Sonia Writer: 01/03/2012

As we are heading rapidly towards Easter I have included my original article (first published in the Larnaca News) about a trip regularly taken by myself and other villagers to Jerusalem. This is the first in a short series which will include trips to Jaffa, The Dead Sea and the pyramids in Egypt.
I hope you will enjoy taking these trips with me!

Around this time, I and many other residents of Oroklini, head for the port at Limassol to embark upon an eight day cruise to Egypt and

Israel,

travelling with Thompsons an English based company who lease their ship from Louis, a well known Cypriot cruise line. Each year the itinerary varies slightly and trips are added or changed, but the main attractions are the pyramids and Jerusalem.

My first visit to Jerusalem was even more special than I had hoped. Quite often when we imagine vising places, when we actually arrive they can seem disappointing, but I found this trip to be the opposite, Israel was so much more interesting and beautiful than I had imagined. To this day it remains my favourite place to visit. In my minds eye, I had envisaged a dry, dusty landscape something I vaguely remembered from my scripture classes at school; but Jerusalem was unexpectedly green, being surrounded by millions of trees which were planted by the Jewish National Fund to commemorate those who lost their lives in the holocaust.

On the day of our trip, our first stop was at the garden of Gethsemane which was beautiful; but unfortunately much smaller than it had been in Jesus’ time. We visited the Church of All Nations, with its impressive display of scenes of the betrayal. Next, we moved on to the Western or ‘Wailing Wall,’ as it is commonly known. This is the most sacred place for Jews, many of whom touched the wall while they prayed and placed personal notes of hopes and wishes into its cracks and crevices.

The next phase of the tour was inside the walled city, following the last of the fourteen stations of ‘The Via Dolorosa,’ the final journey of Christ to Calvary where he was crucified. We entered the Chapel of Investiture which was built at the site of the crucifixion. In front of us at station eleven was a depiction of Christ on the cross and a wall of sacred Greek icons. The place where the cross had actually stood was marked by a silver disc on the floor underneath the alter. To the right, there was a section of ancient rock under glass, the Rock of Calvary, you could see the huge crack which suddenly appeared during an earthquake when Jesus died.

On the ground, surrounded by lights, was the Stone of the Unction (or Anointing Stone) on which Jesus body was laid after death and prepared for burial. It was a very moving experience as the modern day pilgrims, laid their hands upon the stone and prayed.

The last place we visited was the Holy Sepulcher, built on the site of the original tomb, which had held Jesus’ body and was his last resting place before the resurrection. There was a very long queue to enter and we had to be content with a glance outside, but the atmosphere was electric. It was a very special time for many of us who had long dreamt of this visit.

On the way out, our final stop was the stunning Greek mosaic, depicting the stages of the crucifixion and burial. It was very beautiful.

The trip to Jerusalem was the highlight of a lovely holiday which also included visits to Jaffa and The Dead Sea. The cruise was relaxing and the trips were wonderful. I would highly recommend it.