Next stop on the way south was the ruins of Beth Shan the Philistine city where they cut off king Saul’s head and hung his body and those of his 3 sons on the wall. David’s mighty men heard about it and came here to get the bodies down and give them a decent burial. The Romans also occupied the city several hundred years later, and the crusaders after them, each one building on top of the ruins of the previous city – an archaeologist’s dream! Incidentally, they filmed the crucifixion scene for the movie Jesus Christ Superstar on the hill here. The tree they used is still here.
After lunch we went further south to the desert area of En Gedi where David and his men hid from Saul. There is a fresh water spring with waterfalls, a good spot to hide. This is where he had the opportunity to kill Saul in a cave while Saul was relieving himself yet he refused to do it out of respect for Saul’s position.
We finished the day at the southern end of the Dead Sea. The water is 1/3 salt and minerals, 10 times more salt than the ocean! They say you float in it, so since I usually float like a brick in normal water I was keen to test it out so the kids and I went for a float in the Dead Sea while Kaz went to the day spa for a Dead Sea mud wrap. She’s going for a swim in the morning, and since she normally floats like a beach ball in normal water, I reckon she will be able to walk on water, or at least crawl on it. Sure enough, even I floated. Absolutely amazing! The taste of the water is so pungent it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced; they say if you drink it you can die. Stay tuned for Kaz’s floatfest.
Friday 29th February 2008Since we’re staying on the Sea of Galilee where Jesus did much of his ministry we had a lot to see today. This morning’s first stop was the Mount of Beatitudes. Of course there is a church there now so it’s not what I had pictured, but still pretty cool to be where Jesus stood and preached the great sermon on the mount.
An Australian Eucalyptus on the Mt of Beatitudes!
They then took us to one of the northern most parts of Israel, the Tel Dan Nature reserve. This area is absolutely beautiful and lush. Clean flowing river, forest, fields – gorgeous! There are ruins of the ancient city of Dan here including the city gates which were excavated by archaeologists about 15 years ago and a pagan altar that Jeroboam set up so his people wouldn’t go to Jerusalem and potentially change their allegiance to the Southern Kingdom. Originally Joshua gave Dan the southern most part of Israel but they moved to the opposite end to get away from the Philistines. Unfortunately, the Assyrians kept harassing them up north until they were eventually conquered and taken into exile. Interestingly, they are the only tribe not mentioned in Rev 7 as returning to the promised land. Our guide reckons it’s because they rejected the land they were originally given. The valley is so beautiful, the Lebanon and Syria are both wanting it for themselves, hence some of the conflict. By the way, they’ve planted heaps of Ozzie eucalyptus trees here so it looks like a typical lush forest you’d see in NSW or Qld.
Then it was off to the pagan Temple of Pan (at Benias) for lunch. Elijah and I found a cool bridge built by the Romans too.
From there we drove through the Golan Heights. The Israelis took this from the Syrians in the 1967 six day war when Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia attacked Israel. They believe that Israel is Arab land and are keen to get it back, but the Israelis defeated them soundly and pushed them back gaining some territory to boot. From the Golan Heights we drove back down towards the Sea of Galilee to the ancient ruins of Capernaum where St Peter lived. The whole area was completely buried until archaeologists found a manuscript that spoke of an octagonal church on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee built over Peter’s house. They eventually found the foundations of an octagonal building, dug deeper and sure enough found the remains of a house. A bit more archaeological sleuthing uncovered some stucco with the words “Jesus Christ, Saviour” and “Peter”. They realised that this house had become revered by early Christians and that it was indeed the house of St Peter, so once the archaeologists were finished, the Catholic church swiftly built a church that seriously resembles a floating UFO over the site. Anyway, this is where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, and apparently they think it was here at Peter’s house that the lame man was lowered through the roof by his mates for Jesus to heal. The synagogue where Jesus taught is still here too, but only the foundation stones. They rebuilt the synagogue in the late 4th century in the same place. Very cool.
Almost home and we stop at the site of the feeding of the 5000. Of course there is yet another church here, but it does have an amazing mosaic floor illustrating the Loaves & Fishes miracle.
Last stop is the shore of Galilee. A couple of local guys found a 2000 year old boat buried in the mud one day after a bit of a drought when the water level was lower than usual. Archaeologists, engineers and marine scientists excavated it and have put it on display. It was so fragile and water logged they couldn’t let it dry out so they completely encased it in polyurethane to transport it, then immersed it in a pool of special preserving chemicals for 9 years before they cleaning it and presenting it here. Again, very cool.
The only thing left to do was a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee (interesting: A freshwater lake with a frashwater river, the Jordan, running into and out of it, but it runs into the Dead Sea, the most salty water on earth, 10 times more than the ocean) . Talk about getting into the feeling of the Bible days; the wind blew up, the waves picked up, (not exactly a storm but you could totally see how one could easily be taken by surprise by one) and we sang the American national anthem (?!!), followed by the Canadian, and due to some protests from yours truly, Advance Australia fair. Blatant tourism marketing. Otherwise it was a nice trip. Kaz and the girls went to a diamond shop while I stayed at the hotel with Elijah to bring YOU the latest instalment in the Hewitt’s great adventure.
