This was our last full day in Israel, and practically all of it was spent exploring the Old City. We started out on the temple mount, now the sight of the Dome of the rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Muslim population allows non Muslims up for a couple hours in the mornings, and…
We began our day at the top of the mount of olives, just outside Jerusalem. Here there was a brilliant view of the city, where we could see almost everywhere Jesus would have walked. We then made our way the Israeli heritage museum, where they had a 1/50th scale model of ancient Jerusalem, an exhibit…
After leaving the Dead Sea, we backtracked slightly to head to the fortress of Masada, built on top of a large mountain. The fortress was built by King Herod, and was nearly impenetrable, an aqueduct carried water to the fortress (which is in the middle of a desert), it was only accessible through a single…
Today we left the Galilee and traveled south along the Jordan River. We stopped by the ruins of Bet She’an, a really 2000 year old roman city that was remarkably preserved after an earthquake caused it to be abandoned. The city surrounds an ancient Tel, a 4000 year old fortress that at one time was…
I had trouble sleeping last night. I guess my attempt to preemptively beat jet lag failed miserably, as I was wide awake for most of the night. By now I have started to make friends with some of the other tour members, and we were enjoying fun conversation most of the day. After breakfast, we…
I awoke today ready to start the tour, or so I thought. While getting ready I found that our hotel was on the shore of the Mediterranean, and I mean on the shore, I took in the view while getting ready and eating breakfast (which was quite different from any American breakfast). We started out…
Today I flew to Israel. It has been a trip two years in the making, and I am ecstatic. Or at least I would be if it were not for jet lag and traveler’s exhaustion. I’ll begin by explaining this trip. It is a tour of Israel organized by author Cliff Graham, who writes novels…