Studying Archaeology

We explore, we think, we take notes, we marvel. Here we are atop Masada. 

Here's our sweet camel which Kellun and I named Aniq. isn't she just the cutest? 

And here we are IN the Dead Sea, doing our choreographed synchronized swimming routine. 

None of us had problems staying afloat!

The Lowest Place on Earth

This morning we left Jerusalem and headed south into the Negev Desert. How amazing that within twenty minutes or so we were gazing out the bus windows at stark canyons covered with cream colored sand, small Bedouin settlements, shepherds and their sheep on the hillsides, and an occasional camel along the road. Is this real?

Mary and Kellun contemplating the desert

We stopped in Qumran to see for ourselves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a Bedouin shepherd boy. How awe inspiring to look up at the caves in the canyon walls where the scrolls were found and to explore excavations of the 2,000 year old Essene settlement where they were written.

We headed further south and further down below sea level, and at last reached the Dead Sea at -1300 feet below sea level, the lowest place on the planet. It sparkled on the left as we drove, a stunningly beautiful, turquoise body of water with white edges of salt. It looked like an inviting tropical destination, replete with date palms. However, there were no people in sight.

Next stop - Masada, a towering cliff made into a palace and then a fortress, with a powerful story. We rode the cable car up to the top, marveled at the archaeological ruins, and then some intrepid souls walked the long Snake Path back down.

We arrived at our hotel, tired yet excited and marveling that we were sleeping within yards of the water's edge. I walked down to dip my feet in the salty Dead Sea water. Tomorrow I'll go in for a float. After I ride my camel.

Busy Days in Jerusalem

Over the past three days in Jerusalem, we have been busy, energetic and thoughtful tourist/learners.

We've explored churches and archeological sites (oh, my, yes we have - many, many!), museums, and traditional sites of commemoration.

At the Huldah Gates to the Temple in Jerusalem

We have heard the Jewish call to Shabbat, the Muslim call of the faithful to prayer, and a chanting, singing Christian procession along the Via Dolorosa.

View of Jerusalem from Dominus Flevit Church on the Mount of Olives

At the Western Wall

We have seen hundreds of people in a variety of dress, enjoyed shopping for pottery in the Armenian Quarter, visited the Western Wall, watched devout Christians lighting candles and burning incense in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and viewed the stunning golden vision of Dome of the Rock.

We have walked countless miles up and down Jerusalem's many hills, inside and outside the famous city walls, over ancient stairs and streets and roads, and descended down underground into excavated ruins, tunnels, cisterns, and even a Herodian Era tomb.

And we've eaten delicious falafel, mangoes, eggplant, persimmons, excellent dairy products, mango juice and pomegranate tea - and even managed to do a little shopping. We are continually amazed at the wonder of this ancient city!

Bethlehem, Shepherds, and a Wall

This morning we found ourselves in the West Bank in Bethlehem visiting the Church of the Nativity. Underneath this famous church, in a grotto now lined with tapestries and adorned with lanterns and incense and a sense of awe, is the spot where Jesus was born. It is marked with an impressive 14-pointed silver star.

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

As odd as this might sound, our guide through the structures was a Palestinian Muslim named Nasser who had attended Bethlehem Bible College. He was knowledgeable and personable and full of respectful wonder for the historical significance of the event that had happened in his hometown.
















Later we visited that very college and were warmly welcomed by its Palestinian Christian president. He provided insights for us about the generations of his family who had lived in Bethlehem, how he came to found this institution, and what life is like now under Israeli military occupation.

As we left Bethlehem and the West Bank, our bus was searched by an armed guard as we passed through a checkpoint at the infamous wall created by Israel to mark the boundary from Palestine. As an American tour group we had nothing to fear, but we sadly reflected on the impact of this apartheid-like restrictiveness on the residents.

And then we saw actual 'shepherds abiding in their fields, watching their flock' - just what one would expect to see where Christmas all began, right?

Ah, what sense to make of all of this?!! When we got back, we worked hard on solving world peace over our wine before dinner.

Kellun, Penny, Harry, Linda, Reathel, Holly, & Rachel

"Up to Jerusalem"

Even though today we drove from the north of Israel out to the Mediterranean Sea and then south for about about an hour and a half, we actually went "up." Jerusalem is a holy city on a hill and an uplifting place indeed!

Before we got there we again visited Caesarea Maritima, an ancient harbor city on the Mediterranean. The surf was calm, the sun was shining, and this time we got to walk through the archaeological remains of a complex that Herod the Great built from 22 BC through 10 AD to host the Olympics. We sat in the theatre with its perfect acoustics, visualized the grand palace at the promontory point that once overlooked the sea, and imagined the Apostle Paul setting off from the harbor there to spread his important news to far lands (which in the first century AD meant other places along the Mediterranean).

Upon arrival in Jerusalem we went directly to the Israel Museum to study a pretty amazing scale model for an overview of the city as it was in 66 AD and to see the Shrine of the Book where the - yes - the Dead Sea Scrolls are kept. Tomorrow we'll tour the actual city and in a few days we're going to the actual Dead Sea!

