Advertisement
Published: February 19th 2016
Edit Blog Post
Today was the day we left The Angel Hotel in Bethlehem to go to the northern part of Israel to Caesarea on the Mediterranean Sea. This was one of Herod's biggest projects, but its importance in Christianity is that it was where the first Gentile, Cornelius, was baptized by Peter. This is considered the start of Christianity. Paul also spent time there and was imprisoned there for two years. It is interesting to look along the shore there because fragments of pottery come in with the tide along with the sea shells. This is ancient pottery pieces from when Caesarea was destroyed. When we left there our bus broke down I believe it was a fuel line. We all got off the bus and made the best of it. We probably lost an hour or more of time but at least we were in a good spot to get help and we all have fun.
Once we got the bus moving we headed to Mt. Carmel and the Jezreel Valley. Jesus passed through there many times This is where he restored the life of the widows only son at Nain. We climbed up to the top of the church at
Mt Carmel and the view was incredible. You could see in every direction...beautiful, rich farm land; mountain ranges; distant cities. WOW! This is also the place where Elijah fought the priests of Baal. Read 1 Kings 18:20-40 to remember the story.
We left there and had a delightful lunch at Tamer Halabi restaurant. It was your typical Middle Eastern meal but we all felt the food was much better there. The family has only owned this restaurant for a year and a half and they seem to be doing a great job. They were extremely friendly and ready to please. I loved the tray my meal was served on...it was purple, had flowers, had a poem about enjoying simple things in life, and had a picture of the coliseum in Rome. All of these things reminded me of my mom so I asked if I could by the tray. The young lady who waited on us simply gave it to me...but I left her $5.00. It was a great souvenir.
Following lunch we headed to Meggido and the ruins there. Unfortunately it was closed because on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday its somebody's holy day in this country. Once
leaving that area we headed to the Sea of Galilee and our hotel...the Royal Plaza. once we checked in, the Tyler County contingent walked down to the Sea of Galilee to take pictures and enjoy the warm weather. There we met a group of young women who approached us saying they could tell we were Americans. They were all Jewish and had moved to Israel from their homes in the US. They were really enjoying their time there and had fun talking to someone from the US.
Tomorrow we get up early and visit all of the places around the Sea of Galilee where Jesus did much of his teaching. This has been a great trip. We have all learned so much.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.394s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0827s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb