Day 22: Dome of the Rock

Today started earlier than planned. Daylight savings finished here this morning which meant clocks went back an hour (automatically), however I also manually set it back an hour, which meant I was an hour out all morning which stuffed up my plans!

Just to make life more difficult the Dome of the Rock decided not to change their clocks so we waited in line for 1hr 30mins (instead of 30mins!)

What an impressive peaceful place. The magnificent architecture and design of this place was truly spectacular. However, I had a feeling of "I shouldn't really be here". I'm not sure if this was being sensitive to the significance of this place to both Jews & Muslims, and the tension that exists in such close proximity.

After this we wandered to the Jewish quarter for coffee and headed home via the Ramparts Walk. This is a walk along the top of the ancient city walls, which gave another great outlook of the old city to the right and the new city to the left. I must admit I spent most of the time looking to the right down into people's yards and way of life rather than the picturesque views of Jerusalem!

We finished the afternoon with a 2 hour lecture on Church History, with a particular focus on the development of Christianity in this region and subsequent attempts at Ecumanism. An area I am particularly interested in.