Russian Orthdox Church

On the slopes of the Mount of Olives, there's a multi golden onioned, dedicated to St Mary Magdalene, Church. It looks utterly fabulous on the outside. As if its saying to the Dome on the Rock on the other side of the Valley, we may not be as big as you but we're shinier!

Only open 10-12 on Tues and Thurs. I've never been in, the doors are open, its not where we were headed for but hey, seize the day. Inside it is quiet and modest and a place to pray rather than to be swamped with tourists.

Just above it is the Dominus Flevit, the Church where Jesus wept (well, he wept somewhere here and frankly you would too if you read these newspapers).

We queued to go up to see the Dome on the Rock. There's only one way up for non-muslims but you need to know who to ask to find out where it is and when it is.

There's a sign here from a chief rabbi saying (in a complicated way) Look, you're not Jewish, you're going up on a site we think is really holy and you might wander near where the Holy of Holies and you're just making the site unclean, think about it. By the time I had thought about it I was up.
This is a Muslim site but when you're up here there's no signs saying Non-muslims can't go into the mosque just a slightly tired man but its not as if their own website gives this info.

Its nice up here but I don't feel comfy enough to just sit down and have a think. There's a boy playing footy against the Dome itself. he can play footie against it, I can't go in it. (For a better pic see 30th June, that pic underneath the Dome is a pile of riot shields if you hadn't figured it out.)

This is a gorgeous glow-in-the-dark cross. No I didn't buy it.

Here's an evening view from Mike & Bettina's roof. Enjoy the bells, quite often they're interspersed with fireworks which is a little weird given the political tension.