Thursday 28th February 2008These tours are go go go. No time at all to stop and get the kids to write in the blog, hence it’s always me doing it late at night. Last night we managed to arrange for a 7am wake up call rather than 6 so the kids could get some well needed sleep. First stop was the Roman town of Caesarea. This place is amazing. There are ruins everywhere. The most impressive is the Amphitheatre which is has been restored and is still in use as a theatre today. Around the corner is the ruins of Herod’s Palace and a chariot racing arena. This is the very spot that St Paul was on trial and appealed to Caesar. Evidently the harbour was extraordinarily well advanced with breakwaters and a marina that could accommodate 100 ships at once which made this city the main port in the Eastern Mediterranean. An earthquake changed the entire landscape though so the harbour walls are now 100-200 metres inland – weird. It also has an awesome Fortified city gate that the crusaders built complete with moat and boiling-oil-pouring-holes. We drove a km up the road to see the city’s northern aqueduct built by the Romans. Actually, as the city grew they needed more water so they built another one right next to it.
Mt Carmel was next on the list. This is where Elijah the prophet challenged the 850 prophets of Baal & Ashera to a fire-ball competition. Elijah won, had the bad guys slaughtered down in the valley, came back up the mountain and prayed for rain (it hadn’t rained for 3 years) and sent his servant to look towards the Mediterranean sea for clouds. Well, when you’re here you can see it all. Very cool.
After eating the best falafels in the world for lunch we went to the ancient city of Megiddo. It is the place where 5 major trade routes pass through so it was a very strategic spot to control and therefore a major point of conflict. They’ve found 26 civilisations layered one on top of the other. This is the place where the prophecy says the end times final battle of Armageddon will happen.
Off to Nazareth, the place Jesus grew up (He was born in Bethlehem but Joseph came here, most likely for work). They have recreated a little village to look just like it would have when Jesus was here. They had actors as shepherds, a watchman and a weaver. The kids loved it!
We then drove through Cana the village where Jesus turned water into wine. It’s really close to Nazareth so he probably knew the family.We finished up by driving 2 hours north to our hotel for the next 2 nights right on the Sea of Galilee at Tiberius where Jesus walked on water.
Wednesday 27th February 2008Another 6am wake up call. Very tired (see Monday’s wake up time). Drove to Madaba, the city of Mosaics. They took us to the Church of St George, which has a massive mosaic map of the middle east. It used to be 75feet long and have 1,300,000 pieces which took 2 years to complete before most of it was destroyed by earthquakes. Of course the next stop was an exorbitantly overpriced Mosaic shop where a small round coffee table top cost over $2000! Mmm. Pass!
Then it was up to Mt Nebo where Moses stood to view the entire land of Israel right over to the Med sea. Apparently God buried him somewhere on this mountain. It is also where Joshua saw Jericho and sent out the spies to Rahab’s house. They have erected a big sculpture of the bronze serpent on the staff from Numbers 21 fame.
We then drove to the Jordan river and farewelled our Aussie companions Mark & Heidi, then crossed the Jordan into Israel. Mega security. Guns everywhere. Unlike the Arab countries we’ve visited, where even toilet janitors have military style uniforms, these guys have no uniforms, just guys in jeans and T-shirts with automatic weapons. Felt a little nervous. We met our new guide, Yossi, and our driver Avi who drove to Qumran on the Dead sea where the Dead sea scrolls were found. They were written by the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect who had made hundreds of copies of Bible texts and hidden them in jars in caves all over the area over 2000 years ago. A Bedouin goat shepherd boy found them in 1947, the Jesuits offered money for any more that were found and the hunt was on. Bedouins everywhere finding scrolls and tearing them into little bits until the Jesuits started paying more for bigger fragments rather than the actual number of fragments. Apparently they still can’t piece together over 100 fragments because the Bedouins tore them up to claim more reward money. Anyhoo, this is the most significant find in modern times for both Jews and Christians because it authenticates the fact that the documents we’ve been using to translate the bible are indeed accurate.We then drove to Tel Aviv, via Jerusalem (an awesome sight) for the night.
Tuesday 26th February 20086am wake up call and off to Petra. Saw snow on the way! Petra is definitely one of the wonders of the ancient world. Petra is a 3000 to 4000 year old hidden city carved into solid rock. It is incredibly impressive. After an 800m water to the entrance, you have to walk through a crevice only a few metres wide between 2 huge towering cliffs for over 2kms. They cut an aqueduct all the way down to the city to supply water. Even if an invading army could find it (impossible) they could never get in. It is literally impregnable. The first thing you see at the end of the crevice is “the treasury” an elaborately carved facade which is incredibly well preserved. There are tombs and homes carved into the rocks everywhere. It is simply overwhelming, I’ll let the pictures do the talking, although in reality they could never do it justice. (By the way, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” was filmed here.)
Maddi, Elijah & I rode the last 800m after coming out of the crevice on horseback. Kaz & Mahalia opted to walk it due to the extortionist Bedouins. I was so impressed with Petra I bought a souvenir T shirt that was “A1 Top quality sir”. When I put it on the next day I found the embroidered badge was under my armpit and a bit of material was randomly sticking out the seam of my shoulder. Sneaky little Jordanian. A little after Petra we stopped at the rock that Moses struck and water gushed out. It still has water coming out of it. Cool.
Drove up to Amman, the capital of Jordan past the classic “Lawrence of Arabia” filming location and Karak Castle, where Ridley Scott filmed “Kingdom of Heaven” with Orlando Bloom. Pete
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