Fantastic meal. Pita, falafel, Labaneh, hummus, baba ganoush for sauces and lots of fresh vegetables and of course olives.
Michael and I affirmed our baptism in the Jordan River. Truly an amazing end to our day.
Went for an early morning run and had another delicious breakfast. My favorite mixture of fresh vegetables over eggs with some cheese that I don’t know the name of and chocolate filled crescent rolls.
Lots of farming as we head to Jerusalem from Tiberias. Date palms, tomatoes, strawberries, bananas. They cover small plants like strawberries in plastic and use drip irrigation. We went through a checkpoint as we crossed from Israel into Palestine’s West Bank.
A Roman amphitheater was unearthed here.
Stopped at a gas station for a toilet. Wasn’t opened so we stopped at another gas station. They had camels there that you could pay to get a ride.
Traditional Jewish welcome to Jerusalem by Anat with bread, salt and wine. Went to the Garden of Gethsemane and the church of Gethsemane that stands next to the garden. We sang, Pastor Paul said a few words, talked about olive trees. The olive trees in the garden of Gethsemane are from the same trees that were there when Jesus prayed there. Olive trees never die, the root system is ancient. We went into the church and Anat asked me to read Matthew 26:36-46. So moving. I don’t have words.
We had lunch here. It was called upside down chicken. They had the chicken in a big pot and they dumped it upside down out of a huge pot onto the table. Another fabulous meal with my favorite ending, baklava and Turkish coffee. After lunch we got a tour of the olive wood carving shop and did some shopping in the store. It takes 7-9 years for a hand carver to be trained to carve the wood.
This church is built on top of the site where Jesus was born. The star is the location of where Mary gave birth to Jesus.
Shepherds Field church designed by Antonio Barluzzi. According to tradition, angels first announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds here. We sang Christmas songs inside a cave that was used by Sheperd’s at the time of Jesus birth. The field on the hill near the cave and church is where the shepherds would have been when the angels announced Jesus’ birth.
Olive tree in the center of the hotel. It was built around this tree.
On the way to Masada. Dead Sea with the sun shining over it. Saw En Gedi along the way.
Masada—means fortress in Hebrew. Herod the great built it as a winter palace. The same Herod that built Caesarea by the sea. Herod died 4 BC. In 66 CE a rebel group of Jewish zealots took over the location.