Travel Tips: Crossing the Israel/Jordan Border By Land (Eilat to Aqaba)

Of everything on the Middle East leg of my trip, the thing I was most nervous about was crossing the land border between Israel and Jordan.  Looking on the internet, you will find stories of those who crossed with no issues - but then you will also find horror stories of long waits, arbitrary delays, difficult border guards, etc.  The thing about the Middle East is that you never know - rules constantly change depending on the day and situation, so I was nervous about the unexpectedness of it.

There are three land checkpoints between Israel/Jordan: the one we went through was the southernmost point called the Wadi Araba checkpoint (it's called Yitzhak Rabin on the Israeli side). This checkpoint takes you from the city of Eilat, Israel on one side, to Aqaba, Jordan on the other.

From Eilat, we took a taxi to the border, which took around 10 minutes and cost 30 NIS (about $10). The taxi dropped us off right at the border.

This way to the border crossing....oh and birdwatching!

The first gate you see when you pull up - the Yitzhak Rabin Border Terminal

• The border terminal opens at 6:30AM, and we'd heard there are times when you will encounter long lines (especially sometimes in the mornings with tour groups).  But when we arrived around 10AM, the entire terminal was pretty empty.  We walked up and an Israeli policeman checked our passports.
• From there, the process was pretty seamless.  There are a series of windows you visit in order.
• The first window (passport control) checked our passports again
• At the second window (customs), we had to pay an Israel exit fee of 104 NIS per person (about $30).   At this window, the lady also gave us an option to change cash into Jordanian dinars using a debit or credit card (which you will need as soon as you exit on the other side to pay for a cab).  Lastly, she stamped our passports with an exit stamp  - you can request her not to do so, since an Israel stamp in your passport can prevent you from entering countries like Iran or Lebanon.  I was too slow to react - that stamp came out of nowhere!  Drew was not too slow, and she was fine stamping a receipt for him instead of his passport.

Walk this way to Jordan.  But first, go buy things duty-free

• Then they make you walk through a duty-free store - just a small one, but there are signs everywhere telling you this is your last chance to shop before entering Jordan.  We used every last penny of our NIS on water and a pack of Twix (the cheapest item in the entire store). 

Looking back...leaving Israel

• After you exit the duty-free store, you approach the no-man's land between Israel and Jordan. 

Eating our breakfast of Twix from the duty-free store and walking through no-man's land

Welcome to Jordan!

• As you enter Jordan, another passport check. Then a security scan, where they screen your bags and belongings. The guards started off a little tough with us by demanding we open our bags and show them everything inside after they'd gone through the scanner. However, in the midst of opening Drew's bag, they started a conversation with us about the NBA and their their demeanors got lighter as they were talking about how much they love the Lakers (yuck why).  Both guards started chattering away and seemed to forget they hadn't opened my bag yet, so we took advantage of the situation by smiling at them, nodding a lot, and picking up our bags and scooting out of the room.  Thank goodness they didn't get into my bag - it was stuffed to the brim and was probably one of those situations where once they started taking things out, I'm not sure it all would have fit back in. 
• More windows. We got our passports checked a couple more times, a couple questions about why we were entering Jordan, and entry stamps/visas stamped into our passports.  As my passport had already been stamped by Israel, I didn't care what was stamped into it afterwards, so all was good with me. However, Drew asked the guard not to stamp his again (because even if you don't have an Israel stamp, if you have a Jordan stamp in your passport showing you entered Jordan by land, customs can deduce you were in Israel beforehand).  This time however, the guard refused and stamped his passport anyways. Whomp whomp.  However, I'm not sure if this was due to a miscommunication, because I've heard of people being able to make it through this border crossing completely stamp-free.  
• Typically there is an Jordan entry visa fee of around 40 Jordanian dinars (~$57) - but somehow we were not charged. I don't know if someone forgot to charge us. Oh well.
• Upon exiting the terminal on the Jordan side, there is no public transport or anything - just a group of taxis. It is known in traveling circles as the "taxi mafia", as they basically have complete control over how much to charge you since you have no other options. You can take a cab into the nearby town of Aqaba, but we were heading to Petra (about 2-3 hours away) - so we hired a cab to take us all the way there.  It is very taxi mafia-feeling - there was a sketchy man who was seemingly in charge and ordered the drivers about and had us move our bags from one car to another. The second car he moved us to, I saw the driver had to pay this guy some money. It was not the most comforting feeling, but at the end of the day, we got to where we needed to go, and at a price we saw was fairly comparable to what we researched beforehand (about 50 dinars, or $71) to go all the way to Petra.

