I joined my parents and aunt and uncle for vacation to Israel and Jordan on a Holy Land Tour package this past May. It was an uplifting experience, one I could never forget.
Here are clips I took from day 1 and 2 of our vacation.
Day 1:
Two flights: To Paris, then Tel Aviv. Since we took a later flight, we arrived at Tel Aviv in the afternoon. Stayed at Cinema Hotel, which has a nice rooftop view of Dizengoff Square. We didn't get to explore much, but we walked to Frishman Beach and the boardwalk.
Day 2:
Early morning breakfast and then drove to Old Jaffa (Old City). It's an ancient port city in Israel and famous for biblical stories of Jonah, Solomon, Saint Peter, and mythological stories of Andromeda and Perseus. Saw the house of Simon the Tanner.
Next stop is Caesarea National Park. The city and harbour were built by Herod the Great with Roman architectural influences. This was Herod's Rome away from Rome. Surviving ruins are the amphitheater, what's left of Herod's palace (reclaimed by the sea), the hippodrome, what's left of the harbour, arches, and moat structure surrounding the city. Next was a brief stop to Aqueduct beach (Arches beach), with what's left of an ancient aqueduct running down the coast used to bring water to Caesarea. This aqueduct is 10km away from Caesarea. Every half kilometer, the aqueduct was lowered 2 cm and let gravity do it's action.
Had lunch at Megiddo National Park before exploring the excavation site. The ruins now form a tel (a mound) and is called Tel Megiddo. The site has historical and biblical significance as the prophesized location of a gathering of armies for a battle during the end times. The area in Ancient Greek is called Harmagedon, or Armageddon. The excavation has unearthed 26 layers of ruins, indicating a long period of settlement (founded c. 7000 BCE, abandoned 586 BCE). You can see remains of King Solomon's gate. Other ruins include a grain pit, stables, an ancient water tunnel 300 ft deep, leading to a spring. The tour group walked down 200 steps to the water tunnel, then up another 70+ steps out of it.
We ended our tour for the day at Nazareth and visited the Church of the Annunciation. The Church was built on top of the Grotto of the Virgin Mary, Mary's childhood home. Underneath church, we saw the grotto where the angel Gabriel appeared before Mary. Our hotel was only a few kilometers from the church.
To be continued...
Here are clips I took from day 1 and 2 of our vacation.
Day 1:
Two flights: To Paris, then Tel Aviv. Since we took a later flight, we arrived at Tel Aviv in the afternoon. Stayed at Cinema Hotel, which has a nice rooftop view of Dizengoff Square. We didn't get to explore much, but we walked to Frishman Beach and the boardwalk.
Day 2:
Early morning breakfast and then drove to Old Jaffa (Old City). It's an ancient port city in Israel and famous for biblical stories of Jonah, Solomon, Saint Peter, and mythological stories of Andromeda and Perseus. Saw the house of Simon the Tanner.
Next stop is Caesarea National Park. The city and harbour were built by Herod the Great with Roman architectural influences. This was Herod's Rome away from Rome. Surviving ruins are the amphitheater, what's left of Herod's palace (reclaimed by the sea), the hippodrome, what's left of the harbour, arches, and moat structure surrounding the city. Next was a brief stop to Aqueduct beach (Arches beach), with what's left of an ancient aqueduct running down the coast used to bring water to Caesarea. This aqueduct is 10km away from Caesarea. Every half kilometer, the aqueduct was lowered 2 cm and let gravity do it's action.
Had lunch at Megiddo National Park before exploring the excavation site. The ruins now form a tel (a mound) and is called Tel Megiddo. The site has historical and biblical significance as the prophesized location of a gathering of armies for a battle during the end times. The area in Ancient Greek is called Harmagedon, or Armageddon. The excavation has unearthed 26 layers of ruins, indicating a long period of settlement (founded c. 7000 BCE, abandoned 586 BCE). You can see remains of King Solomon's gate. Other ruins include a grain pit, stables, an ancient water tunnel 300 ft deep, leading to a spring. The tour group walked down 200 steps to the water tunnel, then up another 70+ steps out of it.
We ended our tour for the day at Nazareth and visited the Church of the Annunciation. The Church was built on top of the Grotto of the Virgin Mary, Mary's childhood home. Underneath church, we saw the grotto where the angel Gabriel appeared before Mary. Our hotel was only a few kilometers from the church.
To be continued...
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