Tour of Israel, Feb. 21st

Today was our last full day in Israel! We got a lot accomplished and ended it with a bang. Before we get into the pictures, we wanted to let everyone know that commenting is now opened up to anyone; you don't have to be a registered user to post a comment on the blog.

Mektesh Ramon

We were fortunate enough to get rain last night to blow away the sand storm haze, so we stopped back at Mektesh Ramon to see the view on a clear morning. What a difference!

All of America was fast asleep when we took this picture.

Another great view from Miktesh Ramon.

A common side-of-the-road goat spotting.

Be'er Sheva

Our next stop was to the ancient city of Be'er Sheva, which was an important city in the Old Testament (mentioned 34 times). First referenced in Genesis 20, it was significant in the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and ended up within the tribal allotment of Judah.

A well just outside the city gates, which had to be dug quite deep to reach the water line since Be'er Sheva was built on top of a high hill.

A very large cistern was dug by one of the kings for a backup water supply. This was the shaft to get into the cistern.

Walking into the cistern... hard hats required – low ceilings!

All of the cave-like area once was filled with water to supply the city in times of siege or distress. Chisel marks were still visible on all the walls from when the (most likely) slave labor dug it out.

Arad

Arad dates back to 3000 BC and was first mentioned in Numbers 21:1 when Moses and the Israelites were wandering in the desert. The Israelites ended up destroying the city because its inhabitants fought against them. There was an “ancient” and “modern” city of Arad discovered – this picture shows the ancient version ruled by the Caananites.

Up the hill a couple hundred yards away was the “modern” city of Arad, ruled later by the Israelites. It contains the oldest known temple; aside from in Jerusalem it's the only one to have been discovered.

This picture shows the altar that was found in the temple. It matches the Biblical description of the tabernacle's altar – the dimensions match, and also none of the stones used have been cut or fashioned with metal (as prescribed). A “holy of holies” was also found.

Remains of the city walls.

Today the surrounding areas of Arad contain some beautiful orchard fields.

Bedouins at Nokdim

Our next stop was to visit the Bedouins at Nokdim. They are an ancient nomadic people, Arab Muslims, who raise sheep and camels and “live off the land” without integrating into modern day society (similar to the Amish of Lancaster).

They gave us a nice presentation about their culture and customs for hospitality complete with shepherd-looking outfits, fire-roasted coffee and hot tea, all in a goat-hair tent.

After the presentation we were served a great lunch, contained in this giant pita.

Gezer

While we don't have a good picture because we couldn't get close, the ancient city of “Gezer” has been discovered in Israel. It is on the hill in the distance where you see the path next to the bush. This city was important in its strategic location to Jerusalem, was conquered by Joshua during his conquests, and later was one of the 3 cities rebuilt by King Solomon in 1 Kings 9:15.

Biblical Gardens

Our final stop of the day, and of the trip, was to the 650-acre Biblical Gardens near Tel Aviv. This beautiful area, while not of any particular historical significance, was reconstructed to contain plant life only from Biblical times.

Patrick was our guide, and he did a great job explaining the significance of each plant and tree. Take this sycamore tree for example. If you know the story of Zacchaeus, it was a story of Christ rehabilitating and changing his heart. The Bible mentions how Zacchaeus was short, and standing in a sycamore tree in order to see Christ. The sycamore tree itself has some neat properties; it is called the “construction tree”, because you can cut off the entire main trunk (for building/construction) and it will regrow. Also, the fruit that grows on the tree is similar to a fig, but smaller and not edible. However, if you drill a hole through it and soak it in olive oil, it will expand and grow into a delicious, fig-like edible fruit! The tree itself "rehabilities" in multiple ways, just like Christ did with Zacchaeus' heart who climbed into one.

Patrick showed us how trenches were plowed for planting back in those times – much harder work than today.

This is an almond tree, which we learned is the first thing to blossom in the Spring, and is the way they tracked their fiscal new year.

That's about it! Overall our trip was such a wonderful experience. We learned so much, and it will take a long time to digest everything we saw. Our apologies in advance for the fairly uninteresting nature of the captions and lack of funny stories; we were typically so tired at the end of each day that after downloading and sorting all our pictures and videos, this was all we could muster. Hopefully you enjoyed trekking through Israel with us. It's probably time to sign off - our bus to the airport leaves in just over 2 hours!

- Steve & Joanna

Tour of Israel, Feb. 20th

Egypt Border

We drove from Eilat to Mektesh Ramon (i.e. the middle of the Negev desert in Israel) today, and had some very interesting stops along the way. The first leg of our journey was on a road that ran parallel to the Egyptian border. This picture shows the border fence and a guard tower.

Let's just say there was a strong wind today, as if Joanna's hair didn't speak for itself. Here's our close-up picture with Egypt in the background! I wonder if the rioters are just over that hill there...

Pagan Leopard Temple

Along the road was this recent (within the past 20 years) archaeological discovery... a pagan temple from the time before Abraham (8000 years ago)!

These are leopards made with a stone outline – it is thought they worshiped these as idols.

