We woke early this morning to begin our first day exploring Israel with Pilgrim Tours. This is really our first tour where we will be with a large group for 7 days. Our guide, Roman, is insightful but also humorous. There are 46 people on our tour so let’s see how this goes.
After breakfast we headed to Caesarea, a city on the coast of the Mediterranean. We visited Caesarea National Park where gentiles first heard the Good News from Peter and were baptized. Within the park we saw a Roman Amphitheater; much of it has been reconstructed but some of the slabs date back over 2000 years. .
We also saw the remains of King Herod’s palace, which he built on sand, so you can guess what happened to that.
A stone was found in the amphitheater with Pontus Pilatus inscription which was the only evidence that he existed.
The ocean looked lovely here!
Roman showed us what they used as a toilet, out in the open, elbow to elbow.
Then we entered the hippodrome, bringing back memories of watching Charleston Heston riding a chariot in Ben Hur.
This minaret is from a Mosque from the period when the Moslems ruled.
The aqueduct that brought water into the city and carried it 17 miles to Herod’s Palace.
The next stop was Megiddo, known as the Armagedfon Battlegield, where many people believe the end of days will be here. Battles have been fought here for over 3000 years with last time in the 1970’s.
We went down many steps into a tunnel that carried water .
Our last stop was Nazareth where we visited a replica of the Nazareth Village from Jesus time.
It was a busy day and we ended at our hotel in Tiberias, the Ron Beach Hotel. We had a great view of the Sea of Galilee.
#israel#ronbeachhotel#nazareth#seaofgalilee#pilgrimtours
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