My Trip to Israel in December 2010

Day 1 was spent on the plane ride over. Good movies on Air France. Hardly any sleeping for 2 who aren't used to sleeping in the upright position.

Upon arriving late in the evening in Tel Aviv, we were taken to Tiberias, a 2 hour bus ride. We checked into our hotel rooms and went to sleep. This was the first good sleep we had in what seemed like days!!

(We took over 800 pictures. I've included a few pictures as a recap of each day.)

We left the hotel early and rode the bus to Banais (Cesarea Philipi) where the Temple of Pan was located. Here people used to worship the god Pan.

We then went back toward the Sea of Galilee to the Mount of Beatitudes. This is where Jesus was said to have delivered the Beatitudes to his followers. (See Matthew 5.) There was a church on the hill with a great view of the Sea of Galilee.

Continuing on, we ate St. Peter's Fish (tilapia) at a local restaurant. It's called a mouth breeder because it will raise its baby inside the parents' mouth. We also ate flat bread and french fries here.

Capernaum was the next stop on our journey after stopping at the cave where the demoniac lived. Jesus cast the demons into the swine and they ran off the cliff. (See Mark 5.) Capernaum was the city where Jesus resided. We were able to see Peter's House and the synagogue where Jesus preached. This was also where he called his disciples.

We then went to Tabgha where Jesus feeds 5000. Inside the church that the Byzantines built, there was the rock at the alter where Jesus blessed the meal. It has a great mosaic of the fish and loaves at the alter as well that is over 1500 years old!

We then headed to the (freezing cold) Jordan River to have a baptismal service. Many in our group decided to participate. It was awesome to be baptized in the Jordan River as that is where Jesus was baptized some 2000 years ago. (See Matthew 3:14-16.)

From here, we returned to the hotel for the night. My ever-the-adventrous-man husband decided we needed to walk around downtown for a little bit before dinner. Tiberias has a very nice downtown, but no one is really out as early as we were!!

My husband and I got up early and went across from the hotel to see a Jewish cemetary. These are interesting because of the tombstones. They are above ground and really large--looking like a concrete casket. They also had rocks on them symbolizing the people who had come to visit them. A lot of them also had candles burning.

We met back with the group and headed to Nazareth. Here we saw Mary's house which is called the Annunciation Church. It was very large and there were representations of Mary throughout made by artists in various countries. You could see into the area that was said to be Mary's house. Near there was Joseph house that was also now a church. It was a lot smaller and was said to be where Jesus did a lot of carpentry work. There were areas where you could look down into the house.

We then went to a place called Nazareth Village. This is a unique place where they are making it look like it did in Jesus' time. We were able to see a few shepards herding their sheep and keeping watch over the vineyard. This is a functioning village with olives to produce olive oil for their needs at the village. It was really interesting to see a synagogue built like Jesus would have been in.

We then went to see Mary's Well Church which had a cover over the well and a church over the spring. It is a Greek Orthodox church.

Mount Precipice is our next stop. It is where Jesus was taken to be thrown off after he read from Isaiah in the synagogue (See Luke 4:14-30). He performed his first miracle at this time by just walking through the people who meant to throw him off and stone him. This was a huge mountain that would have taken forever to drag a grown man up! It was 800 meters above sea level and you could see all of the area from this point.

We continue the day in Sepphoris (Zippori) which is possibly where Jesus worked as a young man. It was a 2 hour walk from Nazareth and was a city that was being built when Jesus was alive. Today it is in ruins, but there was a lot to see. Tons of mosaic floors throughout the city. It is also the traditional home of Mary.

The last stop of the day is to see the Jesus Boat. This is a boat that dates back 2000 years to the time of Jesus. It was found when the waters of the Sea of Galilee receeded in the 80's.

Today we left Tiberius headed for Jerusalem!

We first stopped at Bet She'an which housed ancient ruins on top of other ancient ruins. There was a huge Roman theater in this town as well.

