Today was a pretty cool day. Lots were seen by all. Long day, however, considering the fact that most of us were up around 3 AM and unable to sleep. That made the wake up call at 6 AM easy! We were down in the dining area by 6:45 AM eating another buffet of interesting delicacies. Following that we were on the bus and headed north.
First stop was Caesarea. This area contains one of the largest artifacts\discovery sites in Israel. It is a seaport city nesteled up to the beach with a theater, charity race course, and other stuff. It is quite picturesque being right on the Mediterranean sea. You read a lot about Caesarea in the book of Acts in the New Testament as Paul was here 3 times. Here we also saw the only found artifact of Pontius Pilate...a stone with his name written into it. Pretty crazy....
The next stop was Mount Carmel. Here the book of Kings in the Old Testament calls it out as the place where Elijah, Elisha, wicked Kings of Baal, etc. had presence. We drove up to a monastery there and looked out over the Valley of Jezreel (plains of Armegeddon). The view was pretty neat.
The third stop was at Megiddo which means Armageddon. A huge archeological site is found here. 20 cities have been uncovered here over 13 acres. The water system dates back 2800 years. We traveled down stairs to a tunnel\shaft that connects springs outside the city by a 215 foot tunnel. That was an interesting walk for sure. The stairs challenged a number of people who were not ready for such. 183 stairs down...and 80+ back up. This valley was important as it was called the 'way of the sea' due to the travel they took from Egypt to the east. More importantly, one of the final battle is prophesied to be in this valley. Lastly, from Megiddo, you can look across the valley and see Mount Tabor and the city of Nazareth.
The fourth stop was Mount Tabor...the place where the transfiguration of Christ was said to have occurred. The drive across the valley to Mount Tabor took about a half hour (nothing is fast here). To get to the top, you have to get in smaller Taxi's\buses which took 10 people only. At the top sits a nice church that honors the fact that Christ, Moses and Elias were present here. Again, the view across the valley was really nice, especially looking North to Nazereth.
The fifth stop was in Nazereth to a place where they have tried to keep it like it was when Christ was growing up here. Nazereth is a relatively small place. The roads are small. So getting a big bus up through it was very time consuming. Nobody goes fast here in Israel though. The village was a really neat expeerience. Our guide led us through what it might have looked like here and how the people would have appeared and spent time on. I like the grape and olive press sites. They were pretty interesting. Also in Nazareth, we believe this is the place that the angel appeared to Mary to announce that she would be the mother of the Son of God. Nazerth sits on the side of hill...so nothing is flat.
After Nazareth, it was growing dark. So we headed to the Sea of Galilee passing through Canaan. It was funny to see such things as New York Pizza and Chili's signs along the way. McDonald's are everywhere...but that is the only regular chain we have seen in abundance. We drove to a restaurant called St. Peter's Fish which sits right on the Sea of Galilee. The meals are mediteranean based always with vegetable platters (beets, carrots, cabbage, and other stuff). The entree options were fish, pizza or pasta. Most chose the fish of course. And that is exactly what you got! A whole fish....head fins tail and all. That freaked a few people out. But is really good...I thought!
After eating we were off to our Kibutz...which use to be a communal community...on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. The one we are stay at has little buildings with small buildings for each room. They are nice and very clean. We will be up early again tomorrow and on this bus....which is quite uncomfortable for one who has long legs.
Pictures from our terrace off our hotel room. We were on the 10th floor and had a great view of the sea.
Breakfast friends this morning....
Ruins at Caesarea.....
These were the latrines as you entered the arena where chariot races ocurred....
Pontius Pilate stone.....
Swimming pool on the sea.....
On the roadside, you can see a burial plot that was uncovered. You can see the round stone that is used to cover the sepulchres entrance....
These are pictures at Mount Carmel. The monument is of one of Elijah slaying one of the priests of Baal.
This is one of the gate entrances to Megiddo...a fortress\palace that was unearthed there.
The stairs down to the tunnel that was built for moving spring water to the city...
Church on Mt. Tablor...Mount of Transfiguration....pretty cool.
Nazareth Village Pictures....
Wine press...they filled this area up with grapes and then with their feet....stomped on them.
The grape juice then flowed down into the hole seen here....yum. Makes me want to drink wine1
They had goats and donkies wandering around as we wandered around....
Eating dinner at St. Peter's Fish....
Giving my fish a kiss good bye...
No comments:
Post a Comment