Day fourteen in Israel, Part Two.

Day fourteen, part two. On the bus at 7:30 again, and after we had gone on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, we went to Gergesa, Qazrin, the Jordan River, Capernaum, and we went for a walk down Arbel Mountain.


We found a crypt at Gergesa (sight of the demoniac in the tombs) that had a gate over it, but it wasn't locked so dad and I and some other guys went in. This is dad in a tomb. Notice the bones to the left of dad's shoulder.



This is Gergesa, some church remains.

Above is a reconstruction of a village that is similar to how a village would have been in the time of Jesus.

Dad and I with the Jordan River in the background. It was fairly warm that day which was nice.

Me standing on a bridge that goes over the Jordan River.

Capharnaum. This was where Peter lived and where Jesus often visited and stayed.

Dad by a statue of Peter, notice he has the keys.

This is on top of Mt. Arbel, the mountain that we would be walking down. Behind Dad is the Sea of Galilee.

This is what we walked down to get to our bus that was waiting at the bottom. This mountain was full of caves that we explored.

Day fourteen in Israel, Part One.

Since day fourteen was such a big day I decided to split it into two parts. So these are all photos of our boat ride. Our guide suprised us by planning a boat trip on the Sea of Galilee for us. It was a lot of fun even though it was freezing and really windy. When we got out on the sea the owners of the boat pulled out an American flag and hoisted it up next to the Israeli flag. Then they played the anthem and everybody stood up and sung, it was great. They also showed us how Jesus would have fished, out on a boat like we were. Here are some photos.

This is on the boat looking out toward Mt. Hermon. If you look closely you can see it, the white range of mountains, behind the hills.

The Israeli and American flag.

The boat that we went on.

Dad and I on the boat. As you can see it was very cold.

The owner of the boat showing us how they fish.

All of the seagulls that hung around wanting food.

Day thirteen in Israel.

Day thirteen. We were staying in En Gedi so we woke up and could see the Sea of Galilee out our bedroom window. We were on the bus at 7:30 a.m and headed off to Hazor, Dan, Caesarea Philippi and the Golan. It was very cold that day but we went to some very interesting places.



Our bus with Mt. Hermon in the distance.


This is at Hazor. It was freezing cold! Hazor was a large city about the same size as Nineveh or Babylon. See Joshua 11:10.

Dan. There was a lot of water and little rapids. Dan is the biggest spring in the Middle East, and the biggest source of the Jordan river.

At Dan. An excavation in progress. The original name of Dan was Laish.

This is at Caesarea Philippi. Behind us is the cave of Pan, one of the Greco-Roman gods. Notice the rock, it was here that Christ talked about building the church upon the rock.

Me on the Golan heights when the sun was setting. We were up there looking down on Syria.

This is a deserted Israeli military sight on the Golan. These are the stairs that led in and out of it. It was a lot bigger than I expected.

Day twelve in Israel.

Day twelve, we were on the bus at 7:00 a.m. Today we would go to Ceasarea, an aquaduct on the beach, Mt. Carmel and Megiddo. We wouldn't be returning to our hotel in Jerusalem that night, we would stay in a holiday resort in En Gedi, right on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee.



This is a tomb that was on the side of the road. These were reasonably common around Israel.

This picture is self-explanatory.

We went to Caesarea, a palace right on the Mediterranean that Herod built and named it after his boss, Ceasar. I am standing on a fake chariot which is located on the hippodrome (chariot racing track).

Me on top of a smaller aquaduct.

An aquaduct that Herod built. This was probably the most amazing thing that day. It stretched on and on.

This is on Mt. Carmel (where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal). We all found a seat on the rocks on the edge of the mountain, we had an amazing view. The man in the picture was our guide, Dr. Wright.

This is on Megiddo looking out towards Nazareth. You can see Nazareth, its the town on top of the range of hills.

Day eleven in Israel.

Day eleven was a free day, although we had the exam at about noon and then class from 2:15 to 5:30. So dad studied in the morning and me and my roommate wandered around for a little bit. The class was on Galilee because the next day we would go and stay in Galilee for three days.

Day ten in Israel.

Day ten was a free day. So dad and I and another guy from our group decided to get on a train to Tel Aviv and then walk to the Old City of Jaffa (biblical Joppa). We didn't realise that it was such a long way to Jaffa so it took a long time walking there and then we took a taxi back. We couldn't go in to Simon the Tanners house, it was under construction, like most of Jaffa at that time, but we had fun walking around the streets.



This is supposedly Simon the Tanners house although it only looked about 100 years old.



This is on the way to Jaffa, you can see Tel Aviv behind us.


Dad and I with the Mediterranean Sea in the background.

Day nine in Israel.

Day nine in Israel. On the bus at 7:15 am. Today we would leave Arad, go to Masada, the Dead Sea, walk through En Gedi, and go to caves at Qumran. Then we would go back to our hotel in Jerusalem. It was a very exciting day, we went to lots of cool places, especially the Dead Sea.



The path that leads up to Masada. Dad and a few others had a race up it.

Our group listening to our guide at Masada.
This is on the other side of Masada. I went down on the Gondola thing you can see and dad walked down the "Snake Path."

Me standing by the Dead Sea.

Look closely at this picture and you will see all the salt on the boat.

Dad floating in the Dead Sea.

This is En Gedi. There were lots of Ibex along the way. As you can see from this picture it was really dry in some places but in the next picture you will see that some places are really green and wet.
Dad and I at En Gedi. There were a lot of little waterfalls and the whole place was really beautiful.

Day eight in Israel.

Day eight. We were on the bus at 7:30 a.m. Today we would leave the Youth Hostel at Beer Sheva and stay over night at a Youth Hostel in Arad. It was a very full day again, we went to Tel Beer Sheva, Tel Arad, Nahol Zin where we went on a very nice walk through it and Mizpe Ramon. It was very fun and interesting day.


This is dad by a horned altar at the ancient site of Tel Beer Sheva.

Dad and a few other guys from our group sitting where the Elders would sit, just inside the gate. We are at Tel Arad.

This is me at Tel Arad. At nearly all of the ancient sites we went to there was always a big water cistern that we could go into and look around. So this is me going into one.

The ruins at Tel Arad.

The rest of these photos are at Nahol Zin, which is biblically The Wilderness of Zin. We took an hour walk through it and then up the cliff to our bus that was waiting on top. Nahol Zin is near Kadesh Barnea, where Israel wandered for forty years. It was very beautiful and there were lots of Ibex around which I have never seen before.

An Ibex. They were not very scared of you, so you were able to get quite close.



It was very beautiful, with a river running through and lots of trees by the water although it was still a very dry place.

Nahol Zin.