Dome of the Rock

Well, it only took 8 weeks of living here, but I finally visited the Temple Mount, seeing Al-Aqsa Mosque and the famed Dome of the Rock. The Mount is only open to tourists during certain hours of the day, meaning that in order to see it, we had to be in the Old City, in line, at 7:30am. Of course, it was us and 300 of our closest friends in line, so we waited there a while. Once we made it through Israeli security, we were led up a narrow catwalk, taking us over the Western Wall and onto the Mount itself.

Al-Aqsa Mosque

Group of women studying the Koran

Al-Aqsa Mosque

The Temple Mount is huge; the size of about 8 football fields! It is a wide open plaza, with Al-Aqsa Mosque at one end, and the Dome of the Rock at the other. Around the edge of the plaza are madrasas, or schools, where kids are studying the Koran. Around the plaza, kids are playing soccer on the grass, teens are chatting underneath trees, groups of women and men are meeting and studying the Koran, and families gather for lunch. While for tourists, access to the Mount is limited, for Muslims, it is their central gathering place, their city park of the Old City. Al-Aqsa, the actual mosque on the Mount (no, the Dome of the Rock is not a mosque), it massive and impressive, dominated by its iconic blue dome and intricate mosaics around the outside.

The Dome really is the most beautiful building I've ever seen. Built over the rock where Muhammad is said to have ascended into heaven to meet with Abraham, it shocks your eyes with its brilliant blues, deep greens, shimmering golds, and intricate geometric patterns. It is so large, that as you walk around the perimeter, you can't even see the golden dome. It really is breathtaking, and I could have stayed there staring at it all day. We explored the Mount, wandering around the Dome, attempting to photograph it from every identical angle. Non-Muslims aren't allowed inside usually, but we did sit and watch people coming in and out of the building to pray. But at 10 like clockwork, men with walkie talkies emerge and usher all the tourists off the Mount, a true feat in crowd control. The Dome of the Rock is truly magnificent, and a sight everyone should try to see before they die.