Jerusalem – Via Dolorosa

Via Dolorosa is the name of a street through the old city of Jerusalem.  It has also become known as the, “Way of the Cross.”  With a guided map (or some rambling around in the city) a tourist can stop at 14 different stations depicting the journey Jesus took from the time he was scourged by order of Pilate until he was removed from the cross.  Several of the stations are based on tradition rather than scripture.  This is a downloadable map I found online, but several people sold maps for $1 along the route.

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Bethlehem

Bethlehem is controlled by Palestine, and we entered a checkpoint before arriving in the city. How much of the land known as Israel belongs to Israel and how much belongs to Palestine is still a contentious subject.  Our guide is a resident of Israel, a Palestinian by nationality, and a christian by choice. We found all the Palestinians we encountered to be kind and friendly toward us.  Of course, we stayed in the tourist areas, otherwise we possibly could have met others who would have acted differently.

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