A Long Day

Thursday was our last day of touring in Israel. We visited the Valley of Elah. This is where the Phillistines stole the Ark of the Covenant, but then put it on a wagon and chased the oxen to the borders of their territory and let the oxen wander back down the valley to return the Ark.

On our way out of town Bob took a picture of a sign that caught his fancy.

This is a playground called the monster playground. We saw other playgrounds in Israel that had brightly coloured tanks that were captured during wars. They painted the tanks and put them on the playground for the children to play in.

There is an organization called JNF (Jerusalem National Forestry?) which collects money to reforest hills that had been clear cut during the time the Turks controlled the land. Some of our tour group purchased trees for $10.00 each in memory of some of their relatives. We went up to the area where they were planting and our group planted 23 trees (Oak or Almond). We saw a big memorial to JFK and many trees planted in memory of Kennedy family members.


We also went to Beit Shemish. This is where David defeated Goliath. The Israelites were on top of the cliff in the picture below and the Philistines were on the other side of the valley.

Another site we visited was the Bell caves. These caves were man made by people getting building materials from under a layer of hard rock. They made a small hole through the layer of hard rock and then started taking out the limestone in concentric circles getting bigger and bigger as they went.

This is a picture of one of the holes at the top of the cave. It has been covered so it won't be a hazard to people who walk in the area.

Below is a diagram of how they were made.

We had the luck of getting to the caves at the same time as two busloads of school children, so the cave rang with noise.

Every school field trip has to have a person with a gun and a paramedic with it. Below are the ones with the group at the cave. They relaxed at the opening (I mean they kept watch at the opening ) while the children went inside.

Later we had a chance to pray at the Western Wall. There were many more females than there were males. There were long lineups on the female side.

Our last adventure of the day was to visit the Western Wall Tunnels. Most of the western wall in underground now. Part of the Arab section of the old city is on top. It was very interesting to go through the tunnels, but I was certainly glad to get out. Shown below is the entrance to the tunnels.

After going through these tunnels we decided we didn't want to wade through Hezekiah's tunnel the next day. It was darker than the Western Wall tunnels and the water was apparently knee deep.

Following the Savior's Last Hours

We started out going to see the upper room where Jesus celebrated the passover - The Last Supper. Unfortunately the person who was supposed to unlock the doors was quite late, so while we waited we went to see King David's tomb. Apparently the building is not original, but is on the same spot. We learned that they didn't have a long table as is often pictured, but three tables that fit around the pillars. We didn't take any pictures there. From the upper room we went to the Garden of Gethsamanae.

Here we are near a thousand year old olive tree.

We also visited the Orson Hyde Garden.

Next we visited the place where Peter denied Christ. There is a church there and on the top is a golden rooster. We didn't enter the church because it was not there in the time of Jesus.

We then visited the House of Ciaphas and saw the dungeon where Jesus was kept.

Outside there is a stairway from New Testament times where Jesus may have walked as he was taken to see Pontius Pilate.

The palace of Pontius pilate is now far underground and is under the Antonia Fortress. There are excavations being carried out in this place.

There are floor stones from the time of Christ that have been excavated.

We ended up at the Garden Tomb - the other site said to be where Jesus is buried.

Golgotha - the place of the Skull

The Garden Tomb

Tuesday in Jerusalem

We woke up to wind this morning. After breakfast we set out for the Temple Mount. Security to get in has nothing on airport security. Here we are in line waiting to get through.

As we walked to the Temple Mount we got our first view of the Western Wall. Apparently there is no time - day or night - when there is no-one there. Notice the partition between the men's side and women's side. The western wall is controlled by the orthodox jews.

Here is the beautiful muslin temple which since 691 has been on top of the Temple Mount. The roof was redone in 1994 and was gold plated. Tourists have not been allowed in for the last few years so we had to be content viewing the outside.

I am not sure what this is but it has seats in front of taps and must be used for some sort of ritual cleansing.

When Herod built the temple on the mount he put walls all around and added fill so that the mount is much bigger than it previously was. The following picture shows the only part of the original rock that is not covered.

We came down from the mount and followed the stations of the cross. The number on the black circle marks the spot.

Next was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was surprising to me that there is no agreement on where Christ's tomb is. In the third century Constantine's mother came to Jerusalem and determined that the site was here and built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The slab below is supposedly where the body of Jesus was laid while it was prepared for burial. It was a shock to see peoople kneeling and kissing the slab.

Below is the supposed tomb which is in the back of the church.

There are many bullet holes on the wall from the seige that took place about 1948.

The Shepherd's field was our next stop. From the field we could see Bethlehem. We didn't go to Bethlehem because it is in a section of the West Bank that our tour bus wasn't licensed to drive in. There is a shepherd and sheep there but he wasn't around while we were there. We only saw the wife and grandchild and one little sheep. The woman wanted money from us.

Every one who tours in Israel is taken to the Yad Vachem which is the Holocost Musuem. Bob only took one picture there.

Masada, En Gedi Spa and Jerusalem

We stayed overnight at the Kalia Guest House at the Kalia Kibbutz. It was much quieter than our previous accommodations. It was raining when we arrived and one of the people said they had never had four continuous days of rain before.

Monday morning we left the Kibbutz and traveled to Masada. We went over a road that had been flooded and closed two days before. There were crews working on parts of it that had been washed out.

Masada is a huge hill with a plateau at the top. Originally it was a fort built by the Hasmoneans as one of their line of defence against invasion from the east. King Herod fortified it making it virtually impregnable. Massive fortifications, palaces and storehouses were designed to protect Herod in case of a protracted war and he built hanging gardens, a swimming pool, an elaborate bath-house, a synagogue and ritual baths. He built a wall and towers all around. There was only one path from the bottom. He stored much food and built an elaborate water system.


Later after the romans ended the Jewish rebellion in 70 a.d. a group of jews (sometimes called Zealots) made a last stand there. The Romans beseiged Masada for a year before they were able to break through the fortress. When they arrived the inhabitants had all committed suicide. The Romans used it as an army camp for a time and then the Byzantines built a church there in the 6th century a.d.


Originally there was only a path to the top, but now a cable car takes thousands of tourists to the top.

View from Masada

Herod had two palaces - one for state business and one as his private quarters. The private palace was three levels, two of them on terraces cut out of the mountain. Below is a picture of the ruins of the two lower levels.

Original paint in one of the bath houses

one of the cisterns of the water supply

The romans were able to penetrate the fortress by forcing their Jewish slave to move a sand hill so that it made a road for their seige machines Below is the road of sand.

Tile from the Byzantine chapel

After Masada we drove to the En Gedi spa to swim in the dead sea. It had seemed cold in the morning so I didn't unpack my swimming suit and missed going for a swim. Bob enjoyed the swim but complained about the smell. It rained again after Bob finished swimming.

The dressing rooms were originally next to the sea shore, but five years of drought had made the level of the lake much lower and they had carts to give rides from the dressing room to the shore.

We left the dead sea to go to Jerusalem. Some time we had entered the West Bank at a check point. Along the way we could see Bedouin camps beside the road as can be seen in the following picture.

We left the West Bank through a check point and arrived in Jerusalem checking in at the Leonardo Plaza hotel.

After supper Bob went for a three hour walk to see some of the sights, but I stayed at the hotel.