Last night I pretty much passed out at 9:30 and fell asleep before the parents even got back to the room from their walk.
Unfortunately I also woke up at 5am this morning :( Mum woke up at 3am and dad early too.
We all gave up and got up around 6am.
Breakfast was at 7:30. So much yummy food, but I didn't eat *too* much!
Piled into the coach and left the hotel by 8:30.
First stop was Caesarea. This was amazingly cool place, complete with old palace floors, a hippodrome and theatre. We walked into the hippodrome and I had the urge to run around it ala Ben Hur style. Unfortunately we didn't have time to do that. In fact it quickly became a case of ignoring the history talks so I could go get photos. Because it was a case of walk somewhere with the group, stop and listen, then move onto the next location, but keep up! Don't get lost! So the only way I could get any photos was to just keep an eye on the group but really just do my own thing. Most frustrating. And really only scratched the surface of all there was to see there.
Caesarea theatre
Upper area of the Promontory Palace, or just a building near the Hippodrome
Caesarea Hippodrome
Caesarea Hippodrome
Caesarea harbour and citadel
Waves crashing along the side of the Hippodrome
Shells on the beach
Looking from the palace area towards the Hippodrome
Caesarea Promontory Palace
Mosaics in the palace
Pilate Stone (replica, original is in Israel Museum in Jerusalem)
Caesarea Roman Theatre
Photo by Dad
Went up the road to see some more excavations. Then went a bit further up to see a way cool aqueduct. But we couldn't get out, so just had to get photos out the bus window as we drove past it :(
Section of Byzantine street at Caesarea
Roman Aqueduct
Photo by Dad
Roman Aqueduct
Section of ancient Roman Aqueduct near Jisr al-Zarqa
Next stop was Mount Carmel, where Elijah faced off against Ahab's prophets. Awesome view from the top of the mountain of the Jezreel valley.
Jezreel Valley
Ramat David Israeli Air Force Base from Mount Carmel
Carmelite Monastery
Photo by Dad
Stopped for lunch at a local restaurant on Mount Carmel. Tonnes of good food. I'm amazed by the salads in this country. Heaps of fresh food for salads, it's great!
Salad buffet at the restaurant
Then down to Megido (Armegeddon) to see a man-made hill which was actually thousands of years of settlements built on top of each other. Fascinating place, but again, not enough time to just go explore :(
Tombs along Route 6953 near Mishmar HaEmek
Tel Megiddo from the road
Stairway on the northern walls of Megiddo
Canaanite City gate (late bronze age)
Maybe some sort of kestral flying overhead
Temples area (early bronze age)
Northern Palace
Temples area (early bronze age)
Grain silo at Megiddo
The southern stables
Debbie riding a chariot
Photo by Mum
Water shaft on the south-west side of Megiddo
Inside the water tunnel
Another mountain next up - Mount Tabor. The road up is narrow and windy and too small for coaches, so you have to stop half way up to catch minibuses the rest of the way. We got there at a good time, as several coaches pulled up after us. "The Church of the Revelation" was at the top which was originally a crusades church but now has a modern catholic church there.
Nazareth. Everywhere in Israel towns are built at the top of hills, not at the bottom (where the water is) like in Australia. I found it quite odd
Church of the Transfiguration
Interior of the Church of the Transfiguration
Interior of the Church of the Transfiguration
Mural of Moses in the Church of the Transfiguration
Interior of the Church of the Transfiguration
Photo of Mount Tabor in the minibus
View of the Jezreel Valley from the road up Mount Tabor
At this point my GPS was flashing its low battery light, but it hung in there til we arrived at our hotel on the Sea of Galilee. The sea is smaller than I thought it would be. And today it was dead calm.
My bedroom in the hotel
The Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee looking south towards Tiberias
Another amazing dinner and then I setup in the cafe to use the internet (first internet since Hong Kong. I could have paid $5/30 min or $20/day to use it at the last place but didn't on principle).
View south from the dining room towards Tiberias
Distance covered on the GPS: 203.4km
Steps walked: 13533
Photos on the Canon: 995
Photos on the Sony: 26
Videos: 28
USD spent: 1