Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Damascus Gate to
St Stephen's Gate
The ramparts now climb over
Damascus Gate
(see p66) ,
the grandest of all the Old
City gates. From up here you
can survey the vaulted roof
over the gate's defensive
dogleg entrance tunnel and
the crowds on El-Wad
3
W Road.
Continuing east, you will
encounter a rapid
p
succession of
J
he view from the ramparts between New Gate and Damascus Gate
Th
At Storks' Tower 5 , with
ts views to the northeast
Anti-clockwise from Jaffa
Gate
The access to this section of
the ramparts is from outside
the city walls, just south of
the Citadel 7 (see pp102-5) .
The initial stretch
southwards is like a
trench, with a high
stone wall on either
side of the walkway.
This arrangement
was fashioned by
the Jordanian army
between 1948 and
1967. Occasional
vantage points allow
you to look out
across the Hinnom Valley
below to the red rooftops of
the early Jewish settlement
of Mishkenot Shaananim (see
p121) and the cliff-like bulk
of the King David Hotel (see
p122) . At the southwestern
corner you have a good view
of Sultan's Pool, an ancient
reservoir, now dry and used
as an outdoor concert venue.
As the ramparts run east,
they pass close by the Church
of the Dormition (see p116)
before passing over the Zion
Gate
it
of the Hebrewo University's
Mount Scopus campus, the
wall swings through 90° to
-53,)-
3,
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15
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24
w
run due south. From the
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r
ramparts here,
you overlook
the tombs that
fill the Kidron
Valley below
and the slopes
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426"3&
4
a
f the
of
Mount of
Oliv (pp110-111) .
A you approach
ves
s y
final gate, to
the
Crenellations on
Damascus Gate
$OMEOF
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your
walls, are the
r right, just inside
3
the w
ains of the complex of
rem
the
Bethseda
, beside them, the
biblical Pool of
and
Crus
sader-built
St Anne's
8&45&3/
8"--
1-";"
Chu
urch
(see p67) .
he walk ends at
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!
-OSSQUE
SS
Th
St
Step
phen's Gate
(see p67) ,
ere you descend to street
6
%
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*
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whe
el. The beginning of the
1
1 !24
5! 4%
24%2
leve
Dolorosa
Via
(see pp30-31) is
ahead, which, if followed,
just
will
J
lead back towards the
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.
affa Energy
mitting, you can then
a Gate area.
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426"3&
4
perm
bark on another short
0 metres
200
emb
parts walk.
J
0 yards
200
ramp
(see p106) . The gate
is riddled with bulletholes
from the fighting in 1948,
although, of course, you can't
see this from above.
The final stretch affords
wonderful views of the Arab
village of Silwan, before the
rampart walk ends on Batei
Makhase Street, which you
can follow down to the Dung
Gate
8
towers, because attacks on
Jerusalem have traditionally
always come from the north,
where the approach is flattest
(the approaches to the east,
south and west are protected
by deep valleys).
It was the north wall, just
east of the next gate, Herod's
Gate
pp
(see p67) , that the
Crusader army breached
on 15 July 1099 to capture
Jerusalem from the Muslims.
Look outwards from the gate
and you are facing down
Salah ed-Din Street, the main
street of Arab East Jerusalem.
(see p84) . This is the
smallest of the city gates,
despite being widened for
cars by the Jordanians. The
name indicates that what is
now the main access to the
Western
4
9
W Wall was probably
W
once the site of a refuse tip.
The modern amphitheatre outside
Damascus Gate
3
 
 
 
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