Day 7 (Sunday): Jerusalem and Bethlehem - approaching the Wailing Wall

We got back into the coach and entered the walled city through the Dung Gate - how it got its name I can't imagine - and headed for the Wailing Wall.  Excavations relating to the period of the Second Temple are in progress and then it was a case of dividing into men and women to go through the security checks as we entered the area of the Wailing Wall.

Western Wall or Wailing Wall

The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is an ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a relatively small segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, known also in its entirety as the "Western Wall". The wall was originally erected as part of the expansion of the Second Jewish Temple begun by Herod the Great, which resulted in the encasement of the natural, steep hill known to Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount, in a large rectangular structure topped by a huge flat platform, thus creating more space for the Temple itself and its auxiliary buildings.