All in all, the entire border crossing process took around 30 minutes for us. We've heard horror stories of some crossings taking hours and hours, or interrogations and such - so overall, I think we got pretty lucky and our experience was almost completely seamless (save for the tiny passport stamp fiasco. I hope I don't have a pressing need to go to Iran or Lebanon anytime soon).  

Beforehand, it was surprisingly hard finding complete, thorough information on the entire process online (or information that wasn't a couple years old anyway) - so hopefully this might be slightly helpful to someone, somewhere.  Even if not, it was an incredibly interesting process that I'm glad I got a chance to do and wanted to detail.

Eilat, Israel: Gateway to Jordan

Drew and I arrived in the city of Eilat after a 3+ hour bus ride from the Dead Sea. Eilat is on the southernmost coast of Israel, and is situated on the Red Sea. Which Drew mentioned was our 3rd sea we've touched in a week (Mediterranean, Dead, and Red). Yay seas.

What It's All About:

Eilat is so pretty - it's bordered by these gorgeous red mountains and is close to both the borders of Jordan and Egypt.  A ton of the coastline is beach and it's a popular vacation destination for families (when I booked our hotel, there was super limited availability). And the boardwalk is just like Atlantic City, filled with carnival rides and food stands and shopping, and mobbed with families and childrens and teens.  Never mind that I've never been to Atlantic City; it's what I've always imagined it to be like.

Lastly, and probably the most important point, is there is a dolphin reef where you can swim with dolphins (eee!). And lots of snorkeling. Again, not like we did any of this - purely from my very cute animated tourist map.


Cliffnotes of the Day:

• The drive down to Eilat was desert as far as the eye could see.  The farther south we drove, the closer the road got to the Jordan border - there were a lot of warning signs that the border was close and the roads were not passable through the border. 

Desert drive

Our hotel room had the prettiest views of the mountains and Red Sea

• We walked down to the boardwalk for dinner. The boardwalk was full of hotels, rides, cafes, those cheesy stores filled with cheap beachwear, clubs with weird lasers, etc. 

Just like (what I imagine looks exactly like) Atlantic City

AND IT WAS MOBBED WITH PEOPLE ON VACATION

The craziest thing to me is that it was this fun vacation/family/beach atmosphere, but then all the shopping mall entrances had metal detectors and security everywhere

• The next morning, we started our journey to cross the Israel/Jordan border and southernmost checkpoint by land.  Will be detailing that in a separate post here.

• And then we got to Jordan!  We got a cab for the 2+ hour drive to Wadi Musa, a town right outside the ancient lost city of Petra and our next stop.  The Jordanian landscape was so pretty -  it was filled with rose-colored rock formations, and ANIMALS.

Prettiest rock formations in Jordan

CAMELS BY THE ROAD. Drew may have asked the taxi to stop so we could take photos, and then poked me awake.... because he knows that I love camels

This looks like a horse but I swear it's a camel

• Our cab driver was awesome - having noted the fact that we love photos, he stopped again at a scenic overlook of the valleys.

Jordan valleys

And then we passed a herd of goats on the road

• And then we got to Wadi Musa.....next stop, Petra!  

Wadi Musa

Fun Facts of the Day:

• The second we stepped into Jordan, the people changed instantly.  They were all super curious where we were from, and when we told them, it was almost always followed with a "I love America!"  Also, apparently NBA is big there.....because when Drew and I told them we were from Boston/New York, they'd go, "Celtics! Knicks!"  In the first day we were in the country, I think we had at least 3 separate conversations about the NBA. Random. Yet awesome.
• So many security checkpoints. Both Israel and Jordan, there are tons of security checkpoints on the highways and roads - you just kind of get used to men dressed in military uniforms with guns stopping your car and checking things out. A constant reminder as to the part of the world we were in.
• Jordan has these groups of Arab tribes called bedouins - they were historically nomadic and lived all over the desert. Many of these tribes are more modernized now, but still retain some of their cultural/living practices today (think of a Jordan-version of gypsies).  We saw groups of them as we drove down the highway.  Anyways, as a tourist, an incredibly cool thing you can do is stay in a bedouin camp (look it up!).  You get to stay in a tent out in the middle of the desert, ride camels, etc. - and the bedouin tribe will cook for you and everything. It's apparently amazing. I wanted to do it so badly, but it didn't fit into our timeframe =(  Next time, Jordan.

