Up at 5 o'clock for sunrise over the Temple Mount as viewed from my balcony:
Caught up on correspondence in the morning and then at 1 o'clock headed out for the falsely so-called "Citadel of David" (who never had a thing to do with any of the structures here). The Citadel Museum is contained within walls originally built 150 some odd years before Christ by the Hasmoneans (Maccabeans), then by Herod the Great, and later Muslims, Crusaders, and then Muslims again. Today, regardless of the name by which it goes, this is a marvelous thing to behold and has elements on the grounds and in the excellent museum from all these various eras, It's not a large collection however, so I was only a little over an hour in the museum itself.
General overlook of the Citadel courtyard:
The entirety of the "Old City" is encompassed by most impressively HUGE walls built by Suleiman's engineers and laborers between the years of 1537 and 1541 AD. Crowning these walls is the classic crenulated construction of many medieval fortresses. And behind these defensive structures is a cobblestone walkway used originally by the wall's defenders and now providing a wonderfully high vantage point from which to view the Old City as well as The Hinnom and Kidron Valleys and the Mounts Moriah, Zion, Olivet, and Scopus, among others. I chose the "Southern Ramparts Walk" for this evening which is comprised of about half of the Western and about two thirds of the Southern sides of the Old City's walls. Spent the 90 minutes from at 7:30 to 9 0'clock in pure fun.
Looking south over the Hinnom Valley from a point near the Jaffa Gate:
As darkness set over the city I came to the Southwest corner,
turned East, and got this shot looking due East at the Mount of Olives:
Coming to the eastern end of the southern rampart I reversed course and asked an oncoming tourist
to snap a shot of yours truly which gives you a good look at the rampart construction itself too:
Looking north now, past the Jaffa Gate, at the free nightly lightshow projected onto the exterior
of the northwest walls (which are at the start of the North Ramparts Walk for a later excursion):
I'd bought a ticket for the 10:30 pm Citadel Lightshow displayed on the interior of the Citadel walls, so in the hour before then I walked around the outside of the city's northwest and northern walls where I discovered a local Arab riding a very young Arabian horse:
The 45 minute Lightshow itself is, exactly as they advertise, SPECTACULAR. I was quite impressed to see every surface of the Citadel walls artfully used as a projection screen. It was just terrific. Since recording the actual show is forbidden... you can of course find them all over the internet. However, in fairness to the show itself I'll direct you to their own website which has a short video to give you an idea of the experience. Not to be missed if you can "by hook or by crook" make it happen.
I walked most of the way home alone through eerily empty streets such as this one:
Shortly after midnight, I perched like Quasimodo on my balcony above the main intersection
in the Old City which, in this location, and at that time, is still quite busy and noisy.
"Sanctuary! Sanctuary!"
Total walking distance for the day: 8 miles
Go with God and God will be good
Larry H
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