Day three in Jerusalem, specifically in the Old City. Today was tour day. We did a few tourist things and then had a private tour with an archaeologist. It was a lot of walking and my feet are somewhat sore right now, but everything was interesting.
The first thing we did was go on the Western Wall Tunnels tour. I have been on the tour at least one time before, so I knew generally what to expect. This tour, however, was very biased. The tour guide was a young religious woman who heavily pushed her agenda of promoting the greatness of Jews and our view of history. While it was great for stories, some of the information she told us was not accurate. She also seemed to be a better tour guide for children than for anyone else, but our tour group was not made up of children so her emphasis on child-like explanations and attitudes did not go over well. It was still nice going into the Wall tunnel and coming out in the fortress. The last time I was on the tour the fortress was closed off and we exited the tunnels at a different location, so seeing something new was cool.
After the Wall Tunnels we went to the Davidson Center and got a presentation/tour of the Southern Excavation Museum. For this tour we focused entirely on what was inside the museum, since our tour in the afternoon would cover everything outside. The tour guide presented a little about the history of the area and some other stuff, and then used a digital visual model to present a reconstructed Temple Mount and southern market area. The model was cool to see and interact with, but the actual content was a little lacking. The tour guide was a little better about giving us relevant information, but he did insert some biased opinions.
After lunch we had an archaeology tour with Yaakov Biling, co-director of the Southern Wall Excavations who led the excavations of the southern part of the Western Wall. He walked us through the Southern Wall Excavation Gardens and the Second Temple Street beneath the wall. His perspective on the area was unique and he had cool stories about his work at the excavations. He also walked us through other archaeological sites in the Jewish Quarter. We went to the Herodian Quarter, a museum of a Second Temple period basement in a museum, then the Broad Wall. After the Broad Wall we went to the Cardo and learned the history and changes of the thoroughfare and market. We stopped at the Madaba Map before continuing our tour. We then left the Old City via the Zion Gate and walked along the outside of the wall to the Jaffa Gate, where we ended the tour. Yaakov was very interesting, and more professional about the information he presented us. He told many sides to the stories instead of just focusing on stuff relevant to Jews. He told us his opinions, but made sure to let us know that they were his opinions and didn't state them like they were agreed-upon facts. He presented us with a lot of information, but it was all interesting and never boring. Even the things that I knew from before he told in new ways with stories from his history. He made the information personable and engaging, unlike the other tour guides.
I want to clarify that the tour guides that we had today were completely random and I do not blame the ICC or the STS staff for their quality or selection. The staff just organized attending the tours and the tour guides were supplied for us. I was definitely glad we went on the tours and I had a good time today.
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