Dead Sea, Israel: Floating In An Oil Slick

Post-Bethlehem, Drew and I headed by bus down south to the Dead Sea. It was super exciting, especially because the drive was surprisingly gorgeous, and I WANT TO FLOAT IN THE DEAD SEA.  Do all the things.

What It's All About:

The Dead Sea is freakishly salty. That's really about all one needs to know. It borders both Jordan and Israel (you can visit from either side), and due to its salinity, you can float at the top of the water with no problems at all.  MAGIC.  Also, people believe the water/mud/minerals offer health benefits and often travel to the Dead Sea to remedy their ailments.  We saw a ton of factories on the drive in, including the Ahava factory, which produces high-end skincare using Dead Sea minerals.

Floooooooating

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• I loved our bus ride down to the Dead Sea. The drive is only about 2 hours, and after a little bit, all the locals had gotten off the bus and Drew and I were the only two people on the entire huge bus.  We also happened to be sitting in the front row (I had asked the driver what the best seats were when we got on because I am annoying like that, and he had indicated the first row).  At this point, the bus driver (who I really loved, btw) started calling himself our taxi driver, and telling us all about the drive and the Dead Sea. 

Our front row view of the drive

• Things we learned from our bus driver: A lot of the previously very popular resort areas have closed within the past few years, because the sea level has been dropping very rapidly from drought.  He pointed out a lot of hotels, roads, etc. that had previously been on the water - but now the water is super, super far away.  This has also caused another huge problem: sinkholes. Because the water level has gone down so quickly, sinkholes have started appearing in the land, in the roads, etc. We saw a bunch from the bus, as well as a bunch of stretches of the highway that had been closed entirely, with new paved roads winding out to the side to avoid the sinkhole-ridden roads, eventually winding back to the original highway after awhile.  It was sad.  Our driver pointed out beaches that used to be packed with people and locals, places that are now completely dead and abandoned.
• We arrived at the city of Ein Bokek, a small seaside city that is comprised almost entirely of Dead Sea hotels. Like, big fancy spa-treatment type hotels.  Our hotel was the Oasis Dead Sea Hotel, which I had booked because it was the most affordable. We walked in to find this:

Uhh, after staying in a bunch of tiny old hotels, this place was like a dream

• Post check-in (every hotel has a security guard that makes sure you're a guest before they let you in - strict policies!), we headed out for a quick sunset Dead Sea dip.  Which was right across the street.

View from our room

Instructions for the Dead Sea. DO NOT immerse your head

• Being in the Dead Sea: wild.  First off, the water is warm.  By warm, I mean hot.  Secondly, the consistency of the water is weird - it feels oily and thicker, and any kind of open skin on your body starts to sting (a hangnail I'd picked that morning = sting.  my baby shark bite from Tel Aviv = stingstingsting).  And then all you do is sit down, and your entire body is completely buoyant.  It is SO CRAZY.  And awesome.  You can basically sit there and paddle yourself along with a hand or a slight kick. Like a floating balloon.  And when you get out of the water, you feel a sheen of grease all over your skin, like you just bathed in a vat of oil.  You definitely have to rinse off afterwards

Drew was especially enthralled by the floating because he claims he normally can't float at all.  

AMAZING.

Sunset over Ein Bokek

• The next morning, we'd had grand plans to go hiking in the nearby town of Masada.  Those plans were quickly scrapped because IT IS HOT, Y'ALL.  We are definitely in the middle of the desert; if I had to use my Connie-gauge, I would estimate the daytime was like 100+ degrees and the nighttime was like 95 degrees.  You walk outside and are immediately zapped of all energy. By 6AM, the heat was already oppressive. The craziest part is it looks and feels like you're in a beachside resort town, but you can't go down into the water to cool off because the water is just as hot (if not more), and when you're already hot, the last thing you want to do is walk into a boiling vat of water.  So we spent the day chilling by our hotel pool.

Surprise, the pool was a happening spot. Because the water isn't 120 degrees

• After sufficient time at the pool, we went down to the sea again to use some Dead Sea mud because hey, I'd like to be cured of all ailments with the magical healing minerals of the Dead Sea.

Dead sea mud!  I know this is an incredibly attractive photo and not hot-mess-looking at all.  Also, hello stranger's finger

Rinse rinse rinse. Sting sting sting.

The Dead Sea is surprisingly beautiful

MVP of the Day:

Before heading out from the Dead Sea, we decided to grab a quick lunch from the small poolside food counter at our hotel before our bus.

