Stations Of The Cross And The Last Supper

On our second day in Jerusalem, we went around the old city of Jerusalem, which was already covered in an earlier post. After going to Mount of Olives and Dominus Flevit, we went on to the Church of All Nations and Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed for the last time before he was betrayed by Judas.

The priest manning the Garden knows our tour guide, so he allowed us to go in for free. How lucky, because normally the Garden is not opened to the public. We went to the Church of All Nations first before going into the Garden.

 Church Of All Nations

 At the foot of the altar is a rock, that is supposed to be the rock that Jesus sat on or touched while praying for the last time before he was arrested.

 The top of the church

 In the Garden

After visiting the Garden, we went to Via Dolorosa, the Stations of the Cross that Jesus walked before being crucified.

 This site marks the first two Stations - where Jesus was tried and made to carry the cross'

 The top of the church. Can you see the motif looks like a Crown of Thorns?

Via Dolorosa is a confusing alley of twists and turns. I presume during Jesus' time, it was an open city, but now it is all closed and converted to little streets and alleys. One can really get lost if we do not know our way! We walked through little stretches that look like this :

Then we came to an underground church that looks like this :

 I cannot resist taking this picture, because it shows an Islamic place in the midst of the Stations of the Cross that signifies the Christians

The third and fourth Stations, where Jesus fell for the first time.

 Thought this sign and statue outside the fourth Station is pretty cute!

The fifth and sixth Stations :

Passing by all the little alleys that have since been converted to stores :

The seventh Station :

We took a little break after that, to use the restroom and go into a gift shop. We did not cover the eighth and ninth Stations as they were all uphill and downhill. So after the break, we went to the Holy Sepulchre, where the tenth to last Station were supposed to be.

 We went into this shop for a break. There are restrooms, souvenirs and tea available.

 Holy Sepulchre - the remaining last Stations, crucified, died, buried and rose again.

 This was supposed to be the stone that was used to lay Jesus' body

 The wall murals depict the death and burial of Jesus

 One belief is that Jesus' tomb was here

 Stairs going up to the site where Jesus died on the cross

We went for lunch after that, before going over to the City of David and the Upper Room where the Last Supper was held.

 Statue of King David

 The Upper Room, site of the Last Supper

Our last stop for the day before dinner was the Church of St Peter In Gallicantu, the site where Jesus told Peter he would deny him three times before the cock crowed in the morning. Peter did not belief, but he did deny Jesus three times before the cock crowed.

 The drawings on the door represents Jesus telling Peter he would deny him and Peter disagreeing

 Top of the church

After almost a whole day of experiencing Jesus' last days in Jerusalem, we went back to the hotel for a break and dinner before going shopping at Ben Yehuda Street for the night. It was a truly memorable day indeed, at least for me due to the significance!