Day 06 - Beth She’an, Megiddo, Mt. Carmel, Caesarea Maritima

Today we woke up to green parrots singing on our last beautiful morning at the Sea of Galilee. Our days start with breakfast at 7am. It’s always a full buffet of a few typical items, but also herring, sardines, tuna, many cheeses and salads and COFFEE! Of course coffee, which I’ve noticed people need more and more through the day, as we keep up this “Amazing Race” pace.

If we are tired coming to breakfast it’s easy to get energized seeing each other before we head to the bus. (Some of us were a little more tired today, because our tour guide, Ronen, hosted a super fun evening of karaoke last night!).

Speaking of Ronen, every morning we board the bus, and Ronen introduces himself and tells us he will be our tour guide for the day! He is amazing. He has his Masters in Israeli history and has traveled to other countries. Often he helps us understand history here by relating it to something we can all understand in the states. He is quite the funny guy, and not afraid to share his opinion. 

Today‘s tour, Ronen told us, would be about the clash between Roman and Jewish cultures. 

Our first stop was Beth She’an or House of Complacency. This Roman city was built in 63 BC and was part of ten Roman cities called the Decapolis. Here people learned to play games like chess and backgammon. They worked out in a gymnasium and even had a steam room with masseurs! They didn’t trade by bartering like the Jewish culture but by using money so they had elegant shops, hair salons and businesses, all things that the Jewish culture didn’t have. This was also one of the first places with a public toilet and sewer system. Just image sitting in public with your bottom on two rocks! 

We also sat in a theater here - don’t think like an American (as Ronen would say), think ancient Roman theater. It seated 4000 people and as we scattered to different seats, from the front Ronen asked if we could hear him as he softly spoke. Yes! How could we hear him in that space but on a bus he needs a microphone?!  

It was an amazing place and very easy to picture how the Prodigal Son may have walked away from his father’s home to a place like this. Ronen compared it to living in Fargo, ND, going to sleep, and waking up in Times Square!

Next we went to Megiddo. Many believe this will be the area of the final battle of Armageddon. This hill or tel shows 30 layers of civilizations!  Here we read from 1 Kings and learned how so many Kings in Israel followed their own way and not God’s way.

Next was Mt Carmel where we saw an incredible view all the way to the countries bordering Israel to the east, west and north. It was cloudy and very windy as we read more from 1 Kings and talked about the Canaanite god, Baal, the god of fire, wind, thunder…nature. 

Our last stop was Caesarea Maritima, another site of amazing Roman archeology from 22 BC. Herod the Great took this land because it was on the coast and on the main road, the Via Maris. 

The Romans realized they could make cement from sand and volcanic ash, fill wooden crates and let them sink into the Mediterranean in order to create a break wall, thereby creating a harbor. It was the biggest harbor in the world at that time.  

As we walked by the water we were shown Herod’s grand palace built out over the water because he created his own artificial jetty. 

We saw the hippodrome, the area where chariot races were held and later gladiator games. An interesting note here, it was Herod who decided to award gold, silver and bronze medals to the competitors. 

As a wonderful yet also somber ending to this day Ronen showed us a new ruin that was accidentally found a few months ago: a prison under Herod’s palace… the prison that Paul was likely held in. So sitting in this place we read Acts 25 where Paul was kept and tried in Caesarea! Wow! Wow!

Another day of drinking from a firehose and being completely drenched! So much to learn and so many amazing stories!

Off to Jerusalem!

-Brandy Siewert