It started with a flight to Israel. Landed in Tel Aviv, a vibrant busy city, with lots of traffic. By the time I got to the hotel it was already dinner time. So what can I do, but walk along the beach on a nice evening. The sand was so soft, little did I know at that time that the sand was imported from Egypt!
Amazed I was, but I wish I got to see it during the day because the next day, I headed my way to begin the 'pilgrim's journey' starting at Caesarea and Galilee. But before all that, I got a shot at the skyline of Tel Aviv... kinda :P
Caesarea
This was my first stop in the Holy Land in the ruins of Caesarea Maritima, built by Herod and where Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, based his seat of the government.
My first impression of this place was a miniature size of the Colosseum in Rome. And then all you see were ruins. Something I seriously pondered about during my entire trip was why Israelite don't rebuild everything that became ruins... I mean, it's already so hot during the day, I would love to walk under some shade while walking through historical sites. Another pattern I discovered during this trip, was that new modern things are usually built on top of the old historic ruins. This will become more apparent throughout this post.
The difference with between Colosseum in Rome and the ruins in Caesarea, is that Caesarea is located beside the sea. Which means, you get a nice view of the Mediterranean Sea. The key reason why Herod and Pilate based their seat of government there - Caesarea was a great port!
Nazerath
Prior getting to the resort by the Sea of Galilee, the tour made a stop at Nazerath. This town where Jesus grew to manhood. Here, we visited the Church of the Annunciation and had a glimpse of what 21st century looked like at Nazerath.
At the Church of the Annunciation, there were murals of what the Virgin Mary and Jesus interpretations from around the world. Okay, I know I shouldn't be making a joke from this, but when I saw the Japanese one, I had to excuse myself out of the building because it reminded me of this:
Jokes aside, it was a very interesting church. Very different than those in Europe, for sure. And the murals, I believe, is an appreciation of art from different countries.
And by the outskirts of Nazerath, I learned that the term "stoning" in the bible doesn't mean people throw stones at a person until they die. It's the act of pushing them down a cliff, like this one.
Sea of Galilee
Finally made a way to Sea of Galilee after a long day going through ruins and historical towns. This place was so peaceful and the view of the resort was stunning. Instead of swimming in the pool though, I just enjoyed cocktails by the sea not too far away.
And when sunset happened during dinner.... I was just in awe.
Mount of Beatitudes
The third day of this tour brought us to where Jesus preached and performed miracles at the on the Mount of Beatitudes. Starting from this beautiful garden where Jesus preach His famous "Sermon on the Mount"...
Continuing to Tabgha, where Jesus multiplied 5 loaves and 2 fish...
And then we went to where it was known as the early Christian church...
As you can tell from the these pictures from the Mount of Beatitudes, a lot of these places look either rather modern or rather in ruins. The ruins, are of the old, the historic sites. Nothing was done to the ruins or to show how grand it may be back in the day. The modern are the things that are build on top of the old and depicts the events that occurred in these places in a modern way.
Sail in the Sea of Galilee
Okay, so it was scorching hot, and we are all tired. So after a lunch where I ate a loaf of bread and a pretty decent fish, we went to Ginosar where we saw the famous "Jesus Boat", an archaeological treasure recovered from the waters of the Galilee, dating back to the first century.
We then took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee docking at Ginosar and enjoyed a nice afternoon at sea.
Jordan River
On the fourth day, we started our journey at the famous baptismal site where John baptized Jesus. This actually took place at the Jordan River. But due to the construction of dams, the flow of the river has been changed and the Jordan River today looks like this...
Because there's not much water left running on this river, this holy baptismal site was moved to Yardenit, where people from around the world would baptize here instead.
