We went down to breakfast and had a great breakfast. The buffet had
everything from fish to nuts! While waiting to board the bus, we got
another view of the Mediterranean Sea, under a beautiful partly cloudy
sky. As we traveled North toward Caesarea (ruins), the weather became
more cloudy, but rain was not expected. We were given headsets for
when we were being guided at sights on the bus and we tested them to
be sure they worked.
We learned that Tel Aviv is a Unesco World Heritage site because of
the "Bauhaus" style of most of the buildings. Bauhaus is the style
marking the beginning of 20th Century Modern style. Since Tel Aviv
was founded at the beginning of the 20th century, most of its building
are this style. What this means is that the buildings look much like
the newer parts of most European cities. The original name is Jappa,
after one of Noah's sons. He is believed to be the founder. Jappa is
considered the oldest port city in the world.
We arrived at the site of Ceasarea. This seaport town was constructed
at the site of the ancient seaport town of Strato (Phoenician) by
Herod the Great in the year 20 BC. Herod named it after Caesar. This
was one of seven palaces Herod built. When we arrived, we saw a film
showing the palace from the time of Herod through the Muslum times. It
was occupied by the Romans, then Byzantines, Ottomans, Crusaders, etc.
Each group built its own different structures. Originally, Herod build
a large port and breakwater. Some of Herod's structures were toppled
by earthquakes. We saw the Roman Theater, Amphitheater, Herod's
palace, room where Paul was convicted before he was sent to Rome (to
be imprisoned and then executed). We boarded the bus and passed by the
moats built by the crusaders (King Louis IX of France) on our way to
see the Roman Aquaducts constructed by Herod to bring water from the
Carmel mountain range to Caesarea.
From there, we drove to see the Tel of Meggido (also known as
Armageddon). This Tel has more than 20 layers. It is the factual site
that James Mischner used when writing THE SOURCE. We could see the
Kibbutz where James M. stayed while he was researching the book.
We climbed up Megiddo, passing one Cananite gate, and then entering
another later one. Soloman built a palace here and we saw the ruins of
the horse stables and his palace. We saw an old altar (round, made of
stones), a grain storage "silo" with two sets of circular steps on the
inner walls of it. At the stables, we saw mangers for the horses
similar to the one baby Jesus was laid in when he was born. The views
from the top were great, we could see Nazarety, Mt. Tabor, Mt. Carmel.
The most interesting thing we did was walk down into the "hidden" well
that was constructed sometime in 400-500 BC. This was constructed to
protect Migiddo when it was attacked. The well was located outside of
the city walls, making the city vulnerable when attacked. The shaft
was dug through the bedrock below the center of the city through to
the well. The original well entrance was filled in and hidden so that
an enemy could not see where the well was. Megiddo was built and torn
down about 24 times in the 4-5,000 years that it existed. It is
located at an important crossroad for commerce and was fought over
many times.
From Megiddo, we drove toward Mr. Carmel. On one road, we passed some
old tombs on the side of the road. They looked like little caves. We
saw one with a large circular stone by the opening. The round stone
was about 60" in diameter and about 3" thick.
We stopped for lunch at a Falafel restaurant. You had a choice of a
falafel pita sandwich or a chicken pita sandwich. Then you walked into
a room with two tables full of all kinds of things to add to your
falafel – marinated peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots,
cabbage, cauliflower, and on and on.
After lunch, we headed on up the mountain the Mt. Carmel. This is the
spot where Elijah defeated the Bael prophets (400 of them) [I Kings,
18]. He performed the miracle where the flames came from Heaven to
consume the sacrifice on the altar made of 12 stones. From the top, we
could see the Brook of Kishon where Elijah actually slayed the
prophets. We also had views of two Tels, Mt. Tabor, the valley and
Nazareth. Seeing all of this, it makes you understand how people could
walk from town to town and easily find their way. The distances are
not that great and the few mountains are easily spotted from several
miles away. We learned the Nuns of Mt. Carmel are the "barefoot" order.
We then traveled to Tiberius to our hotel there, Scots Hotel (a former
Scottish Hospital). We walked down to the Sea of Gallilee (one block)
and put out hands in the water, then on down the promenade along the
sea and through town and then back to the hotel. Several gathered to
have a glass of wine before the group met at 6:30 to discuss our "wow"
or "aha" moments of the day. Then we went to a buffet dinner at the
hotel.
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