Travels WithJohn and Janice

Travel blog

Every trip we've shared since 2011—filter by where we went, when we traveled, or what we explored.

Showing 2 of 236 posts

The Temple Mount and the Dome of the RockIsrael
6 min read2016

Dateline June 19, 2016, Jerusalem, the Old City

Our last full day in Israel was a long walk through the Old City of Jerusalem, the kind of day you do not forget. We started at the Zion Gate and the room of the Last Supper, passed the Roman Cardo and the golden menorah, and took in the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. Then we followed the Via Dolorosa, station by station, to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and ended on the Mount of Olives looking across at the sealed Eastern Gate. Holy ground for three faiths, layered one century atop another.

#Jerusalem#Old City#Temple Mount
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The fortress of MasadaIsrael
4 min read2016

Dateline June 18, 2016, Masada and the Dead Sea

On our second day in Israel a new guide drove us two and a half hours south into the desert, to Herod's mountaintop fortress at Masada, where 960 Jewish zealots made their last stand against Rome. From there we floated in the Dead Sea, muddy and crowded and unforgettable, then drove up to Jerusalem to spend the night inside the Old City. That evening we stumbled into a Palestinian Christian restaurant for a wonderful lamb shank, and learned at the front desk that we had gone to the wrong place, our first lesson in how finely the divisions are drawn here.

#Masada#Dead Sea#Herod
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