Day 4

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Megiddo or Tel Megiddo as it was called now was Day fours agenda. We decided to skip Maganda and try Balinjera instead today. This restaurant was right outside the hotel as well but was an Ethiopian restaurant. I ordered a chicken plate and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It was served with ingera, which was a very different kind of bread. It was 8:45 am when we departed the restaurant and were on our way Tel Megiddo. This drive, we were told, was going to be at least two hours. Tel Megiddo was located situated in northern Israel near Kibbutz Megiddo about 30 km south-east of Haifa. The ancient city-state is now known as Megiddo National Park. Megiddo is mentioned 18 times in the Old Testament which makes a landmark for religious purposes. It was 10:37 when we arrived at our destination. We entered Megiddo through the Solomonic city gate and saw the Ivory Palace. Paths led between the excavated sites and you could see the stables of King Ahab. Excavations have revealed at least 26 layers of ancient settlements. The guide mentioned inhabitants have included the Assyrians, King Ahab, King David, the Philistines and other known peoples of that age.

After a quick lunch break at around 12:45 in which we ate Hummus(of course), we continued on with our tour and history lesson. Mentions of Megiddo are made in Kings 2:23:29. One significant passage mention the capture of Galilee by the Assyrians where Megiddo was made capitol of the region was backed by 2 Kings 15:39 where it says, "In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria". We departed Megiddo at 3:30 pm and headed toward a restaurant called El Babor which was twelve minutes away in Umm el Fahm. As we arrived, we were greeted by a friendly wait staff as usual. This time ordered the stuffed lamb that delicious. The lemonade at this restaurant was ridiculously good. As we chatted over what we learned today, we looked at the time and decided to head back to Tel Aviv considering that it was a two hour drive. We left the restaurant at 5:15 and arrived back to the hotel at 7:22 pm that evening. I went upstairs to my room and flipped through my notes and pictures that I had acquired today. I drifted off to sleep in preparation for the day.

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