More on our trip to the North

---

Later on our tour, we came to a famous church for Mary where (in the bible) she found out she was pregnant. It is the biggest church in the Middle East and in my opinion the most beautiful. The architecture was stunning. The inside was dark (like a castle) but the stained glass glowed - almost haunting like. You could hear the low voices of the chorus singing as you went through. We stopped at a hotel for the night. It was dedicated to a Jewish business woman who lived during the Renaissance. Her name was really long and I could not remember it. (Dona Gracia my mom just told me.) The people there told us about her and then made us dress up like people in that time period. Most of the good clothes got taken first so I got stuck looking like Aladdin with no lamp.
The next day, we went to two villages one was a Druze village. There we went to a place to have lunch and it was odd and unusual. It was super dark with 1,000 odd trinkets hanging everywhere!!! The man told us a little about their religion but not too much because it is a secret religion. When we were coming out I saw two little boys. One looked about six, the other three perhaps. Their faces looked exactly the same with two misty gray eyes that stared at me curiously. We also went to a Caucasian village (Sunni Muslims originally from the Caucasis region of Russia). There are only two of their villages in the Middle East. They were very kind and told us about themselves - also showing us some of their music and dancing. That was the last stop on our two day tour!

---

Photos

Church of the Enunciation
Nazereth

Church of the Enunciation
Nazereth

Church of the Enunciation
artists from around the world made amazing pictures of their idea of Mary and Jesus. This is from an Artist from Japan.

Church of the Enunciation
The American artist's version.

Church of the Enunciation
The remains of the Byzentine Church that goes back to about 300 CE.

Emily first week 076
The Mosque in the Cauceses Villege

Emily first week 074
Walking through the villege.

A Chicken
What can I say, I like chickens!

Comments

[Rabbi Larry Karol]

Keep up the good work!
Emily - great reporting and photos! You have gotten to visit some places that I didn't get to go. Keep up your great reporting - tell everyone hi! Rabbi Larrry

[Lisa Greenblatt]

Wonderful
I love how you describe exactly what you are seeing. It brings Israel right to ME. It sounds like you are having a wonderful adventure! I love seeing all the pictures. I know all of your friends will be so excited to see all of this when we return to school after our Feb. vacation...

[Catherine Rea]

Nazareth
Emily, Your writing is very descriptive. Loved reading about your visit to Nazareth. The photographs were very professional. I can't wait for Chapter III. :-)

[Cathy A]

The Church of the Annunciation looks wonderful. And its importance to the history of that land is not to be underestimated. As for the trinkets in the other church... I wonder if they are like those in Greek churches where you put silver replicas of what you are praying for or about.