Day 12 November 20 2012

Today we started our tour with a stop at the Garden Tomb. Here there is also Golgatha (Place of the Skull) where Jesus was crucified.  On the side of the hill there is a rock formation that looks like a skull. Jesus would actually have been crucified beside this place and beside the road that runs by there as the Romans never crucified on hill tops but where people could have access to the person being crucified to mock them and even the dogs could nip at their feet.

Right beside the place of the skull there is a garden and it was here that an empty tomb was found that had engravings of crosses and to indicate that an early Byzantine church had been there. There was also an empty cistern discovered there as well as a wine press.

This place exactly fits the description of the crucifixion and burial as described in the Gospels especially the Gospel of John. The traditional sites for the crucifixion and burial are at the Holy Sepulcher Church, but this is within the city limits and the Romans never carried out crucifixions within the city limits but outside city limits.

We participated in a communion service in the garden and then saw the empty tomb.

We then went to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was arrested.  Gethsemane means oil press and there were some very old olive trees here that were around 1,000 years old. The Church of Agony is built here. It is also called the Church of All Nations because many nations contributed to the construction of the church. This was on the Mt of Olives across the valley from the Golden Gate and the Eastern Wall. The Church of St Mary where the virgin Mary is believed to be buried is also near this church.

Our last stop was a visit to The Holocaust History Museum telling the story of the killing of 6,000,000 Jews by the Nazis. There is also a Children's Memorial in which the names of children killed in the holocaust are read 24/7. It is a very dark and somber place.

We have had limited internet access the last few days. Our hotel did not have free Wifi so the only time we had access to the internet was on the bus as the bus had free Wifi. Pictures for the last four days will be posted later.