A rainy day in Israel provided the perfect opportunity for an indoor activity: visiting The Western Wall Tunnels.
To visit the tunnels, one must join a tour, which starts at the base of the Western Wall in the Jewish Quarter. It is given from a most assuredly Jewish perspective, which is, at times, hilarious. And at other times interesting/possibly controversial, but always it is just so "Jerusalem."
In any case, the base of Temple mount goes down about four layers of city beneath what is lived in/walked around in today. Over the years, buildings were built on buildings on top of buildings. It's the same in Rome, or any other very old city. The Temple mount as it exists today was leveled out by the Romans, who flattened the area by installing a base of very large to freaking-massive stone blocks. And by freaking massive, I mean larger than a couple of elephants standing side by side. BIG. Way BIG.
Wikipedia has this to say about the largest stone used in the base:
The Western Stone, located in the northern section of Wilson's Arch, is a monolithic stone block forming part of the lower level of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Weighing 517 tonnes (570 short tons),[1] it is one of the largest building blocks in the world. The stone is 13.6 meters (44.6 feet) long and 3 metres (9.8 feet) high and has an estimated width of 3.3 meters (10.8 feet).
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When the Israeli government dug the tunnel along the base of the Western wall (without telling anyone, which was a HUGE deal when the story finally got out), they were able to literally uncover layers of history dating back through the years, over various occupations: Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Caliphate, Crusaders, Ottoman... the proof was all there, in the layers of buildings.
"Whatever you do, don't hit the wall too hard. They" Our tour guide motioned up above, to the Temple Mount, run by Muslims, "They have seismographs up there. Any big movement recorded and *smack*," He clapped his hands together in a finite motion, "atomic war!"
At the end of this long hallway is a very, very narrow cleft in the cavern that you have to pass through. It measures only around a foot wide at it's narrowest point. Our guide told us a story about one VERY large guest. He told her she wouldn't be able to fit and she became offended. He shrugged and let her come along. At this point, she tried to shove herself through the opening and became seriously lodged in place. She couldn't move forward, couldn't go back. Other people on the tour had to push from one side and pull from the other to free her... Yah. Tour guides know what's up.
The tour is one-way and exits onto Via Dolorosa, just above an old cistern pool, which is actually connected to the cistern that is under the Convent my friends and I stayed in. Except our tour was apparently 10 minutes late and the Jewish guards who were posted at the exit to prevent heaven-knows-what happening from the Palestinian quarter (actually, violence is known to happen at that doorway on occasion) decided it was their break time, so instead of offering us an escort back to the entrance from street-level (per normal), we were told that we were extremely lucky in that we would be able to wander back through the tunnels to the entrance at our own pace. So we took our time, wandered, really enjoyed it and then walked all the way back to our convent/guesthouse at street level.
Welcome to Israel!
Visiting the "Kotel"/Western Wall Tunnels:
The entrance is located at the base of the Western wall, in the Jewish Quarter. If you're facing the wall, look to the left near the restrooms.
Opening Hours: Sun-Thurs 7am to "Evening"
Reservations: Highly recommended (but small groups of 2-3 will easily be able to join a tour)
Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cost: I don't remember. Around 20 shekels.
Cool official website: http://english.thekotel.org/VisitorInfo.asp?id=1
Bring: Water, camera capable of taking photos in dark, indoor spaces
To visit the tunnels, one must join a tour, which starts at the base of the Western Wall in the Jewish Quarter. It is given from a most assuredly Jewish perspective, which is, at times, hilarious. And at other times interesting/possibly controversial, but always it is just so "Jerusalem."
In any case, the base of Temple mount goes down about four layers of city beneath what is lived in/walked around in today. Over the years, buildings were built on buildings on top of buildings. It's the same in Rome, or any other very old city. The Temple mount as it exists today was leveled out by the Romans, who flattened the area by installing a base of very large to freaking-massive stone blocks. And by freaking massive, I mean larger than a couple of elephants standing side by side. BIG. Way BIG.
Wikipedia has this to say about the largest stone used in the base:
The Western Stone, located in the northern section of Wilson's Arch, is a monolithic stone block forming part of the lower level of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Weighing 517 tonnes (570 short tons),[1] it is one of the largest building blocks in the world. The stone is 13.6 meters (44.6 feet) long and 3 metres (9.8 feet) high and has an estimated width of 3.3 meters (10.8 feet).
--
When the Israeli government dug the tunnel along the base of the Western wall (without telling anyone, which was a HUGE deal when the story finally got out), they were able to literally uncover layers of history dating back through the years, over various occupations: Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Caliphate, Crusaders, Ottoman... the proof was all there, in the layers of buildings.
A model of Temple Mount and Solomon's Temple, used to show the various building phases
Our tour guide was phenomenal. Just the right combination of history and hilarity and not a little bit of Chutzpah.
Ahead you can see a room built along the base of the Western Wall. The room (shown below) is for Women to pray at the Wall. Men are allowed at the actual base of the wall.
This is considered to be the closest that Women are allowed to the base of the wall, and therefore the holiest spot they have access to.
Rain
"Whatever you do, don't hit the wall too hard. They" Our tour guide motioned up above, to the Temple Mount, run by Muslims, "They have seismographs up there. Any big movement recorded and *smack*," He clapped his hands together in a finite motion, "atomic war!"
At the end of this long hallway is a very, very narrow cleft in the cavern that you have to pass through. It measures only around a foot wide at it's narrowest point. Our guide told us a story about one VERY large guest. He told her she wouldn't be able to fit and she became offended. He shrugged and let her come along. At this point, she tried to shove herself through the opening and became seriously lodged in place. She couldn't move forward, couldn't go back. Other people on the tour had to push from one side and pull from the other to free her... Yah. Tour guides know what's up.
The tour is one-way and exits onto Via Dolorosa, just above an old cistern pool, which is actually connected to the cistern that is under the Convent my friends and I stayed in. Except our tour was apparently 10 minutes late and the Jewish guards who were posted at the exit to prevent heaven-knows-what happening from the Palestinian quarter (actually, violence is known to happen at that doorway on occasion) decided it was their break time, so instead of offering us an escort back to the entrance from street-level (per normal), we were told that we were extremely lucky in that we would be able to wander back through the tunnels to the entrance at our own pace. So we took our time, wandered, really enjoyed it and then walked all the way back to our convent/guesthouse at street level.
Welcome to Israel!
Visiting the "Kotel"/Western Wall Tunnels:
The entrance is located at the base of the Western wall, in the Jewish Quarter. If you're facing the wall, look to the left near the restrooms.
Opening Hours: Sun-Thurs 7am to "Evening"
Reservations: Highly recommended (but small groups of 2-3 will easily be able to join a tour)
Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Cost: I don't remember. Around 20 shekels.
Cool official website: http://english.thekotel.org/VisitorInfo.asp?id=1
Bring: Water, camera capable of taking photos in dark, indoor spaces
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