Of course woke up around 1a and couldn’t get back to sleep, so spent sometime on my balcony thinking, praying. Noticed how quiet this place is. Around 4a I decide I will not be able to get back asleep so I go down to the hotel lobby and have a morning devo. No ‘Grand-Slam’ breakfast here - eggs, bacon, pancakes, instead there are about 7 varieties of cheese, fresh fruits and vegetables. Had freshly-squeezed grapefruit juice, in fact, I squeezed it!
For our first stop, we head to Caesarea, the former thriving coastal city, now in ruins. This city was made the capitol after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. We enter the theater, which faces the ocean, and had a morning Bible study and time of worship. Another tour group had a guy go down to the floor level and sing “How Great Thou Art”. We were up maybe 20 rows and could hear him perfectly. The acoustics were amazing. This city was built by Herod and served as the Roman capitol of Israel. Three things marked a city in the Roman Empire – a theater, a hippodrome, and an amphitheater, Caesarea had all three.
Outside were statues of Roman emperors; all were beheaded which the Jews did in defiance to Roman occupation and emperor claims of deity. Next we visit the ruins of Herod the Great’s palace. It literally was built out on the ocean, and it contained a fresh (not salt) water pool. The hippodrome, “circus” in Latin, was where Roman chariot racing events occurred. Visited a crusader (Byzantine) city just north of the hippodrome. It has a moat all around it complete with a draw bridge. Smooth corners along the walls indicated the flow of traffic into this city. This time in history brought the offenses of Europe with it.
Next we stop to view the once active aqueduct, which ran from Mt. Carmel all the way to this coastal city of Caesarea. Next stop is Mt. Carmel to the place of Elijah’s great victory over the prophets of Baal (1 Ki 18). Had Bible study up there (Horizon’s name was inspired here). Visited a monastery there dedicated to that victory. From this mountain you get a view of the entire Valley of Megiddo. Nazareth is to the east of Megiddo in the Jezreel Valley. Had lunch at place know for their falafel. It was incredible, had two! Saw my friend Max (from the plane) at the same stop. From here we head down to the ancient city of Megiddo.
Megiddo holds a very significant location on the trade routes for the 3 continents. It lies on 3 strategic roads to the south, east and north and whoever controlled this city controlled this road. King Ahab set this city as a major seat of his government. It was conquered by the Assyrians then the Persians. This city is set on a high hill and still contains remnants of its “high-places” - alters given over to idolatrous worship. See 4 people doing that very thing on former alter site. Also, from this city you can see the Damascus road. Water was brought into this city via a tunnel hewn out of rock that tunneled down to the valley below. Cultures built cities on mountains because it was not good for anything else and allowed the valleys to be used for farming. Also provided protection from attack.
We travel up toward modern day Nazareth. It is set on many hills and is very modern, was similar to San Francisco. There is an ancient and modern Nazareth today. The ‘Church of the Enunciation’ was built at the supposed site of Joseph’s carpenter shop. Nazareth is the capitol of the Galilee, ~200,000 residents, many Arab Christians here – 40% of the Galilee is Israeli Arab. The name “Galilee” means “region”. Drove through Cana in the valley down from Nazareth.
From here we travel to the western city of Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee. Hotel is the Gai Beach, right on the Sea. The view from this hotel is absolutely stunning! Dinner was about 15 varieties of vegetables, humus, deserts, delicious! We have a time of meet and greet after dinner. Met 2 hotel workers - Alanli and Morena, who are students and also in the military. It is mandatory for every resident to serve 2 years in the military.
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