The food counter was empty and looked like it hadn't seen much business.  We ordered a plate of sausages from the teen boy staffing the cafe, mainly because the description said the sausages came with Israeli salad, fries, AND a free drink. We mentioned we were in a little bit of a hurry to eat before our bus arrived, and the guy kept checking in with us to let us know our food was coming out soon. After a bit, our food was brought out - pretty standard poolside greasy spoon fare. We noticed, however, that we didn't get the salad the menu said it came with. 

Drew asked the employee about the salad, who was like "Oh I can make it! I'll make you a plate of vegetables!"

He ended up bringing this huge platter of freshly cut veggies, along with a bowl of hummus and olive oil, explaining he'd brought them for dipping and was gonna heat up bread for us too. He was the nicest, most attentive guy - he ended up bringing us fresh pita and then offered to bring us more as we wolfed it all down. The sides ended up being so much more than the original main course because this guy kept adding on - even as we were cramming down the last bit of pita and hurrying to get out to catch our bus, he offered to get us more for the road. For an initially bored-looking 16 year old employee, he ended up being the sweetest and greatest and I really adored him. Me and the half a bowl of hummus, platter of veggies, and numerous pita pockets I took down. 

Overall, it was amazing getting to do a more relaxing part of the trip at the Dead Sea - I know, I say this from every single beach I go to BUT IT'S TRUE. Being a tourist is hard. The struggle is real.


Next up, journeying south to the Israeli city of Eilat and border-crossing by land into Jordan.  EEP.

Bethlehem, Israel: Jesus Was Born Here and Banksy Came Here

I'm in Bethlehem, the place that's in all the Christmas songs! Honestly, that was my first thought when we headed there this morning. Oh, and maybe Jesus was born there too.

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Took a bus to Bethlehem from Jerusalem, which is actually incredibly close (like 10 min away) - however, Bethelem is in the West Bank - which means the bus takes a very circuitous route and it was closer to 45 min. It's actually crazy because this means there are checkpoints between the cities and residents of Bethlehem are not allowed into Jerusalem. It also means we had to bring our passports on the bus, because upon re-entry into Jerusalem, Israeli soldiers (who all carry big guns, btw) stop all the buses and check the nationality/citizenship of everyone on the bus. More on this later. 

• Took a tour of the Church of the Nativity. Where Jesus was born. NBD. Though, as a disclaimer, this is another one of those oral history things. It's where they think He was born because someone said so

Greek Orthodox altar at the Church of the Nativity

• The best part was we got a guide to show us through the church, and the line to visit the birthplace of Jesus was super, super long. Not a problem for our guide - he wound us through to the exit, talked to the security guard (they seemed to know each other), and then let us cut through the exit of the birthplace, thereby cutting the entire line and ensuring that he was more than worth the entire price we paid him in that exact moment. He even shooed people away so we could take all the photos we wanted. You have no idea how rare it is for the below photos to be without people - the room was mobbed when we first entered.  He made sure they all got out of the way for our photo. Holy amazing.

This is the manger where Jesus was born!

And this is the spot Jesus was born (we think)

• After our tour, our tour guide hooked us up with a store owner, who hooked us up with a cab driver that drove us around Bethelem looking at the Banksy graffiti in the city. I know you are all super-happening, but just in case for those who don't know, Banksy is a famous British graffiti artist (probably the most famous) whose identity remains unknown (how is this still possible?). He often does graffiti that is provocative, or has underlying social/political messages.

Flower thrower

Armored Dove of Peace

Girl frisking a soldier

• Of course, the point of all the graffiti, and the message underneath, was all due to this wall. It's the Israeli-West Bank barrier. The wall is huge - it's 25 feet high and fences off the entire West Bank from Israel, and doesn't allow free passage for the Palestinians to enter the rest of Israel.  The crazy thing, to me, is that this wall was built so recently - it started being constructed in 2001/2002, with the Israeli government citing the purpose as an anti-terrorist measure. Despite the fact that the U.N. has declared it illegal, it still exists.  It's obviously very controversial, which is why Banksy's graffiti is there.  

See how tiny Drew is next to the wall

Graffiti 

• Our taxi driver's feelings (and I think this may be a good implication for the feelings of a good number of residents in the West Bank) were that Israel took advantage of the terrorist attacks in 2001, when the world's attention was focused elsewhere, to build this wall.  I think the part I identify with most is just the human impact of situations like this - you just see so many lives affected, and it's an overall, incredibly sad situation.  
• On that same note, on the bus back to Jerusalem - Israeli troops got on the bus to check passports and I almost had a heart attack because Drew had accidentally forgotten his at the hotel. After some questioning, though - they let him by with a stern "Make sure you bring it next time." I don't think Drew could pass for anything but American, which probably helps.

