emptied our trouser pockets first. Thanks to Adrian for his photo. The sense of history was very tangible - and we got wet!