Amazing (and Tiring) First Day

We have seen so much already. Mark and I started our day with a walk on the beach along the Mediterranean Sea. Our group was great about being at the bus ready to go at 8:00 a.m. We wasted no time. Our first stop was the Roman theater built at the time of Herod the Great. We also toured the excavations of his palace, a hippodrome, and other sets of "old rocks" as one of our group put it. Our guide Naim said all but the Roman theater has been unearthed since 1967, when he started coming there. He gave us a brief and helpful history lesson outlining the eras this area of Caesarea has seen, starting with the Bronze Age all the way to present day.

From there we went to this remarkable Roman aqueduct and touched our toes in the Mediterranean.

We saw lots of agriculture in the Valley of Jezreel on our way to Megiddo, thought to be a location of Solomon's horses, up to 150 of them. Some of the "old rocks" we saw there date back about 3000 years. We had quite a hike up, then down to the water source and up again. It was a challenging walk and we are proud to say the whole group tackled this successfully.

After lunch we drove up to Nazareth, with a view of Mt. Tabor in the distance, thought to be the site of the Transfiguration. In Nazareth we visited a recreated 1st century village, where Mark attempted to use a drill of that time. The joy-filled witness of our Romanian Jewish Christian guide was very uplifting.

Our last site was the magnificent Church of the Annunciation. Thanks to our guide's connections, we had a private tour of a lower level museum and a 1st century house they have uncovered on this site similar to those in which Mary and Joseph might have lived.

We were all glad to get to our lodging, St. Margaret's Guesthouse, an inn of quaint and cozy accommodations with an outstanding view of the city of Nazareth.