Megiddo (Armagedon) was our next stop. The town itself has 25 levels of ruins and ancient stables that belonged to King Ahab or Solomon. There was a tunnel from 2800 years ago that was built to protect the spring from any enemies that might try to attack the city. The people of Megiddo would lower a bucket into the shaft to get water that had come from the spring and filled up the tunnel. The Valley of Megiddo where the Battle of Armagedon (See Revelation 16:16) is set to occur is huge. I can't imagine it filled with blood up to the horses' necks!

We then proceed to Mount Carmel also called the Vineyard of God where Elijah battles with the prophets. (See 1 Kings 18:16-46.) There was a great view of the Jezreel Valley from this area.

We then headed to the coast to see Cesarea maritima which is where Herod and Pilate had a palace. The palace was, of course, in ruins, but we were able to see parts of some statues, the hipodrome, amphitheater, mosaic floors and the aqueduct. The aqueduct was really impressive looking.

We arrived in Jerusalem in time to check into our hotels and have dinner. After dinner, on a rainy Sabbath (started at sundown) New Year's Eve, my husband and I decided to walk the 3-5 miles it should have been to the Old City. Miserable. We thought we had taken the wrong turn on the way there, so we turned around and picked another street to go down. We just hadn't gone far enough on the first one, so we just added some extra mileage to our trip. We made it to the Old City and learned that no one is really out on Sabbath, New Years Eve or when it rains. It was not a great first impression for me, but thankfully all that changed. We made it back in time to be late to our 10:00 New Year's Communion with our group to welcome in 2011!

This morning we head to Bethlehem. Our driver and guide were not allowed to enter Bethlehem because they are Israeli Jews, so we were required to trade them for our time in Bethlehem. The Israeli government doesn't want Israelis going into Bethlehem because the Palestenians are learning how to govern themselves there. Also Israelis don't want Palestenians going back into Jerusalem, so there is a large gray wall all around the city. You enter the city through a check point. When we left, an Israeli guard got on to check all of our passports.

Here we saw the Field of Shepards where the Angel appeared to herald Christ's birth. We were able to see a cave that would have been like one they used 2000 years ago that is now converted into a small chapel.

The Church of the Nativity is also in Bethlehem. It is Greek Orthodox and contains a cave where Jesus was born as well as a manger. In the cave, there is a 14 point star where Jesus was said to have been born. The star represents the 14 generations from Abraham to Jesus. The cave is actually quite deep below the church that was built by the Byzantines. We then did a little shopping and headed back to Jerusalem.

The Mount of Olives was our next stop. I was surpised to see that it was covered by graves. It also had a lot of old olive trees. There are about 4 different churches marking the events that took place on this mount. We were able to enter the Church of All Nations which contained the rock where Jesus prayed on the night of his betryal. The Garden of Gethsemane was also here. Some of the olive trees in there are over 2000 years old. An olive tree can live forever, but many of the trees in Israel have been chopped down as different conquerors have come through and destroyed the land. The ones at the Garden, however, have always been spared.

Mount Zion where King David is said to have been entombed was our next stop. The Room of the Last Supper was also in this same area. It was a large room on the second floor of a building.
(Our guide told us there are 3 P's: Possible, Probably and Probably not. Many of the places, it was obvious that these were Probably Nots.)

At this point, most of our group headed back to the hotel, but we jumped off the bus with a few other people and explored the Old City a little more. We were able to go see the Wailing (Western) Wall even though we weren't allowed to take photos since it was still the Sabbath. Near here, we saw the golden menorah that will go in the third temple. We also saw Hezekiah's (or Nehemiah's?) Wall and the Roman City ruins. These were really deep beneath the current level of the ground.

We began the morning at St. Anne's Church and the Pools of Bethesda where Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath. (See John 5.)

We then followed the Via Dolorosa through the streets of the Old City. There are 7 stations throughout the way including where Simon takes over carrying Jesus' cross for him. This ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Golgotha and the tomb are said to be. The line to see the tomb was very long, so we did not go in, but we waited to see the place where the cross was placed in the hole. You could stick your arm in and touch the rock where the cross was held.

