Today we walked on top of the walls of Jerusalem again.

Last year when I was digging here in Israel we also walked on The Jerusalem Ramparts.

This time we went in the opposite direction from the Jaffa Gate.

Of course the ramparts looked a lot the same. However, in this direction we did  not have to go up and down stairs as much.. There were stairs though.

Here is a view of the ramparts looking back toward the Jaffa Gate. You can see Luke walking on the wall. He is wearing the same color shirt as he did last year when we walked on the ramparts.

There are some areas of the wall where we saw barbed wire to keep people from climbing onto structures adjacent to the wall. In many areas there are buildings very close to the ramparts.

Here is a picture taken from the Damascus Gate area. You can see the Dome of the Rock to the left in the picture and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the right side of the picture. The topography of the city is very evident from this vantage point.

Here is the back side of the Damascus Gate. You do not see this side of the gate very often in pictures. It was also interesting to look down into the plaza in front of the gate. Perhaps I will share more pictures in a future post.

We were also able to see the rock area know as The Place of a Skull or Gordon’s Calvary. The erosion to the rock face seems to have accelerated in the last year, and it is even more difficult to make out a skull. Visit my post, The Place of a Skull, for more information about Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb.

We though that we would be able to walk on the ramparts all the way to the Lion’s Gate, but had to get off at Herod’s Gate.

We also visited a few other places in the city and walked almost seven miles during the day.

Tomorrow morning we head back to the dig site. It will be a very long day.

Steven