Day 3 - Tel Aviv to Tiberias

We set our alarm for 6a, and it was a good thing because after waking up at 3a I did fall back asleep and was very sound asleep when it went off.  By 7a we were on our way down for breakfast. What a great spread! One side was hot food with mushrooms, 2 types of potatoes, eggs, a variety of breads to toast or not, sweet options as well. There was much more but no bacon of course! On the other side of the room the choices looked more like a salad bar, it was very nice with fruit and melon, yogurt, fish, cheese, beets, and the same concoction of diced cucumber, tomato, and bits of other things. There was a coffee bar area as well with many options of coffee and tea. I didn’t have to worry about bringing along my little packets of instant coffee - delicious espresso was one of the options - I had two! About 7:40a when we were finishing up our guide Leah approached us. She said she knew she was early, but we assured her we were ready. We took out bags to the impressive Mercedes van and then went back inside to use the WC before departure.

My Breakfast!

A young woman in our hotel is on the tour as well, Laurentia. We went to two other hotels before leaving Tel Aviv. One stop we picked up Martin and Debbie, the couple from South Africa and Lisa and Dale, two women from the US. So we have a total of 7 in our group. Apparently our guide will change after three days, as will the size of our group. That is a little unclear but whatever happens should work out. It's odd we aren't in the same hotels, but I believe the others paid more for a upgrade. 

Now everyone is collected and we are on our way to Jaffa (Joppa). Jaffa is considered the Gateway to the Holy Land. You can see Jaffa from Tel Aviv, it is quite close. Jaffa is where Jonah left port for Tarshish and where Dorcas is raised by the prayers of Peter. For our brief stop here we enjoyed a sweeping view of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. At this vantage point there is also an interesting Statue of Faith to be seen. Jaffa: (Acts 9:38; Joshua 19:46; 2 Chronicles 2:16; Ezra 3:7; Jonah 1:3; Acts 9:19; 9:36; 9:42-43; 10:5; 10:8)

John - Faith Statue

From here we drove north along the coast to the ruins of Caesarea Maritime, built by Herod the Great in honor of Augustus Caesar. This was the capitol of Israel when it was built 3,000 years ago. First we watched a short but informative movie. Oh there was so much to see! An amphitheater, swimming pool, ruins of all sorts, and a hippodrome they used for chariot races! It took 10 years to originally build this very important harbor area. They used local sand stone, granite was brought from Egypt, and Marble from Turkey. There is more information to be found about Caesarea Maritime, I can't begin to list it all here. The most interesting thing to me was a stone tablet unearthed near the amphitheater with an inscription "Tiberieum, Pontius Pilatus, Prefect of Judea." This is important evidence of the existence of Pontius in Caesarea. Of course the original is in a museum but it is nice they have a replica there for us to see. Paul was imprisoned here for 2 years and embarked for Tarsus from here before being put to death in Rome, there was the baptism of Cornelius, and Philip preached in this location. I have been trying to keep up, and I have, but it is difficult at times as we don't take frequent photo breaks. So if I stop to take photos, which I do, I have to hurry to catch up! Later on I realized she is trying to hurry today as it is the Sabbath and everything will be shutting down early because of that. Our guide is a Biblical encyclopedia, it is amazing! (Acts 8:40; 9:30; 10:1,24;11:11; 12:19; 18:22; 21:8,16; 23:23–35; 25:1,4,6,13)

Leah - Stone Tablet

Now we continue our tour over the Carmel Mountains heading to Megiddo, a site inhabited continuously for over five millennia. It was destroyed 25 times and rebuilt 25 times and finally abandoned in the 4th century. This is the site called Armageddon In the Book of Revelation. Here we found the ruins of the fortifications and stables of Kings Solomon. After touring the entire area we also went up and down 300+ steps so we could experience walking within their hidden water system, that was once a spring (3,000 years ago) but not anymore. There are many prophecies about Megiddo and Israel. It is quite warm in the sun but we are staying hydrated. This was our lunch stop for today as well. It was a buffet with many options. I had the white fish and potatoes, John had meatballs and potatoes, both included a salad bar. We each had a soda, our total was US$36. It was a large meal and really worth the price considering it is a tourist area and it tasted very good! (Rev 16:16, Judges 5:16; 2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:22; Zechariah 12:11; John 5:2; Revelation 9:11; 19:19)

Megiddo Ruins

Water System Stairs

Now it is on to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee for overnight at the Golan Hotel. We passed Mt. Tabor (the transfiguration) and marvel at the thought that we are here seeing all of these things in person! We are not within walking distance to the Sea of Galilee but even if we were, we are too tired to walk anymore today. We squeezed a lot into 7+ hours today! We can see the Sea from our room but it is very hazy, which we were told is because of humidity. While I am working on this John slept. I would like to be sleeping too! However, if I fall asleep now I will probably wake up at 2a and not go back to sleep. We had been advised our only choice for an evening meal will be the hotel restaurant due to the Sabbath. Later - We planned to go down for a bite to eat at 7p but in reality we were just too tired and skipped eating. Tomorrow we meet at 8a again for another adventure! (John 6:1, 2;7:1; Matthew 4:18; 14:13; Mark 6:32; Luke 5:1)