Israel & Jordan 2023: Jerusalem, part 2

To continue our independent exploration of Old Jerusalem, we entered the old city through the Lion's Gate, one of the 8 gates, 7 of which are open and one is sealed. The 8 gates are: Jaffa Gate, New Gate, Damascus Gate, Herod's Gate, Lions' Gate, Golden Gate, Zion or David's Gate and Dung Gate.

We entered Lion's Gate and it was at this time that our companions had to leave to catch the Optional Tour they signed up for later that evening. And so we stayed behind. Our only goal is to see as much as we could see before we visit with the guided tour tomorrow. I was pretty sure that we will be able to see places that will not be a part of tomorrow's itinerary.

Lo and behold, not far from the Lion's Gate is the birthplace of the Virgin Mary. I saw the sign pointing to the door. It could easily be missed. Just my luck that I spotted it. When we entered we found that it's a church. There is a chapel off the main door. I believe this is the Church of St. Anne. I was a bit shy entering the room, despite the guy's welcoming smile. Instead my husband and I went down to the stairs to explore.

Every level under the main floor there was some sort of an altar. Also there was a cave-like feel there.

Another goal is to get to the New Gate, where we will exit to get to the tram so we could get back to the hotel. So come with me as we sauntered by, soaking in all the new sights and smells of Old Jerusalem.

A random unidentified church we peeked into along the way.

And when we reached the end of the road, do we go right or left. We went left first and easily realized that we were in the wrong direction because it felt like we were going deeper into the city instead of going out of the walled city so we backtracked. And when we did that we found the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Family which is housed inside an Austrian hospice.

Church was in the dark, but was open to visitors.

We found the egress New Gate and I simply could not believe it because for a while it seemed like we were walking aimlessly, albeit joyfully, seemingly without direction or destination.

This was just outside the New Gate. I wanted a selfie with it, but a crowd of high schoolers were milling about it. We crossed the street and found the tram station.

A very long story about us getting one ride ticket to the tram featuring a nosy old woman, but with God's grace we found a way to get a ticket and stopped at Ammunition Hill station; afterwards we had to walk about a mile to the hotel. We arrived just in time to see our buddies who went with us in Jerusalem earlier in the day board the bus on the way to their Optional Tour for the night.

Oh what a very productive time we had in Jerusalem. Continued prayers for all the innocent civilians caught in this horrible war.

Again, travel date was Jan 14-27, 2023.