Moment of the Day:

After we had finished our tour of the Nativity Church, we ended up at this wood store that makes things out of the wood from olive trees.

We ended up chatting with the owner, who was this lovely man who was born in Bethlehem, but had spent the past 25 years in New Zealand. However, he had just moved back to Bethlehem to take over his father's wood shop.  I asked (what I thought was) an innocent question about how he liked being back in Bethlehem.

He said it was nice being back with his people, but he commented that he felt like a prisoner because he can't leave the city to go anywhere else. Even with his New Zealand passport, he's not allowed past the wall or into Israel because his birthplace always says Bethlehem.  And since the West Bank is not a country or city-state or anything really recognizable for other nations, there are no diplomatic relations with other countries. In fact, there are only about 4 countries that allow him to enter without a visa (which he described as a long, harrowing, near-impossible prospect).  He pointed out that at the end of the day, our simple act of getting back on the bus to go back to Jerusalem - he couldn't do.

Honestly, he wasn't even saying in a woe-is-me kind of way or anything, a lot of it was very matter-of-fact and only because we were asking more questions.  But it just made me sad.  It was my moment of the day just because it was incredibly powerful to me - that this guy felt trapped inside his own city.  I know the situation is a long, storied, complicated one and that there are many sides and facets to it - but in this moment, I felt for him.

Fun Facts of the Day:

• Olive trees can lives to be 7,000 years old. Says our olive-tree-wood-making owner friend.
• There are seriously churches dedicated to everything in Bethlehem. There's even a Church of the Milky Grotto, where Jesus was apparently nursed.
• For travel to Israel, you have to kind of get used to soldiers with huge machine gun-type things (I'm clearly not a gun expert here) everywhere
• Also, as a last tip - Bethlehem is somewhere you should dress conservatively for, 100% in the churches and such

Jerusalem, Israel: The Holy Land!

Jerusalem!! I remember like 10 years ago, I was on a plane somewhere and they were playing an Israel tourism hype video and there was nothing else to watch so I sat there and watched it play through twice.  This country is such a fascinating place and the birthplace of so much religious and cultural history.

What It's All About:

Jerusalem? Only the holiest city for Judaism, Christianity, and incredibly important to Islam as well. Tons of religious history from the Bible.....and obviously with that, comes lots of historical conflicts as well.

Old City overlooking Temple Mount and the Western Wall

We stayed in Jerusalem's Old City, which is divided into four quarters - Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Armenian. Each quarter has its own distinct feel and community - our guide said 99% of people who live in each quarter actually belong to that subset (i.e. you won't find a Jewish person living in the Muslim district, etc.).  The ones who actually live in the Old City usually live in places that have been passed down in the family for generations, and/or are the most devoutly religious followers who want to be as close to the holy sites as possible.  Inside the Old City are famous religious sites such as the Tower of David, the Western Wall, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Dome of the Rock, Stations of the Cross, Mount of Olives, etc.

Drew and the Old City walls

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Took an hour-long bus ride from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. Navigating to our hotel wasn't too bad, but it definitely wasn't the easiest. First observation is that people generally don't go out of their way to be helpful to tourists, and despite the fact that most people speak English, a lot of the signage is only in Hebrew.  But we made it.

Not only was it boiling hot (this is def the desert), but everyone in the Old City was dressed super conservatively, whether they were Muslim and wearing a hijab, or Orthodox Jewish and covered up. Watermelon popsicle was a life-saver

• Did the Sandeman's free walking tour - this was my third one (the first two being Dublin and Prague), and I generally love the guides because they are great and have really good energy.  Our tour was 2 hours and covered a general overview of the Old City.  It was super informative, and there was so much information given that a lot of the history here is super convoluted.  I was having trouble keeping track of the different religions and events and dates (because we're talking like, 2,000 years ago here, not a couple hundred). It's crazy to me that some of the places we visited and saw are things you've read about in the Bible. CRAZY. Like, when the guide points to a pile of rocks and goes "This is supposedly where Jesus was crucified," you have no idea how to feel or react or what to do or how to believe it's real life.

