Needless to say Old Jerusalem is a very interesting place. It appears that everyone is here. There is no shortage of religious people from all religions walking around in their ceremonial outfits. No one bats an eyelid. I spent the entire day in the old city walking its stone streets taking in the sights sounds and smells. I had a very interesting conversation with a Muslim man who could speak excellent English. We had a 30 minute conversation about Religion, war, Palestine, gods, the devil and the Koran. It was a wonderful conversation and a pleasure. He was a real person of peace. I bounced some of the ideology of the Radical Islamic fundamentalist off him and he quoted me what the Koran says about each of the points. Basically it would be better to damage the house of god in Mecca than kill one believer. According to this man there is no religion in the conflicts. It is money.
The old city is full of churches, ruins, and temples amongst the shopping bazaars.
Inside the Tower of David
The Jerusalem ruins are missing some of the adventure the Turkish ruins have. For a start they are very safe with safety rails and areas of no go for safety reasons. Turkey had none of this and kept you on your toes. Some parts of these ruins had displays and it was air conditioned.
Yesterday was prayers and not as busy as today. It was shoulder to shoulder throughout the entire city.
One of the most noticeable differences is not many people smoke. It is like Australia. Everyone smokes alot in Turkey, Syria and Lebanon and Jordan.
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