Morocco and Israel Feb-Mar 2018 - Part 2 Israel, A Journey for Believers

Morocco and Israel Feb-Mar 2018 

Part 2 - Israel, A Journey for the Believer

We arrived very late on arrival day, actually 4 am the next morning, flying from Casablanca to Tel Aviv with a stop and layover in Istanbul. It was our 1^st time in Turkey.

Day 1. Caesarea, Galilee. We met our tour manager, Leor, that morning. Over the week he proved to be a very knowledgeable and caring person. 

With only a couple hours of sleep, we started our 1^st day of the tour. Our 1^st stop was the ruins of Caesarea Martima, built by Herod when Pontius Pilate was governor. He had an ocean pool. There was also coliseum for Gladiator fighting and a hippodrome for chariot racing. Paul, Phillip and Cornelius also preached in this area.

 Hippodrome.

 Aqueduct.

From there we went to Mt Carmel and the Carmelite Monastery. It is also where the Prophet Elijah encounters the priests of Baal.

Then we drove through the Valley of Armageddon to Nazareth in Galilee to Mt Precipice, where the people tried to throw Jesus off the cliff, but he walked through their midst to escape.

Our last stop of the day was the Church of the Annunciation, also in Nazareth, where the angel Gabriel told Mary she would be the mother of Jesus.

That night and the following we stayed at the Ramon Resort Hotel on the Sea of Galilee.

An Israeli badger hanging out near our room.

Day 2. Golan Heights and Following in Steps of Jesus. We took an extensive drive through the Golan Heights. We saw many military bases, mine fields from past wars, all the improvements the Israelis had made to the area, and the Syrian and Lebanese boarders.

 UN boarder complex.

 Minefields!

After that we started in the steps of Jesus with a visit to Caesarea Philippi and headwaters of Banias River, which flows into the Jordan, where Jesus told Simon, you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.

This bridge was built by the Romans.

Then we went to Mt Beatitudes where he preached the Sermon on the Mount.

From there we went to Tabgha where Jesus performed the multiplication of the loafs and fishes.

Next we went to Capernaum, home of Peter, and town where Jesus worked many of his miracles of healing.

We almost walked on water on our boat ride on the Sea of Galilee at Ginoser. 

There were also the remains of a boat from the days of Jesus in the Museum by the boat rides.

Day 3, The road to Jerusalem. Our day started at the headwaters of the Jordan River at the Yaderit, where Jesus was baptized by John.

 Zach baptizing Lenny.

From there we went to the ruins of the Roman city of Beit She’an that was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD. An amazing place!  It’s the largest ongoing archaeological dig in Israel. Wish we had had more time to explore it.

It was another 2 hour drive to Jerusalem from there. We stopped at the lowest place on earth near the Dead Sea.

Our 1^st stop in Jerusalem was the Mount of Olives.

Next we went to throw Garden of Gethsemane. Some of the olive trees there are over 2000 years old! There are several Catholic churches, including The Church of All nations, on the site.

 

Our last stop of the day was the Garden Tomb, one of two possible sites for Golgotha (crucifixion site) and the burial and resurrection site.

Day 4. Jerusalem. Today we continued in the footsteps of Jesus.

Our 1^st stop was the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Men and women have separate sections on the wall and don’t go together.

From there we went to the amazing Western Wall tunnels which have been created from many years of archaeological excavations.

 A70-ton block on wall.

 Jesus actually walked here!

Then we visited the Pool of Bathesda.

After that it was a short walk to the Crusader Church of St Anne with its perfect acoustics.

Then we retraced the steps of Jesus on the Via Dolorosa to the final 5 stations in the Church of Holy Sepulcher.

 The Holy Sepulcher.

We had lunch and then walked through the Jewish Quarter and the Cardo of the Old City.

In the afternoon we went the Israel Museum where the Dead Sea Scroll and other documents are preserved. It also has a large scale model of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus.

Our last stop of the day was the Holocaust Museum.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped for pictures of the Minora national symbol of Israel and the Knesset.

Day 5. Jerusalem. Today started with a trip to Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus. It is a suburb of Jerusalem, but is in the Palestine Authority’s Territory on the other side of the wall.

The Church of the Nativity, which is built on the place Jesus was born, is controlled by the Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Armenians. They all share the church and have their own chapels and visitation times in Jesus’ birthplace. The only Church not destroyed by the Muslims because of the mosaic picture of The Three Wisemen.

Below the mosaic picture of The Three Wisemen

 The spot where Jesus was born according to tradition.

Close by is the Shepherd’s Field where the angels told them of Jesus’ birth. It’s right outside the wall separating Jerusalem from the Palestinian Authority area in Bethlehem.

In the afternoon, we went to throw Upper Room, which is on the traditional location of the Last Supper, Jesus’ visits to the apostles after the Resurrection, and Pentecost.   

After that we went to King David’s Tomb with separate entrances for men and women.

From there we went to the location of the high priest Caiaphas’ house, now the home of the church of St. Peter in Gallicantu (denial). It is also the location where Jesus was imprisoned overnight after his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and before his appearance before Pontiac Pilate.

The rest of the afternoon we spent walking in the old town.

We were there till Shabbat started. We walked the 3 miles to the hotel. It was like a sci-fi movie; no people, cars, buses or trams, all shops and restaurants closed. Eerie for a Friday night in USA, but just a regular Friday might in Jerusalem. Elevators stop at every floor also.

Day 6. Masada and the Dead Sea. It was our most crowded day of our tour. It seemed all the tour buses were in these 2 places today because of Shabbat.

Our last day in Israel we went to Masada, the site where about 1000 Jewish rebels and their families committed suicide rather than being killed or enslaved by the Roman siege force that was about to breach the gate.. We wanted to hike up, but we didn’t have enough time on the visit.

Then we went to the Dead Sea. It was a nice sunny day. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth over 1200 feet below sea level. It is also the most salty body of water on earth, which allows everyone to float with no effort. We had a long walk to the mud beach because the level of the Sea had been dropping about 3 feet a year for the last 40 years. We carefully entered the water because the “restorative “mud was so slippery. Coated ourselves with the mud, got out and let it dry. Then we gingerly got back in the water and floated with no effort. It was the 1^st time Zach had ever floated since he has negative buoyancy. 

The next morning we left the hotel at 1 am to make our 5 am flight from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam to Atlanta. The 5 hour flight to Amsterdam was the worst ever. The seats did not recline or have headrests. There were no displays with movies or flight info. The breakfast food and service was terrible. On a positive note, our flight home from Amsterdam was great.