Echo Homo, Zedkiah Cave, Schawarma

Alyson Dorman
Jan 14, 2015
2 min read

We had Old Testament this morning for two hours and then we were able to tour the city for the day! It is such a cool experience to go out on your own into the city (well, with your group of 3 people-safety protocol) :) So our group decided to visit some of the 70+ sights we have to write a researach paper over at the end of the semester for NES.

First stop: Echo Homo- A Lithostrotos basilica

The ruins of this building were discovered in 1857 and is now a space for refelction and prayer. It cost 5 shekels to get in (roughly 1.25 USD). The popular exhibit was a blocked walkway with striated parts of pavement from one of the main streets of Roman Jerusalem. At the end there was this beautiful picture of Jesus Christ carrying his cross-

Next stop was Hezekiah's Cave. Cool fact: The freemasons have meetings in the opening. Also, there is a part of the Cave that had a small drip waterfall which symbolizes Hezekiah crying when the army took over his territory. It kind of felt like Cumberland Caverns (A cave in my hometown, TN). Here are some pics of Becca, Lindy, and Sam. :)

I had to be back for Hebrew class at 2 pm so I left the arabic group and joined a Hebrew 1 group. (I'm hebrew 2 which is after hebrew 1) We were hungry though so we bought some Shawarma on the side of the street and ran back to the Jerusalem Center. So... eating Shawarma while running isn't a good idea. We all got sick when we came back to the center and we aren't sure if it was the sketchy meat or because we had to run to get back in time. Anyway here is the Shawarma! It was Delicious!!! :)

And here is the beutiful view we see every second of the day. I just the view on the balcony. (Right before the rainstorm)

Oh, forgot to include Demascus Gate. There are so many gates that enter into the city. We have to know them all and history for my NES class but here is where a guy was stabbed a couple nights ago. It was in the news. Don't worry though, we have really safe protocols for the center and I actually feel really safe. :)