Contents
Summary
Israel is a country every Christian dreams to visit in their lifetime. We are not an exception to that. To see the holy sites and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus is an experience every Christian must have.
This post will be about our first day experience after crossing the Jordan border into Israel, entering the Jaffa Gate of Old City, Jerusalem after renting a car, walking from from Jewish Quarter to Christian Quarter and our very first visit to a holy site, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was 2 minutes walk from our Airbnb stay. Easter was celebrated the day we arrived in Jerusalem and in many Eastern cultures. Special feeling to go to Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the place which is identified as Golgotha, where Jesus is crucified) and see people celebrating Easter! We were staying at the Christian Quarter, Old City of Jerusalem which itself is amazing experience on Easter Sunday!
Rental car driving experience into the Old City, Jerusalem
After, we arrived in the outskirts of Jerusalem Old City, we rented the car and drove may be less than 10 minutes and entered along Jerusalem Old City, Jaffa Gate. Man, what a feeling! The gate where Jesus could have walked and lots of history took place. Jaffa gate is one of the main gates where public buses drops you or you find a taxi outside, as you can’t drive inside any of the gates, which itself as a tourist brought so many questions in mind: how do I carry my luggage to my place of stay, how far is Christian Quarter (where our Airbnb location was) from Jewish Quarter, where to park the car, where to buy basic essentials, where to exchange currency etc.
First click in our rental car, Avis, Hertz, King David Street, Jerusalem
Driving in Jerusalem was bit scary for first few minutes, but got used to it in less than 10 minutes
Driving in to Jaffa Gate was fun
Drivers are usually very courteous to the pedestrians
Our private guide gave us a parking space in her parking lot, which was just 20 meters outside the Jewish Quarter entrance, where we parked all throughout our stay in Jerusalem. Our guide lives in the Jewish Quarter itself and because of that our parking charges was totally free and she knows the whereabouts of almost everything the old city has to offer, which was a massive plus.
Entering the Gates with Thanksgiving
Dream came true. Here we are…we finally entered the Jerusalem (Jaffa Gate) gates with Thanksgiving…
Entering Jewish Quarter of Old City, Jerusalem
Jewish Quarter, Jerusalem Old City
Lots of history in Jewish Quarter, Jerusalem Old City
Entering Jewish Quarter, Jerusalem Old City
After parking the car, we walked through the narrow pathway that leads us to the Jewish Quarter. There was a grocery store right at the entrance of Jewish Quarter, and also money exchange, a coffee shop, bakery etc. We just went inside the grocery store to shop for the breakfast and also for quick bites for lunch and bottled water as well. Its hard to know how the lunch schedule would be for the entire week or the location, hence it’s handy to have a packed lunch rather than getting lunch from outside, which takes time to get seating, ordering, eating etc. Its time saving to pack lunches.
Transportation within the Old City
We left few water bottles in the car and meanwhile our guide got her golf cart buggy to help us with our luggage, which was very sweet of her.
So now we have the groceries and our luggage and we have to go all the way to the Christian quarter in the old city from the Jewish quarter, our guide she took her buggy and loaded all of our luggage and groceries into her buggy and then off we left. I was carrying my heavy camera backpack which I didn’t load it to the buggy.
So my guide drove all the way from the Jewish quarter navigating all the different vendors, maybe 100s of them selling something in both Jewish quarter ,Muslim quarter and Christian quarter. The streets were so narrow, the buggy hardly fit in some corners resulting in the yelling of the shop vendors. But she didn’t care but rather she proceeded driving the buggy. My son was also sitting next to our guide and they both had lots of fun things to talk about especially looking at the cats, which were too many in the old city.
Sitting comfortably in the buggy with our guide
Navigating our way through the narrow streets across Jewish Quarter, Muslim Quarter and Christian Quarter
Shop keeper try to sell as we walk past their stores
Lots of history and ruins as we walk along the Jewish Quarter
One of the shop in the Christian Quarter of Old City, Jerusalem
Our Airbnb at the Christian Quarter, Jerusalem Old City
We were in contact with our Airbnb host and they were awesome in giving us directions on how to get to their place and were waiting for our arrival. Upon reaching our Airbnb, our hosts made us feel comfortable by giving us a quick tour of the place, which also had a very small kitchen. This Airbnb place was a perfect size for our family and very comfortable for all four of us. We had four separate single beds in two rooms, solid Wi-Fi connection plus the kitchen.
Comfortable Airbnb right in the heart of Christian Quarter
Our Airbnb was small but modern with 2 rooms, 4 single beds and a kitchen
Excited in the Airbnb amidst of the tired journey from Jordan
Lights on the ceiling of Old City Jerusalem Airbnb
Our Airbnb was quite comfortable and just 2 minutes away from Church of Holy Sepulchre
Overall travel time from Jewish Quarter entrance to our Airbnb in Christian Quarter was around 30 minutes. Not many people have buggy to carry luggages. But you can arrange for luggage transport from one place to another within Old City. We didn’t use this service but our guide told us later, the service is available.
Happy Easter!
Upon chatting with our Airbnb host, who was also a pastor of a local church, we came to know that it was their Easter Sunday that day and they just finished their Easter service few hours back. [We had our Easter Sunday one week before in the US and] We were wondering why Easter is celebrated in Israel one week later. For that our Airbnb host told us this is the Easter for Eastern cultures.
For that very reason we decided to go to Church of the Holy Sepulchre that evening (we originally planned to visit 5 days later), even though we were very tired. It happened that Church of the Holy Sepulchre was just two minutes walk from our place. But we were starving since we didn’t have any food since W Amman’s breakfast that morning, except for some snacks.
Hungry and Ready to have dinner, right across the Church of Holy Sepulchre
Made friends with the restaurant owner and his son and we were curious to learn about the Israeli ingredients
Lots of restaurant options in the Old City even at late night
So we left our Airbnb and started walking towards Church of the Holy Sepulchre and we found a nice restaurant on our way. The food was very delicious and we had our first of many pomegranate juice drinks, which was super yummy and throughout our trip, we stopped to have pomegranate juice wherever possible. The price for the food we thought (since this place was so tiny) would be less expensive, but it wasn’t so. Have to say, food prices in Israel could be bit expensive compared to Jordan.