Avir is still wandering about in the Garden of Gethsemane amongst the many flower bushes and shrubs on this delightful Spring day. The rows of full blown roses create a festive look with dazzling colours and scents. Like ancient sentinels, the old olive trees with their hollow and twisted trunks stand guard over this whole area; some are more than three metres in diameter and recent studies have revealed that they are still in excellent health.
Noted historian Flavius Josephus reported that all the trees around Jerusalem were cut down by the Romans for their siege equipment before they captured the city in AD70. Even so, the Garden of Gethsemane has three of the eight ancient trees dating back to the middle of the 12th century, and all eight originated as cuttings from a single parent tree.
The Garden Grove is situated at the foot of Mt of Olives. This is the place where Yeshua prayed with His disciples on the night before he was crucified: Matthew 26:36 says, “Then Yeshua went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane and said to them, “Stay here while I go and pray over there.” ”