Dome of the Rock & The Western "Wailing" Wall – Jerusalem

One of the most fascinating cities we have ever been to is Jerusalem Israel. Ever since I was young I have wanted to visit “the most beautiful city in the world” which is the epicenter of 3 of the world’s great religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism). The city has a very “intense” feeling and you can sense the high emotions everywhere you go. During our time there we saw numerous school children being escorted by gunmen with assault rifles for protection. There is the heavily armed Israeli military on every corner and security checks/medal detectors are everywhere. The old town is surrounded by the ancient city walls/gates and has 3 main areas: the Jewish quarter, the Muslim Quarter and the Christian quarter. Although we stayed in the Muslim quarter we spent our time exploring this entire area. At the center of it all is Dome of the Rock and The Western "Wailing" Wall. The first being a sacred to Muslims and the later being sacred to Jews. What was fascinating to me was how close these to sites are to each other. Dome of the rock literally sits on top of The Wailing Wall. In fact, the area in which the Dome of the Rock is built is considered “to sacred to enter” to the Jewish people (this is what the sign says as you enter). It is no wonder there is so much contention in this one little area. We first visited The Wailing Wall which is a fascinating experience. The Jewish faithful will come to this wall (which is one of the last remaining walls of the ancient great temple) to offer prayers on pieces of paper which they then slip into the cracks of the wall. This is quite unique looking as you have ancient stone blocks with millions of small pieces of paper shoved in the cracks. There are paper “yamikas” for non Jewish visitors and I happily wore one during our visit. There is also a side for men and a side for women. Lindsay and I stayed in this sacred spot for quite a while watching all the faithful pray. Immediately to the right of this wall is a walkway (with medal detectors and heavily armed guards) which leads up to the “Dome of the Rock” which is considered sacred in the Islam religion and is built on remnants of the temple which is sacred to Jews (again an explanation of the constant contention). The area around Dome of the Rock is beautiful and very peaceful (at least it was the morning we were there). Numerous gardens surround the ancient blue and gold structure which is so iconic. We spent hours slowly walking around, sitting for breaks and looking at this incredible structure. There are also very good views of the ancient city below. It was a beautiful and very peaceful experience to visit both of these sacred spots and we will never forget it.