City of David

Just outside the Old City walls to the east is the entrance to the City of David, which slopes down towards the northeast and gives breathtaking views of the Kidron Valley (which is largely inhabited by Palestinians).  This area is one of the few places that you actually have to pay to enter, but the sights here were certainly worth the fee.  The City of David is one of the oldest areas of Jerusalem, with excavations uncovering walls and artifacts dating back over 3000 years.  When King David captured Jerusalem in 1000 BCE, he made this the capitol of Israel and there are remnants today of homes occupied by royalty and upper class citizens on the slope overlooking the Kidron Valley.  It is interesting to note that some of the sites in the City of David were discovered fairly recently (some as recently as 2005).

 Kidron Valley

 Eric looking out onto the Kidron valley from an excavation site.

 Largely Palestinian settlement directly across the hill from the City of David.  Unfortunately, the homes in this area are apparently threatened, as the city wants to turn this whole section of land into an archeological park.

The two holes you can see in this photo are actually tombs from the ancient period.  We found it so fascinating that people's homes were just built around these burial sites from thousands of years ago. 

The highlight of this area is walking through Hezekiah's Tunnel, which is an unlighted waterway connecting the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam.  During Hezekiah's reign (700 BCE), the Gihon Spring was the main water source for the city, but was located just outside the city walls.  When it became clear that the Assyrians were planning an attack on the city, Hezekiah (needing to find a way to protect this vital water supply) built a tunnel that moved water from the Gihon under the city walls to the Pool of Siloam, thus preventing the Assyrians from shutting off the water supply to Jerusalem. Yet again, it was an incredible (and fairly indescribable) experience to walk through this tunnel that is almost 3000 years old.

 The initial descent underground towards the tunnel.

 After working your way further and further underground, you finally come across this small opening, which is the beginning of the tunnel.

 As you walk through the tunnel, you wade through flowing water, which rises to varying levels throughout the tunnel but never get much higher than knee-height.

 There are no lights, so a flashlight is absolutely crucial!  The walls are generally pretty narrow, but the ceiling varies from being very low to quite tall.  The tunnel was actually built by having two sets of diggers coming towards each other from either side of the city wall.  On the walls of the tunnel, you can actually see the distinct directional patterns of the diggers tools and about halfway through the tunnel you can see where the two parties met. 

 A quick video showing the inside of the tunnel.  It takes about 30-40 minutes to walk all the way through, and you are walking through water the entire time.

Built in the Byzantine era, the Shiloach Pool is said to be where Jesus healed a blind man.  Up until 2005, this area was covered by debris and garbage, so it is a fairly new discovery.  This is just a bit further past the Pool of Siloam, which is just outside the exit of the tunnel.

After emerging from Hezekiah's tunnel you are at the very bottom of the hill that the City of David sits on.  In order to work our way back up to the top of the city, we walked through this dry tunnel that used to be the main thoroughfare in the heyday of the city.

 Excavations are ongoing and we are constantly amazed how these ancient stone walls still stand strong despite being buried under dirt for hundreds (or thousands) of years.

A mosaic floor uncovered in the excavation site shown above.  Again, how these tiles remain so intact (and how archeologists do not just plow through them as they dig) is incomprehensible to me.

This has definitely been one of the highlights of the trip so far and we hope that you all can get a sense of the magic from these photos :) xo.