day 3

Dear caroline and jenny,

            Sorry I’m so behind of my posts..we have been real busy! Alright, so this morning we started off the day in Nazareth. We drove to the top of a mountain, the Precipice, for some readings. This was never mentioned in the Old Testament but it was the hometown of Jesus and it’s where he grew up. I would love to live there if I got that view everyday!

           View from the Precipice

            We were on the mountain for a while and then we went to Meggido. This was a big city back in the day and it was the main trade route. It has 20 layers of civilization and when the city was destroyed, they just rebuilt it on top of the old city.

            Mt. Carmel was next on the list. This is a mountain range that was the symbol of beauty and fruitfulness. This mountain overlooks the Jezreel Valley and it slopes towards the Mediterranean Sea. The view from the top of the monastery we were in, was amazing.

            That stop was short and to the point and then we got moving again. Our next break was at Caesarea. This city was originally built by King Herod but it was dedicated to Caesar, hence the name Caesarea..It is a huge place so we went to the water aqueducts first. This was really cool and it carried water from Mt. Carmel all the way to Caesarea.

            We walked a little further and got to the main part of Caesarea. There is a great big amphitheater where they still have lots of concerts and performances from various groups. Like many of the other places, they had lots of rooms that were partially restored and partially reconstructed to form the whole picture. While we were here, we saw at least 10 stray cats..There was a couple restaurants here and one of them had outside tables. There was a couple at an outside table with about 5 cats sitting under the table and the people were just feeding them. It was so gross.

            On our way to the hotel, we passed the ‘downtown’ area of Jerusalem and by then, it was dark out and the city was all lit up with bright lights. The city looked spectacular. We passed a certain area at an overlook and we could see the Dome of the Rock because all the lights were reflecting off of it. I don’t think I have seen a more beautiful city at night.

The Dome of the Rock is in the middle in all the middle of all those lights

            At the hotel that night, there was a wedding reception with lots and lots of flowers. When the workers were cleaning it up, Janet (a girl in our group) asked the man if those flowers were for us, and he gave them to us! It was hilarious because we didn’t think he would actually give them to us!