We also took in Yad Vashem for a sobering look at the dreadful effects of the Holocaust on the Jewish population of the world. It is a museum as well as a heart-wrenching memorial.

For the next five nights we'll be at the Notre Dame Guest House, a beautifully restored pilgrim guest house near the New Gate in the Old City. Tired? Well, yes I am!

Churches and Hot Springs and Food

We began this bright, beautiful, warm, sunny day with a series of visits to several serene churches commemorating events that happened over 2,000 years ago - and ended the day soaking in Hammat Gader, a natural hot spring that has been in continuous use for more than 2,000 years. Such an amazing country!

Stained glass at the Church of the Primacy of Peter on Tabgtha

We have grown so fond of our Ein Gev kibbutz with it's glorious array of colorful food, it's friendly staff, and it's stunning sunsets.

 Tomorrow we are leaving early for Jerusalem.

Golan Heights

Yesterday our bus driver Ali and guide Jim took us up to the the highest part of this country, near Israel's border with Lebanon and Syria, up to the Golan Heights.

This is a stunningly beautiful and sparsely populated land of foothills and plateaus and tall snow-capped peaks, of fertile orchards and vineyards and vibrant wildflowers, of nature reserves with historic sites and waterfalls, of ranches with white cattle and rock-strewn fields for grazing.

Waterfall at Banais

And yes, of land mines and tanks and bunkers, and military presence. We saw for ourselves evidence of 1967, 1973, and more recent conflict, how empty villages are, except for the Druze areas, and how the United Nations has set up a disengagement zone. In fact, we drove around the designating boulders in the road and right through it. People go about their daily lives yet I can't really imagine what it must be like to know that enemy missiles could reach my home. Or that my children need armed guards for a school field trip.

Boulders designating entrance into disengagement zone - you can't not see them!

With an ever more fervent hope for peace in the world, we wound our way back down from the heights to the Sea of Galilee.

Warm, Cold, Wet, Dry - and Utterly Amazing!

It's incredible to be here and to see the sights we're seeing and to be allowed to walk on stones used by people over two thousand years ago! We're not in museums, we're outside exploring foundations of ancient synagogues, like the three we saw on Sunday in Korazin and Capernaum and Tiberius.

We got wet, really wet, when it rained. And then we dried off and warmed up when the sun came out - and then it poured again! And repeat!

We traveled completely around the Sea of Galilee, tucking into out-of-the way places between downpours to learn more than we thought we'd ever know about northern Israel. Our archaeologist guide is almost scarily intelligent as he explains the history of pagan Decapolis cities and religious Jewish cities and those with mixed persuasions during the past two centuries. He even points out how historians know these facts, such as the designs on coins (religious Jews would never depict a human face or an animal in 3-D) and on the temple floors (Hellenized Jews might inlay the signs of the Zodiac).

Exploring the ancient remains of a temple in Korazin

Our day of exploration was capped off by a boat ride out onto the sea in a beautiful, historically-styled wooden boat. And we managed to have both beautiful sunshine as well as rain to add to that very special experience.

Gulls come to visit on the Sea of Galilee

Each day we return to our lovely kibbutz with our new friends in time to view another gorgeous sunset on the Sea of Galilee.

And a glass of delicious Israeli wine!












P.S. Never get off the bus without an umbrella!

From Sea to Shining Sea

The strong howling wind on the Mediterranean Sea is a powerful force, a bit scary and totally amazing, cascading angry waves high upon the shore. Our hotel windows in Netanya, Israel rattled, yet we slept peacefully last night after a long day of travel, arriving in a new land.

Today as we rode up the coast in our tour bus with the ancient's 'Great Sea' on our left, we again realized its force. Unusually high winds have closed Caesarea by the Sea, one of the great port cities of antiquity (I think pre-4 B.C. probably counts as 'antiquity'!), yet we were able to get out of the bus to explore the aqueducts and marvel that they're still there in spite of the sea's obvious force.

Kellun & Mary (our leader)

We headed on up the coast and then inland through the Mount Carmel Range, viewing sheep on the hillside and green fertile moist fields of lupine, scotch broom, field mustard, almond trees, olive trees, and winter wheat spreading into the horizon.

Our destination was Nazareth, the largest Arab town in Israel to visit the Church of the Annunciation, a holy site for Christiandom. (Don't you just love how three faith persuasions are mixed in that sentence?) Originally built in 350 A.D. and rebuilt at least three times, this multinational Catholic church stands on what is believed to be the site of Jesus's boyhood family home.

We also walked in the rain throughout the excavated ruins of Scythopolis, a Greco-Roman city constructed between 300 B.C. And 700 A.D.

Yes this is an ancient part of the world; our guide said, "History tailgates you here!" 

Jim Fleming, our guide and teacher

And now we're tucked in for the night in a kibbutz on the shore of the Sea of Galilee with the lights of Tiberius, Israel glittering in the background. The water and the land and the history and the people are all beautiful and exciting and mysterious and just plain wonderful! Layla tov!

A gorgeous sunset on the Sea of Galilee