The Carpentry

Our next stop along the desert road was a hill of rocks called “Carpentry”. This picture was taken on the way, and part of the fun of the ascent was that we had literal 100 mph winds to fight against. At one point Steve literally leaned all of his body weight into the wind and it kept him up. Strongest wind we've ever felt.

These rocks could pass for bricks or even a big discarded pile of 2x4 scraps. The geological explanation for “Carpentry” stone is that magma came up from the middle of the earth, the heat from the magma baked the sandstone from underneath, and changed the composition to look like grains of wood.

Rock formations that are in a similar shape but actually colored like wood (how the hill gets its name “Carpentry”).

Mektesh Ramon

Our final destination was Mektesh Ramon, a town in the middle of the Negev desert. This view is from the top of a cliff looking down into a crater-looking formation (although caused naturally, not by an asteroid). Normally you can see for many more miles, but the sand storm caused a hazy looking backdrop.

We had an early arrival to our hotel today...and just like each previous hotel, the friendly staff greeted us with cold beverages! This hotel even threw in some baklava for good measure. We used the afternoon to enjoy the refreshing heated indoor pool, and wet & dry saunas.

Tour of Israel, Feb. 19th

Red Sea Boating Trip

Today was a very relaxing day spent in and around the shores of Eilat, Israel. Our morning consisted of taking a private, leisurely boat ride around the Red Sea on the Merry Lu. It was the perfect size boat for our group of 16, and we couldn't have asked for a better day. Temperatures in the 80's in the sun and high 60's in the shade.

Here's a shot of our hotel, the King Solomon, on our way out to sea. This was one of our favorite hotels!

In the background is the coastal city of Eilat, Israel. It's the southern-most point of Israel, and is essentially their version of Florida – it's warm even in the winter and is the “resort escape” of the country.

Even though our extension to Egypt was canceled, this picture shows mountains of Egypt in the background (the ones on the left). So close we could swim there!

These mountains are the Kingdom of Jordan!

In the right side of this picture there are 3 small smokestacks, and they are in Saudi Arabia. It was amazing how in 1 boat ride on the Red Sea, we could turn 360 degrees and see 4 countries in 1 spin: Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Doug, Joy, and Debbie ventured out into the Red Sea to cool off (we would have too but didn't think to bring our bathing suits).

These needlefish approached the boat for food. Pita bread was not well received, but they sure loved chicken.

Speaking of chicken, the crew grilled us some juicy marinated chicken, beef sausages, and hamburgers. Mmm!

Underwater Observatory Marine Park

In the afternoon, we visited the Underwater Observatory Marine Park in Eilat. The Red Sea has a beautiful coral reef with exotic colored fish and lots of other marine life. This was sort of a mini “marine zoo” with an underwater observatory where you could see the reef without snorkeling.

Giant turtles are always a hit.

We got to witness the SHARK FEEDING! Actually, it was not exciting at all. Sharks swimming around in a tank had food thrown at them, and they proceeded to continue swimming around in the tank. I think one of them ate one piece (apparently they eat once a week in the wild, but they get food twice a day here).

Here's a shot of a turkey fish.

Kris, I thought you'd like this one. What better picture than a Red Wings fan standing next to a live octopus?

Joanna did some scuba diving...

Coral off the cost of Eilat.

These large cargo ships carried cars from Japan to store them here in Eilat. One ship could carry 3,500 cars!

Tour of Israel, Feb. 18th

Tabernacle at Timna

We concluded the first 10-day portion of our tour yesterday, so today 3/4 of the group who are staying for the 4-day Israel extension continued on. We traveled down along the coast of the Dead Sea (shown here) towards Timna and eventually Eilat, at the southern tip of Israel. We didn't visit as many sites today since we had a good deal of travel time.

In the desert city of Timna we got to visit a replica of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle has been recreated as exact as possible based on detailed Biblical descriptions as given to Moses. There is so much that could be said about how each piece of the Tabernacle represents a picture of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, that it would take many pages and verse references to describe everything. So instead of that, we'll just post a few pictures for you to enjoy:

And here is the view from outside the tent on our way out.

Solomon's Pillars

Part of the same area of Timna included a site called “Solomon's Pillars”, which were caused not by men excavating the rock but by water erosion. Solomon's name is in the picture since the area around Timna is rich in copper and it is thought to have been mined back in the days of Solomon (although there is no scriptural or archaeological evidence suggesting Solomon mined in this area). Either way, these are a magnificent natural wonder to bestow!

The land around the pillars.

An acacia tree...we have seen these all over Israel.

Eilat Mines

Eilat is supposedly known all over the world for its diamonds and other kinds jewelry, but Joanna hadn't heard of it before so how great can they be...

We got a "tour" inside the "factory" to see how they take the rough stone right out of the ground then cut, polish, and set it into a piece of jewelry. There was even a short film to brainwash you into wanting to buy jewelry. Despite their best attempts, including forcing you to walk through a 6000 square foot showroom before you can leave, we didn't take the bait.