At this time, the group ate lunch and did some shopping, but we left them to go see the Dome of the Rock. We had to wait in line a little bit and then were able to walk around the Temple Mount and see all of the areas except we were not allowed to enter the mosque. There were a lot of Muslims walking around there because they are allowed to enter at any time. The group went to the Wailing Wall, but we waited for them at the Davidson Center. This is a large archaeological dig and also where the Southern Steps are that Jesus used to enter the temple. We were able to walk on the same steps!

We then went to the Dead Sea Scrolls Museum. Here is housed a huge model of what the Old City used to look like. It is made out of little stones and is very impressive looking. The scrolls were housed in the museum along with many artifacts that were also found in the caves. These are very old and impressive. It looks like printed text, but it was actually writing!

We toured around a little at night and got to see the Roman center of the city. It was a dome on top of a building that was supported by 4 huge columns that are now buried deep beneath the city. They currently run through a billiard's hall!

Today we drove by Jericho but did not enter. It is the oldest city in the world. They have recently recovered the walls around Jericho and found that people (Rahab) did live in them (See Joshua 2 and 6).

We were on our way to Masada which took 1 1/2 hours by bus to get there. It was a fortress high on a mountain. It also included Herod's Palace, but it's not sure if he ever went there or not. This is where the Jewish defenders made their last stand of the Judean revolt against the Romans. There were a lot of ruins up on top. You could also see the ramp the Romans built to use their battering ram to get the gate opened. It had to have taken them a year or more! It was really an impressive site since it was so high. The cable car ride to the top took 3 minutes, or you could walk the snake path up which would take an in-shape person about an hour.

Next we stopped by En Gedi and heard about David sparking Saul's life (See 1 Samuel 24).

We then made our way to Qumran where they found the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of course you couldn't enter the caves, but we were able to see them from a distance. There were also ruins of an ascedic group that lived there. They were an ultra-religious group of men that would copy the scriptures.

Next we headed to take a float in the Dead Sea! This was truly an experience, even though it was a little bit cold! It was so amazing to get into the water and begin to float as soon as you leaned back. I also liked it because I hate knowning there are fish, etc. in the ocean and lakes. I knew there was NOTHING in this water! The floor of the sea was very slimy and muddy. Most people rubbed the mud all over themselves. You felt kind of slimy as you got out because of all the minerals and salt in the water. It was a great time!

We then were able to check out a Prayer Center in the heart of Jerusalem that has been put together by some local missionaries. This was really an interesting place!

Our last day in Jerusalem was full of history and archeology, just like the rest! We started in the City of David which was a lot of ruins. You could find pieces of pottery from the time of David all over the ground. At this place, you could walk through Hezekiah's Tunnel which was wet up to your waist or take the shorter, dry Cananite tunnel. My husband took the wet route and I chose the dry one! (I was recently surprised when we were reading in 1 Kings and the City of David was mentioned. I about flipped out because I HAVE BEEN THERE and I know what it looks like! It was amazing to help bring the Bible to life for me.)

We then went to the Garden Tomb which is brought to us by the British. It is an alternate site for the possible Golgotha and empty tomb. Here we were able to see a wine press, a skull-shape in the side of the mountain and an empty tomb. We also had communion at this location. It was a truly moving, unique experience.

We had just a little bit of time before we had to get to Tel Aviv for our flight, so we quickly ran through Caiaphas' Palace and saw the dungeon where Jesus was held. This is also where Peter denies him 3 times before the rooster crows. (See Matthew 26.)

Our time in Israel is now over and we head to Paris. We arrive later than expected and the trains will not be working for much longer, but some of the group wants to get out and see the sites. We hire a taxi to take us to some of the great sites and spend a few hours touring around with him. We are able to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, the Louvre, Chomps de Lisee and the tunnel where Princess Di dies. We finally get to bed at 2!

Up early and head to the airport for our 10 hour flight home. We sleep little, but are so excited to see our boys and they are SO EXCITED to see us!!

We had a great trip and I'm reminded of how great it was as I go through the pictures, read over my journal, type this up and read stories in the Bible that took place in the places we saw. I'm excited to see how this will continue to impact my life more in the future.

So, yes, I am glad that I went!

*I hope you enjoyed the small amount of pictures I picked out of the 840 that we took!*