If you came to Jerusalem on religious reasons, go to the Mount of Olives, another holy site comparable to Old City and some other Jerusalem neighborhoods due to the concentration of shrines, tombs, and temples.
Start your visit with the magnificent Tomb of the Prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi which, according to the Christian and Jewish tradition, were the last three Hebrew Bible prophets who lived during the 6th-5th centuries BC.
The tombs are surrounded by the huge cemetery and living district. The cemetery contains about 70,000 tombs from various periods, including the tombs of famous figures in Jewish history.
Continue to the Garden and Church of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before his crucifixion. The olive trees growing in the Garden are considered to be among the oldest in the world.
Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary houses the Tomb of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.
On some reason, people throw money onto her tomb.
The Church was another deeply commercialized religious place in Jerusalem . The priest of the church was selling the candles for “donations”. We had a large banknote, yet, when we asked for some change he started to shame us saying that we are too greedy in our donations.
Continue up to the Chapel of the Ascension to see more of the graveyard and the other side of the city.
On the way, you will encounter less visited entrance Tombs of the Prophets, impressive in their emptiness and complete darkness:
Do not be surprised when you finally reach the Chapel of the Ascension, a small shrine, now a mosque, as if containing one of Jesus’s footprints. All of a sudden a rude guard at the front will try to sell you the handmade tickets for about 5 euros each. It is not quite clear why there is entrance fee for this particular chapel.
At least the entrance for Roman Catholic Church of the Pater Noster next to it is free.
The Mount of Olives is an important religious place, but it is hard to recommend it to the religious people. The crowds of tourists and the commercialization of holy places might seriously influence your faith. The atheists will hardly enjoy it on the same reasons. The best attitude is to threat the Mount of Olives as an important historical site and read well about its importance before visiting.
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