National Parks Abroad

Let me tell you something.  I'm sitting here in my hotel room after a full day of touring and sight seeing and I realized just now that I'm thinking in a British accent!  Well now you might begin to wonder why that is... Don't worry, I'm most certainly not in the UK, I am still in Israel! However, our tour leader (whose name is Jeremy and can be seen in the blue striped shirt just to the right of me in the picture above) has lived in Britain and in New Zealand prior to coming to live in Israel and his accent is very strong still.  He is absolutely a wealth of information!!! We love having him as a guide but someone has given him a microphone on the bus and in between stops he narrates the entire journey.  Anything from cows to mountains is fair game.  Sometimes he prays, sometimes he sings, sometimes he tells stories but no matter what it is, he is always always speaking.  Then, when we get off the bus, we have little ear pieces called "Whispers" that are like radios.  Jeremy uses a microphone for that too and his voice enters directly into my brain through my ear during each tour.  So, basically, its as though my own thoughts have taken on an British accent.  Jeremy has a wonderful way of infusing our tour group with joy each day and I am severely impressed by his energy and seemingly boundless enthusiasm.  He must be an extrovert....

 We went to 3 Israeli national parks in one day!!! I was thrilled at each stop that I had the privilege of visiting such amazing places.  Parks are similar here in that they protect special places of natural and historic national significance but different in that they seem to not care much if people collect flowers and rocks as souvenirs or walk off the designated trails.  I have had to keep myself from yelling at some of my fellow tour members as I see them doing things that would normally be prohibited in national parks in America.

The first national park was in Caesarea Maritima.  I'm not entirely sure of the spelling of that second part but the distinction is important because there are other Caesarea's in Israel and this particular one is by the sea.  Here, we learned that this Caesarea was established by Caesar Augustus and then shortly thereafter King Herod the Great built a city there for the Romans.  Several active archaeological sites exist here and so far they have uncovered many significant ruins.  One definitively proves the existence of Pontius Pilate.  

 

 Another impressive feature of this city is the theater (above).  Remember back to my last post? About Peter receiving a vision from the Lord? Well Peter took that message all the way from Jaffa, north to Caesarea Maritima.  He probably came directly to that very theater and stood in front of a large crowd and delivered his message there regarding the equality of Jews and Gentiles in the salvation message.  It was incredible for me to be sitting in that spot thousands of years later and imagine that Peter himself had stood and preached on that very same ground.

The picture on the right, with Jeremy in the foreground, shows more of the city that King Herod built. Off to the left in that picture is a piece of land that juts out into the sea.  Herod built a large palace for himself right on that piece of land.  You can just see the pillars on the left that once marked the boundary of that palace and still remain to this day!  If I was a king in that day, I must say I agree with his choice of real estate.  The views from that palace would have been amazing every single day!

(I think I must learn to cut back on details.  I have learned so so so much already!  I want to share it all with you.  But I also think some of this cannot be shared and must be experienced first hand.  You all will just have to come visit Israel for yourselves to fill in the blanks I may have to leave here in order to conserve space.)

Our next stop was the city of Megiddo.  Highlights here were learning about human sacrifices and seeing the altar where they actually happened (circle of stones, left), walking through an underground tunnel where the cities inhabitants gathered their water, and most of all seeing the valley where the battle of Armageddon will literally take place!  Looking at it, it makes total sense.  The valley is wide open and empty.  So vast you can barely see the edges of it.  And directly above the valley and overlooking it is Nazareth, the village where Jesus grew up.

 The next stop was to Mount Carmel.  This was the mountain where the prophet Elijah had a bit of a spiritual battle with the prophets of Baal in the book of 1 Kings.  Again, I could not believe I was standing in the foot prints of a "character" I had only ever read about in the Bible.  These people come to life when you wander in the places where they did. I was reminded here that God speaks in whispers, not just in fire or thunder and also that God is infinitely more powerful than idols or the numerous gods with a lowercase "g" that distract us and make believe they are more powerful than they actual are.

 

Our day ended up at the top of another mountain.  This one was called Mount Arbel and it overlooks the Sea of Galilee and the city of Tiberius.  I cannot emphasize enough how lush and beautiful this country is right now!  I have been told it gets hot and everything green turns brown in the summer but its hard to believe when everything around you is so vibrant.  The picture below shows the Sea of Galilee and the city of Tiberius.  All the yellow flowers are actually wild mustard!  These pretty yellow flowers are scattered everywhere and really add a nice pop of color to most landscapes.  We have stayed for 2 nights in a place not far from Tiberius called Kfar Blum and I must say, they have really outdone themselves with the accommodations here!