Beit She'an
Leaving the Sea of Galilee region now, and heading towards Jerusalem where Jesus continued his journey before he was crucified. We made a stop at Beit She'an, a remarkable ruin, or rather a scorching piece of land under the sun, where it was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 AD. It was here, that the Philistines hung the bodies of Saul and his suns on the walls of Beit She'an. Walking through this place, though scorched in the heat, we went through incredible excavations of the largest ongoing archaeological dig in the land of Israel, with its amphitheater, colonnaded Roman streets, mosaics and Roman bathhouse.
Jerusalem
To end off the day, we arrived to Jerusalem where we went to the Mount of Olives where we saw the panoramic view of the entire Old City. The day we happened to be in town also happened to be the busiest time of the year, Jerusalem Day, so traffic was chaotic, we couldn't go anywhere after on our own because we might get trampled!
Instead of trying to maneuver ourselves, we went to the Dead Sea Scroll Museum. It was much better to stay in a well-air conditioned room, than being in the heat with a sea of people.
Old City of Jerusalem (Jewish Quarter)
The remaining of the trip went by kind of in a blur. There were so many things to see, and so many crowds everywhere. But I believe we started with the Old City of Jerusalem in the Jewish Quarters, where we saw the place of Jesus and his disciples eating their Last Supper. This room differed from the picture almost everyone knows about; the famous Last Supper painting by da Vinci that is in Milan. This room, first of all, has no tables. Tradition of the past is that, Jews don't eat on tables, or so I was told by our tour guide. So it was definitely an interesting place since I only envisioned the table of the last supper when we entered the room.
Next stop was getting to the Western Wall. And on the way, we walked through different alleys of the Jewish Quarter.
So, what's so special about the Western Wall compared to the rest of the old Jerusalem city's walls: Northern Wall, Eastern Wall and the Southern Wall? The Western Wall was the closest wall to the Holy of Holies. That's why you would see a lot of people praying in front of this wall.
As you can tell from the picture above, the wall was rebuilt. This was one of the only prominent structure in Israel that was rebuilt! You can still see the historical wall in the picture above. The larger limestone in the picture above, are the stones of the past. The rest of the wall is actually underground! To this day, they are still excavating. The process is slower than any other excavation because there are settlements on top, which is mostly the Muslim Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. I had an opportunity to go underground, and touch the Western Wall there. Apparently, this place is the closest to the Holy of Holies! Note: I am not touching a giant cookie, though it surely looks like one.
Then, we walked by these ruins, that was the place where Jesus allegedly heeled the crippled.
Then we walked out of the city through the Lion's Gate. Still unsure where the lions on this gate is, but perhaps the black tarp covered them :(
To tell the story in a more chronological order, I will now deviate from the trip's itinerary and based the historical locations based on the journey of Christ. That way, I don't get confused while posting, and the biblical story from the gospel will still somewhat be intact. I hope I don't screw this up either - no pressure :)
Bethlehem
This is where Jesus was born, in the little town of Bethlehem. Bethlehem is now part of the Palestine Region, which kind of freaked me out when we were told we were about to exit the Israel border. But I guess, since we were a tour, we were pretty safe there.
We first visited the Shepherd's field and the plains of Boaz. This was the place where the shepherd's saw the angel who told them Jesus Christ was born. The shepherds actually stayed in caves while their sheep are in the fields at night. The caves have now become churches where services are held and it is a shared space for all religions.
From the shepherd's field you can also see Jerusalem from afar.
Still in Bethlehem, we headed to the Church of the Nativity. This is where Jesus was allegedly born. We literally waited here for an hour to see the spot that has now been renovated to a modern place where Jesus was born; the star looking figure. The manger itself is actually in a museum in Italy. So the one below is just a remake of what it should look like.
And here's a snippet of Bethlehem while I was there! Streets and one knock off store! Can you see what it is?
Garden of Gethsemane
Back to Jerusalem, we are now going to follow the path where Jesus was betrayed and then eventually crucified on the cross. Garden of Gethsemane is an important place as this was the place where Jesus prayed before crucifixion and a place betrayed by a man's kiss.
Church of Saint Peter in Gallicantu
This was the place where Peter denied Jesus three times after he was captured and before the rooster crows.
