The rumoured best view of Jerusalem

After leaving Temple Mount from Lions Gate, I continued my journey at steep climbs. Yes, I decided to walk my way up to Mount of Olives to see the rumoured best view of Jerusalem. I had to see if it was said to be that good. The locals told me it's best to see it at sunset, but because of my tight itinerary, I had to do it straight after Dome of Rock while it was still early in the morning.  At that time, I totally felt like exercising, so instead of taking the public transport up there, by foot was the best way to go.

As I was venturing out from the Gate, trying to read the map I got from information centre before, a Holland couple came up to me and asked me for directions to Mount of Olives.  Since I wasn't too sure of the way either, I invited them to join me in my little navigation adventure. I told them I was looking to get up there too and was happy to have accompany if they don't mind walking extra miles if we were to get lost. Without hesitation, they agreed to team up and next minute we were chatting our way while puffing and climbing the hundreds of stairs to the top of Mount of Olives. 

Before reaching these stairs, we had to cross some busy windy roads with great views of the Old City from a different side. 

breathtaking view of the Old City as we walked our way towards Mt of Olives

windy roads toward Mt of Olives

Mt of Olives view with many beautiful Pine trees

This was the road leading up to many stairs to the top of  Mt of Olives

On our way up we stopped at one of the sanctuary, inside there was an Olive tree farm. The Olive trees were lined up in rows, and they must have been there for many years, as their trunks were wide and wrinkly. Sorry, I'm no tree expert but these trees looked like they've been standing there for a while.

Olive tree farm inside the Sanctuary

Olive tree close up

I couldn't remember how long it took us to reached the top as we got carried away with chatting. But it was definitely not an easy one, we had to stop for two breathers as there were just stairs after stairs and more stairs until we saw a wide road at a T-junction with couple of tourist buses and taxis parked along side the kerb. We knew that was the end of the steep hike, so we made a right turn and there we were, breathtaking view of Jerusalem from Mt of Olives. So the locals were right, the view was not to be missed, and I can imagine how beautiful it would look under sunset.

panorama view of Jerusalem

panorama view of Jerusalem 2

panorama view of Jerusalem 3

As we were stepping out from the stairs, people were starring at us, they must be thinking where did these people came from? Don't tell me they walked all the way up?!!?? haha oh ye, we walked all the way up. There were handrails running along the sides of the road, and it was packed with tourist groups. So I said good bye to the Holland couple and I continued with my journey. The good thing with travelling alone is you get the choose where you want to go without negotiating with anyone, and you can easily squeezed through any crowds without getting worried about loosing your buddies. As I was walking along the side walk, I tried to find a best spot to take a rest and to intake this amazing view of Jerusalem. Bear in mind, this hill is part of the cemetery , so there were graves just below the handrails.

just realised there were graves in the background

one of the oldest Judaism Cemetery in the world

Police station at Mt of Olives

And I had to say I was so proud of myself for walking so far, from where I was standing I could see the glittering gold dome a far. Yep, the Dome of the Rock, and I wondered how I made it this far.

donkey and bedouin busking for money

breathtaking view overlooking Jerusalem

Ok, so it was not a myth, the lookout point on Mount of Olives was definitely one of the best in the world and the view was definitely worth the energy and the hike. And there were couple of places for visiting on the way, so if you considered to go next time, why not go there by foot?