Holy Land Pilgrimage with Gila

 

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“AND ALL ATE AND WERE FILLED AND THEY TOOK UP
WHAT WAS LEFT OVER OF THE BROKEN PIECES:
TWELVE BASKETS FULL"
MATTHEW 14:20

 

12 Most Popular Articles This Month

Here are the twelve most ogled and googled articles on my site this month. 
1.  Gates of the Old City.  A handy orientation to Jerusalem’s Old City includes the history, geography, archeology and legends about its nine gates.  A chart of the gate names in English, Hebrew and Arabic will help you navigate its ancient alleyways.

Map showing the nine gates to Jerusalem's Old City

 

2.  Veronica.  According to a 14th century Via Dolorosa legend, Veronica wiped Jesus forehead with her handkerchief and his image stuck to the handkerchief.

Facade of Station Six where Veronica wiped Jesus' face with her handkerchief

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

Facade of Station Six where "Veronica wiped Jesus' face"

3.  Born in Windsor Palace and buried on the Mount of Olives, the eccentric Princess Alice, grandmother of King Charles III who became a Greek Orthodox nun, led an astonishing and improbable life.

Princess Alice's final resting place in the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalena in Jerusalem

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

Princess Alice's final request was to be buried on the Mount of Olives

4.   Ask Gila, "Where's the best place to propose on my Holy Land pilgrimage?"

Rainbow over the Mount of Beatitudes

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

The Mount of Beatitudes is under the left side of the rainbow

5. Let's tiptoe through the Valley of Gehenna explains why one particular valley in Jerusalem became designated as the valley leading to hell. 

Topography of the Ben Hinnom Valley

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

The Valley of Gehenna in relation to Mount Moriah and the Mount of Olives

6.  Pool of Siloam.  About the 2005 discovery of the authentic Pool of Siloam where Jesus told a man born blind to go wash off his eyes. With a 2023 update!

Mid 19th century drawing of the Pool of Siloam

Remnant of 5th century church near the Pool of Siloam

mid-19th century drawing

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

Pool of Siloam called the Virgin's Fount

Wrong location of the Pool of Siloam

7.  Gila relates what it was like to guide in January 2022 after a two-year break due to the covid pandemic in Gila on the Mic.

Photo: Julie Wise on tour with Gila Jan '22

Photo: Jim Love on tour with Gila Jan '22

Gila outside the Caesarea theater guiding her first group after a two-year break

Gila reading the Bible by the House of Simon the Tanner as the sun is setting

8. Herodion Updated: 2021.  During the pandemic in March 2021, when there were no tourists in the land, I returned to Herodion just after the loggia, the "royal box" was opened to the public.  The theater had been restored and the steps mentioned by Josephus Flavius which once led up to the Upper Palace have been reconstructed.

Podium of Herod's Tomb with a model based upon a similarity to Absalom's Tomb

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

Podium of Herod's Mausoleum with a model of the tomb based upon Absalom's tomb

9.  For FUN:  Ask Gila about camel riding in Jerusalem -- or at the lowest place on earth.  Scroll down for Gila's interview with the camel....Just kidding, with Ali, the camel keeper.

Gila sitting on Pistachio by the Dead Sea February 2023

Photo: Gila's iphone

Gila sitting on Pistachio (fistuk halabi) at the lowest place on earth
 

10.  Cave of Adullam.  After over three decades of guiding, Gila finally found David's hiding place in the Cave of Adullam

The opening to the Cave of Adullam hidden by shadow

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

The opening to the Cave of Adullam, hidden in shadow

11.  Absalom was David's unrepentant rebellious son who according to folk tradition was buried in Jerusalem's Kidron Valley.  "Let's throw stones at Absalom's Tomb" separates myth from fact.

COMING TO JERUSALEM? 
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12.  Let's shout AMEN at Joshua's Altar on Mount Ebal.  Astonishing headlines about the retrieval of a “curse tablet” from a pile of earth turned over by excavators at Mount Ebal, the “mount of curses,” sent Gila scurrying back 22 years down memory lane to a day spent with the chief archeologist of the site, Adam Zertal. 

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

The walls of Joshua's altar were intact up to six feet (2 meters) in height

Most popular updated 22/23 posts

Sir Flinders Petrie, the first biblical archeologist in Palestine was buried without his head in the Protestant Cemetery on Mount Zion.  Read about why he is so important and what happened to his head!

Mount Zion where archeologist Sir Flinders Petrie was buried in 1942

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

Mount Zion where the headless body of archeologist Sir Flinders Petrie
was buried in the Protestant Cemetery in 1942

What happens to the tens of thousands of notes tucked into the Western Wall?

Western Wall during the Priestly Benediction Passover 2005

Photo:  Gila Yudkin

Priestly Benediction at the Western Wall during Passover

"Spooked in Samaria" is a chapter from Gila's book in progress, Holy Land Haunts: Four Decades of Spirited Guiding.  It describes the first dangerous dilemma Gila faced as a guide.

GILA YUDKIN TCHERNIKOVSKI 64A JERUSALEM ISRAEL
gila@itsgila.com


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Holy Land Photography by Gila Yudkin