Blogs from Nazareth, North District, Israel, Middle East - page 2

This morning got off to a frustrating start. By the time we found our way to the car rental and made our peace with our sat nav system, it was almost lunchtime. Thankfully the gas station on Route 1 served the best gas station food I've ever tried. With schnitzel sandwiches and sugar-free energy drinks to fuel us, we made our way north on Route 90. This stretch of highway runs parallel to the Jordan river. We felt popping in our ears as we approached it. We finally figured out that it was because we were driving below sea level as that was the beginning of the Dead Sea area. Along our route were markers indicating our depth. It was a very scenic, desert looking region. The desert scenery became greener and more lush as we ... read more

Yesterday we drove from Tiberius through the Galilee region, passing the city of Cana, to the hometown of Jesus, Nazareth. We then drove through the Jezreel Valley to the massive tell of Megiddo (Armageddon). After a visit to the ruins of this important city, we stopped at Beth Shan on the way to the Jordan River Valley. Tomorrow Jerusalem!... read more

After the bus ride from Acre, we had to rush to Nazareth. When we got to Nazareth, the Church of the Annunciation, where Mary and Joseph had lived, had actually been closed for the day already. Fortunately for us, Shimon, our tourguide, knew the guard and he let us in through the exit. Personally, I have no words for the Church of the Annunciation, all I could do when I was there was sit on one the church benches and bow my head and pray. It's hard to describe everything. They say a picture paints a thousand words, I'll have a few pictures up, that should satisfy for a few thousand words ;)). Till next time! Conor :))... read more

Wednesday March 2, 2011 We are making this final blog entry. We got busy at the front of the trip and were not able to blog the first day. Roy Wolf picked us up promptly at 6:00 AM and gave us a ride to the airport. We made our plane with plenty of time to spare. We only six people on our flight to Newark. We arrived in Newark around noon and had lunch at our gate. Around 2:00 PM we met our group from Ft. Worth. We made our introductions and prepared for out 10-1/2 flight to Israel. We boarded right on time and left with a full plane. The flight was a bit bumpy but got a chance to sleep a little and watched Social Network for my movie selection and Sherry watched Secretariat. ... read more

Another great breakfast and goodbye to our hotel on the Sea of Galilee. We started early today because it is the Sabbath (sundown on Friday through sundown on Saturday) for the Jewish culture and various places will close early. We will be spending the rest of our tour at the Olive Tree Hotel in Jerusalem. Our first stop today was the ancient ruins of Beit She’an which is one of the most ancient places in Israel. Philistines and Canaanites ruled it and the Hellenists called it Skitopolis. In the Roman period it was the largest city in the regional alliance known as the Decapolis. The book of Sameul reports that after Saul and his sons were killed on Mount Gilboa their bodies were fastened to the walls of Beit She’an. An earthquake destroyed the city and ... read more