Our guide pointing at the Tower of David.  Which isn't the Tower of David at all; it was mistakenly believed to have been the palace of King David by Byzantine Christians who were looking for it. But it wasn't, it was originally a mini citadel that housed troops and had a mosque inside. But according to our guide, things in Jerusalem aren't about truth. They are about what is believed to be true or what tradition dictates, and that is the new truth. See more below

This is the Cardo, or the ancient "heart" of the old Jewish Quarter (hence the term cardiology).  This used to be the main street, and now part of it is preserved a couple meters below today's newer Jewish Quarter streets.  

The golden dome is the Dome of the Rock, where Jewish believe Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, and the bushes next to it is Temple Mount, the holiest site in all of Judaism and where Jewish people turn in the direction of to pray. Hence why the Western Wall faces that way and people pray at it.

• Post-tour, Drew and I went to see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the most important site in Christianity, as it is where Jesus was thought to have been crucified, and where his tomb lies.  The church is a crazy mix of beliefs and faiths, as a bunch of different groups have ownership of different parts of the church and control their specific altars, so it's kind of a mish-mash.  Also, not a single sign explaining a single thing. If you didn't know the significance of the church, it'd be super easy to walk right on by the nondescript building, or even to walk in and look around and walk out having no idea you'd seen anything out of the ordinary. That blows my mind. 

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

This stone is where Jesus' body supposedly lay before his burial. Which is funny because guides will tell you that the stone only dates back a couple hundred years so it isn't possible that it's the stone - but again, in Jerusalem - tradition trumps facts.  People still come and lay objects on it, pray on it, and touch it.  

The mosaic depicting where Jesus lay before he was buried 

AND THIS IS JESUS' TOMB. There was a long line to get inside, as it only fits about 3-4 people inside at a time. And there were a ton of ceremonies and things going on that held up the line. If I could describe it in two words: pure chaos.

• Then we visited the Western (Wailing) Wall

Western Wall at sunset, with divided sides for men and women

Mount of Olives at sunset. Where a lot of biblical events happened, and now it has a huge Jewish cemetery

Jerusalem at sunset

• At night, we left the Old City and entered the main district of Jerusalem - this was like a complete departure from the Old City. It was much, much more Westernized, and there were a ton of restaurants and bars and nightlife and English-speakers. Which is good, because I was starting to feel that my long skirt was the shortest skirt in the world after seeing what people were wearing in the Old City.

Palm tree garden

The modern Jerusalem

Fun Facts of the Day: (ehhh most of these are probably more like observations):

• I touched on some of this above, but being a tourist here is weird.  You get this sense that these religious sites are intended for tourists that are here for religious purposes or already know what's going on. Most places aren't super tourist-friendly - there's no signage or information people or helpful employees or translations. It's like - if you're here, you should know why.  Maybe I've been spoiled by the overly helpful (almost intrusive) Turkish people, but it has been a smidge difficult to get more than the bare minimum of assistance.  Which is fine, because I respect it and I get it - if I held something as holy and revered, I wouldn't necessarily want tourists tromping around with cameras taking photos with it either - but at the same time, we've worked to be respectful and have done our research to try and make sure we're not intrusive.
• Our guide taught us that in Jerusalem, tradition trumps facts. Not in a bad way - for example, nobody knows archaeologically where Jesus was born or where he died, or where he was crucified. Most of the locations today have been due to hearsay way way back in the day. Case in point - Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christ was crucified. Way back when, Helena (Constantine's mother, a.k.a. the emperor who converted everyone to Christianity) wanted to find where Christ was crucified, so she asked the locals, who indicated a vague area.  So that's where Helena built the church.  There is no archaeological evidence or anything that can scientifically prove that is true, and no one even knows if she had the right area, but it doesn't matter - if the tradition says that's where something happened, then that becomes the new truth. And that's all that matters. (Like the example with the Tower of David as well. It was historically proven later that it wasn't the actual Tower of David, but that didn't change anything. It is still the Tower of David today).  This was the #1 thing our guide told us to take away from his tour.  I should have known this given how many times my dad had us watch "Fiddler on the Roof" as a child. I mean, "Tradition" is the entire first number of that musical.
• There is an actual phenomena called "Jerusalem syndrome", where visitors become overwhelmed with all the holiness in the city, and start to believe they are Jesus/other biblical figures/or someone with an intense religious theme. Numbers range from roughly 100 people a year who befall this illness, and about 1/4 of them have never had any previous history of mental illness (!).  They usually have to be hospitalized, and it typically goes away after a couple of weeks or after being removed from Jerusalem.

Where the Last Supper occurred

Traditiooooooooon, tradition!  TRADITION! (sung to Fiddler on the Roof, obviously)