"Kingdom of Heaven" a Jerusalem Travel Page by antistar

Jerusalem is one of the most amazing cities in the world. It is a holy city for three major religions, and over three billion people. It has a history that stretches back longer than almost any other city on the planet, where it has been ruled and influenced by some of the most important empires and people on the planet: Romans, Crusaders, Saladin, The British Empire, and now it has returned to the first Jewish state since the diaspora: Israel.

You can just feel the history.

The Old City is incredibly well preserved, and filled with some of the most incredble and unforgettable sights. The most important, iconic, and controversial of these sights is easily Temple Mount, the location of the second Jewish temple, the holiest of holies in Judaism, that was destroyed. Here was built the incredible Dome of the Rock, and the third most important holy site in Islam, the Al Aqsa Mosque, where Mohammad is believed to have ascended to heaven. Around the outside is the Western (Wailing) Wall, too holy for some Jews to even visit, and the Via Dolorosa, where the Bible describes how Jesus carried his cross through the streets.

The city features the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, one of the most important places of pilgrimage in Christendom, and venerated as being the place where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected. It is built around the shrine which protects his place of burial. There is also the Cardo, a grand shopping street from Roman times which can be clearly seen in the millenia old mosaic maps across the border in Jordan. The whole of the Old City hosts a vast array of history from the ancient to the modern, from the birth of Christianity to the rebirth of the Jewish state of Israel.

It's an incredibly international city.

The city is divided in two. There is no physical wall, like Berlin used to have, or Nicosia continues to have, but you can sense the separation. Outside of the Old City, Jerusalem is divided into East and West (New) Jerusalem. The two sides were once separated by the Arab war of 1948. The East side was, until 1967, part of Jordan and the Arab world, and the West a part of Israel. Now they are joined together as the single capital city of Israel, but still feel very distinct.

East Jerusalem is home to Jerusalem's large Arab population. It has very different feel to it. A different language is spoken, different customs are used, and a different religion is followed. Walking from the craziness of a Saturday in East Jerusalem, with the roads filled with people, traders, cars and buses, and the air filled with the sound of imam's calling people to the prayer, to the unearthly quiet of the Jewish Jerusalem on its sabbath is an unforgettable experience.

New Jerusalem (also sometimes called West Jerusalem) is home to the city's Jewish population. This side of the city is much more ordered and much more cosmopolitan. Here Jewish people from all over the world have gathered to set up home, and you can hear a multitude of languages spoken, and sample the flavours of a thousand different restaurants. In fact it has some of the best food I've ever eaten in the world.