Monday 18 March 2013

Sat, March 16 - Upper Galilee to Jerusalem

Leaving the Hula Valley we drove by orchards of avacado, orange, banana and apple trees. We saw orchards of kiwi and mistook them for grapes. Later we saw the vineyards. Shortly we were in the fertile Jezreel Valley and our first stop was at Megiddo. Megiddo is Hebrew for Armageddon, and our view from the top of Megiddo allowed us to envision what John referred to in the Book of Revelation when he speaks of the final war to take place. We walked through ruins dating back to the time of King Solomon and we walked down the 183 steps to the water cistern. Our stop at Mt. Carmel included not only a time of devotions and worship, but the opportunity to look out towards the city of Haifa with the Mediterranean Sea in the distance and the Jezreel Valley on either side. We would almost imagine Elijah calling on God to conquer the prophets of Baal. We talked with our tour guide about war upon war in the land of Israel. Time and time again, Israel turned away from God; time and time again, they asked for forgiveness and God honored them. What a merficul God we serve!

Stopping for lunch in Israel can be tricky on Saturday as Jewish establishments are closed for Shabbat. However, we had arranged for a falafal lunch and salad bar at a nearby Druze Village. Then it was off to Caesarea Maritime on the Mediterranean Sea. Caesarea was the ancient Roman seaport capital of Israel and we saw archeological evidence of Pontius Pilate having made this his base. We toured the theatre and the hippidrome; we looked out at the swimming pools of King Herod. We walked through the remenants of a Crusader City and we marvelled at the aqueduct system. Some of the group dipped their toes into the clear, refreshing waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Our last stop of the day was at Jaffa where we walked by the traditional site of the "House of Peter the Tanner" and took time to enjoy gelato, coffee and freshly roasted nuts in the artsy surroundings of Jaffa.

In less than an hour we were entering Jerusalem, listening to "The Holy City”. There weren’t too many dry eyes as we stopped on the top of Mount Scopus. In spite of cool temperatures and blowing wind, we will likely always remember the “Blessing for Jerusalem” our guides led us in. You can not imagine how delighted we were to arrive at a hotel where we would stay for 5 nights - we could actually unpack our suitcases!!!!















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