Old Jerusalem (Jewish Quarters); where Jesus was flogged
This then brings us to where Jesus was flogged and where he carried the cross to his crucifixion.
Old Jerusalem (Christian Quarters); Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is where Jesus was allegedly crucified.
Here was the place where the Roman soldiers taking off Jesus' robe prior crucifixion...
And this was where he was nailed to the cross...
Then there are two possible locations of where his body was prepared to be put away in the tombs. One of them was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where his body was cleaned and prepared for burial.
Also found in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the crack in the earth that was mentioned in the bible when Jesus died on the cross. "The Earth shook and the rock split".
The Garden Tomb
The other location was at the Garden Tomb.
To this day, no one knows where the exact location of where Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. But one thing for sure is that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave!
Yad Vashem
Aside from walking a pilgrim's journey by following the footsteps of Jesus. I also had an opportunity to visit this museum, Yad Vashem. This museum was built in memory of the 6 million Jews that were murdered by the Nazis during WWII. This place contained so much history, I wish I got to stay here longer to go through the entire museum. Definitely worth visiting!
Dead Sea
Possibly the highlight of the entire trip was the Dead Sea! Such a refreshing experience to float on this body of water. It's probably the saltiest place on Earth and also the lowest place on Earth apparently. The salt dried up the sand / salt so fast, you can barely see the writing I wrote on the sand :(
Bordering Countries & Shared Land
Israel borders are shared with Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. In addition, they share the West Bank with the Palestinians. Following the footsteps of a Pilgrim, one will find themselves so close to the borders of neighboring countries, that can be frightening for some and exciting for others. I think, was in the frightening state, because of all the uncertainties of these bordering / sharing lands.
Lebanon looked like this from afar: where the yellow ends, and where the green starts is Lebanon.
Syria was the scariest. Standing at a few hundred yards on a hill and seeing a UN truck passing by. Dare to say, my legs were kind of shaking as I took this picture.
Jordan shares the Dead Sea with Israel, so here's a shot from the other side of the Dead Sea. No, I did not go to Petra.
Egypt was too far for me to go to, and wasn't part of the Pilgrim's journey. So no picture here. But I got Mr. Camel to represent.
Palestine Region. Did you know that Israel shared the West Bank with the Palestine region? And so is Bethlehem where Jesus was born? Below is the wall that splits Israel and Palestine Region to Bethlehem. It was a little frightening because the streets were kind of eerie at first, but as the day went by, it did get better. I must say though, I do prefer the hustling side in Israel better though.
Takeaways
As this tour ended, I was given a certificate. No, it was not a birthright certificate, but a certificate for tourists that have completed the Pilgrim's Journey in Jerusalem. It's called the Jerusalem Pilgrimage certificate. Even though, the tour completed the journey via a coach bus and not on feet. It's okay, I appreciated the air conditioned bus and the free wifi.
Overall, I found this trip super interesting. Not only did I go to places which I've read about, it was interesting the fact that people in the past used to walk from the Sea of Galilee to Jerusalem. The heat from the scorching sun, in the middle of nowhere and in the middle of a desert was no joke. I swear I can feel it in the bus, even when the air condition was on.
Remember the few facts I pointed out at the beginning, about how the ruins are left ruins, and/or new things are built on top? I think the reasoning behind it was due to all the war that went on in that city prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. The land was never settled, because there was so much fighting going on. Another reason, I think this is to be may be because not all Israelite believe that Jesus is the Saviour and Messiah. Therefore, there was no need to rebuilt, or reconstruct the things that were ruined. Rather, they built on top of these ruins to remember as part of Israel's history. This is merely my interpretation, and I could be completely incorrect.
This place definitely puts perspective for me now when I read the Bible. Everything kind of make sense now; the tradition, the culture, etc. Definitely worth checking this off my bucket list.
Until my next adventure, stay tuned because it will be epic! ;)
