Beth In Egypt

Today was also much more relaxing!  We left Jerusalem.  I was really sad to leave because I really liked it there!  We got on the bus and drove to Caesarea, the ancient port city on the Mediterranean.  It was really cool!  It was almost an entire city built on the water.  The harbor itself has quite an interesting history, what with all the take overs and everything!  Oh, and did I mention that it was RAINING?!  It rained most of the day.  I was so happy!  It was a little too bad that it rained though just because then we didn’t get to walk around the ruins much.  I would have been ok walking in the wind and the rain, but when you are in a group of about 30 people, it’s easy to get outvoted… oh well!!  

We drove some more, and went to Mount Carmel.  This is the place where Elisha struggled with the priests, they both summoned their gods, and God (big G) won!  It was absolutely beautiful on the top of the mountain, and you could see the valley on all sides!!  It was really cool.  As we drove down the mountain, we ate a restaurant that is run by a family of Drews.  Once again, it was felafel, but it was still good.  Drews are a sect of Islam, but I’m not really sure what makes them different.  I will have to look into that.

After that, we drove to Nazareth.  Nazareth is now 80% Muslim, but it used to be all Christian.  We didn’t spend much time there, but we did go to the largest church in the Middle East.  It is also the place where Gabriel appeared to Mary.  The church was beautiful, and on the walls, there were different representations of Mary donated by different countries.  It was interesting to see how different cultures show her.  The one from the U.S. was really weird…very artsy, which I still don’t appreciate, but it’s ok!

We are now in Tiberius.  We stay here for 2 or 3 nights.  We are right on the Sea of Galilee, but I haven’t actually seen it yet, since it was dark when we got here.  Tomorrow we will go see the “Jesus Boat,” which is a boat that they found in the muck that is dated back 2,000 years.  Should be cool!  Not a whole lot of excitement today, but it was still a good day.  Stay tuned!