Day 6 Sunday April 21st Holy Land Trip

Today we move south to the Dead Sea area.   

 

                               Our van accommodates all our luggage nicely. 

We had some left over sites to see in the Galilee region before getting to the Dead Sea.  Our first stop was Mount Tabor.  I have been on curvy roads before, but the road up to the top of Mount Tabor has to be in the top three most curvy.  At the top, the Catholics and the Orthodox have staked out their territories with two large churches.  We visited the Catholic complex.  We were told that the Orthodox facilities are not open to the public.

 

                                                

                                                    One of the paintings inside the church.

On the way up we saw a group of soldiers camped next to the parking lot.  They apparently had hiked up, maybe the the day before, and were preparing to go back down.  On our way back they were moving out and came by the parking lot where we were getting into our van. They were very friendly and we had some limited interaction with them.

I have several good pictures of them  and had them on this post ready to send, then got to thinking that might not be a very good idea, so I deleted them. I will check to see posting them is ok and if so will post them later.  I do want to get on the plane this coming Saturday.

                                     Joe getting into the van and ready to head to Megiddo.

Megiddo plays a leading role in Holy Land events.  Many scholars say more battles have been fought in Megiddo than any other city in the world.  I think they mentioned 26 different layers of city ruins have been excavated. Below is a picture of our group looking at a model of Megiddo.

 

                                                     Polly leading the way up the hill.

                                              Susie standing guard at the main gate area.

                        View of the Jezreel Valley that plays a part in the battle of Armageddon.

 

Grain storage area.  This had a top on it in antiquity.

 

Rodja and Joe practicing to be chariot drivers.  

Solomon housed some of his horses and chariots at Megiddo.

Everyone cleared out in front of Doris when she took over the reins.

Mike and Jan climbing down to go through the water system tunnel.

Part of the tunnel leading to the water

 

 

Jan bonding with a camel.

 Hi-tech Polly taking a picture of the Dead Sea and mountains with her tablet.

 

This picture gives you a good idea how the road winds around the Dead Sea

The round circles highlights a hot spring hole that was revealed when the Dead Sea dropped as far as it has. You could smell the sulphur in the air. The sea is dropping around four feet every year, as Israel and Jordan are pumping water out of the river upstream to use for irrigation.  Some say the Dead Sea could dry up in about 40 to 50 years if something is not done to correct this problem.

No sign on this pile of rocks but maybe a memorial to Lot’s wife.   

                             Many people think that Sodom and Gomorrah were in this area.