We began our day visiting the City of David Archaeological Site. This is the oldest settled neighborhood of Jerusalem. It is a narrow ridge running south from the Temple Mount. According to tradition, it is the place where King David built his palace and established his capital.
Today our first visit was to the Israel Museum. Here we viewed the Dead Sea Scrolls and an impressive model of the city of Jerusalem in the time of the 2nd Temple.
Today we will spend a full day walking through the streets of Jerusalem. We began at the Mount of Olives where Pastors Andre & Jenny spoke about being rooted and grounded in the Word of God, in a peaceful olive grove overlooking the beautiful Old Jerusalem.
Even though we woke up to a beautiful day in Jerusalem, we would be spending a day southwest of the city to the shores of the Dead Sea. Our first stop was the ancient fortress of Masada. We went up the isolated rock plateau by cable car.
We began our days travels in the ancient city of Beit She’an. We walked through its streets and ruins and marveled at the detail of the Roman architecture. In biblical times, this city belonged to the Philistines.
The heavens opened and rain was the order of the day! In spite of the very wet weather, we journeyed on up through the magnificent Golan Hights, a rocky plateau overlooking Syrian border. We visited one of the 3 sources of the Jordan river and waled through the ancient ruins of the biblical city called Tel Dan.
After a delicious breakfast at our hotel, now situated in the Galilee District, we boarded a wooden boat and sailed across the fresh water lake, known as the Sea of Galilee. When we got half way across, we stopped the boat’s engines to hear Pastor Andre share on the account of Jesus walking on the water in the midst of a tremendous storm towards the disciples’ boat.
After a hearty breakfast at our hotel in Tel-Aviv, we began our journey northward towards the coastal city of Caesarea by the sea. In Bible times, Herod built Caesarea into the grandest city other than Jerusalem in Palestine. We visited the amphitheater, hippodrome, aqueduct and the remains Herod’s private palace on the shore.
