ISRAEL 10 2009: Jerusalem with a guide, on foot

There are 53 photos here; 51 are mine. My guide, Nir Ortal, met me at the Harmony Hotel at 0930. We walked a kilometer via Moshe Safdie's new Mamilla Mall to Jaffa Gate, then along the outside of the Old City walls to the Dormition Abbey. All the sites visited are religious ones. We parted at 1530. The last six photos are of the lobby of the Mamilla Hotel (2009) and the Chords Bridge (2008). (Adjust your screen brightness as necessary.)

1-Outside the Old City's western wall. Behind us and to the right is the Dormition Abbey.
2-Dormition Abbey, Mount Zion. The site, outside the southern City Walls, was given to Kaiser Wilhelm II by the Turkish sultan in 1898. He presented it to the German Catholic Society of the Holy Land. The church was built (1901-10) over the site where the Virgin Mary is said to have fallen asleep for the last time.
3-Dormition belltower, supposedly designed to look like Kaiser Wilhelm—helmet, eyes, mustache.
4-Church of the Dormition, Jesus and the 12 Apostles
5-The Cenacle, room of the Last Supper. Gothic pillars, arches, and windows indicate a room built by Crusaders (early 14th century) on top of a much older structure. The original building was a synagogue, of which three walls still exist. The Crusaders church was destroyed in 1219. The Cenacle was spared, passing to the Friars until 1552. The Ottomans took possession and turned the room into a mosque (note window and mirhab).