Skip to content

Holy Land Adventure

Ross Family Adventure 2022

Menu
  • About Us
Menu

St Anne’s Church and the Pools of Bethesda

Posted on June 3, 2022June 4, 2022 by Keryn Ross

After finishing the tour of tunnels under the Western Wall, we trekked back to the Grandmas’ apartment. (Side note: we got a weird email from the AirBnB host, asking why we had so many visitors without telling them. Ooookay? We wrote back that the apartment was being rented by two older ladies and the visitors were family helping them get around. But it was strange, since we don’t have extra people staying the night there or anything like that. Oh well.)

It was especially hot today, or at least it felt that way. I’ve forgotten how much humidity can increase the “real” temperature. And wandering around in the Old City means there are no breezes. And very few level streets. We really worked up a sweat just going from the Western Wall to the apartment!

Yummy’s favorite pastime in the Old City is finding feral cats and naming them. Don’t worry, we know they are not pets and we don’t touch them, but they are really cute and EVERYWHERE. We’ve “met” a S’more, Oliver, Trash Panda, Carl, Naomi…I think she will run out of names sooner than later, but who knows?

Yummy and “Naomi”

Once we spent a few minutes recuperating at the Grandmas’, some of us decided to go explore St. Anne Church, just four minutes from the apartment. (Gee and the gmas decided to stay back.)

The Gardens at St. Anne’s

St. Anne’s is known for two things: the Pools of Bethesda and a Crusader basilica that was NOT destroyed by the Muslims after they retook the city in 1187. This means the building is almost 1000 years old, which is definitely the oldest freestanding building I have ever been in (I guess the Church of the Holy Sepulcher might be around the same age?) The basilica is known for amazing acoustics.

It is absolutely gorgeous–simple and elegant and shady and cool. I begged my children to sing with me–it is allowed–and after much grumbling, Zee, Hebs, and Yum complied. We sang “Love One Another” and, at Bradley’s suggestion, “Be Still My Soul”. It was AMAZING, especially with the harmony and the echoes and the feeling all around.

As soon as we were done, my children escaped as quickly as they could. I stayed in the chapel a little longer and sketched (badly) the arched windows.

Basilica of St. Anne’s Church

The Pools of Bethesda, of course, are the place where Jesus healed a lame man who had waited 36 years to be the first into the pool. Jesus asked if he would like to be healed, and bade him rise up and take up his bed. (If you haven’t seen “The Chosen” episode with that scenario, I recommend it. It is very touching.)

Panorama with a handsome guy at the end
My Em loves the birds.
She spotted this baby pigeon.
Part of one of the pools
Old cistern with sketchy looking water
Dust and light and dark
Partial excavations
Super disturbed soil—I’m sure there is nothing original about those bedding planes.

I wished we could have stayed longer, but the Church was closing and the heat intense.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • 360 Video Clips
  • Homeward Bound (aka The Longest Independence Day Ever)
  • Church of the Holy Sepulcher Solo (Sunday, July 3)
  • Yad Vashem (Sunday, July 3)
  • Our last Shabbat in Jerusalem (Saturday, July 2)

Recent Comments

  1. Telima on Flexibility, flexibility…
  2. Emily Lamas on Timna Park
  3. Keryn Ross on Snorkeling in the Red Sea
  4. Keryn Ross on Eilat
  5. Keryn Ross on Eilat Day Three

Archives

  • September 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022

Categories

  • Preparation
  • Uncategorized
© 2023 Holy Land Adventure | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme