How do you distill a long day of site seeing down into a blog post?

I only took a little more than 400 pictures, so it shouldn’t be too hard :-).

We started out our day on the Mediterranean Sea and ended at the Sea of Galilee. The Roaring Sea to the Murmuring Sea, Salt water to Fresh water.

In any case, I was up early enough to see the sun rise.

Our first stop of the day was Caesarea Maritima.

I took a lot of pictures here, but decided this would be the one to share today. This picture is taken from the hearing room where Paul would have defended himself before being sent to Rome. I can just imagine hearing his defense. Some of the other pictures from here will be shared in the future after the trips over. This will be the case for many sites.
Just after leaving Caesarea Maritima, we stopped to take pictures of the aqueduct that supplied water to Caesarea Maritima.

Our next stop was Murakah on Mount Carmel, which is the traditional site of where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal. For this stop I chose a picture of the large statue of Elijah that they have there.

I like the look here of Elijah wielding his curved blade against the false prophets of Baal. We had a great view of the valley and were able to get a good sense of the distances between places and the importance of geography in history.

On our way to our next stop at Megiddo, we stopped along the road to view a couple of tombs that they unearthed during construction.

Here you see a tomb with a rolling stone.

Tel Megiddo was a great stop. I loved the history attached to the site and it was great to see the different methods used by archaeologists at the site.

We did get to view the water system of Megiddo and walk through the water tunnel that was constructed to secure their water supply. This is probably a site where I could spend a whole day if I had someone knowledgeable about the site to help me interpret it. Visiting the site also made me think of a book I am re-reading. The Source by Michener.

We then headed off to the Nazareth Village.

The Nazareth Village is a great living history museum. They had some great exhibits depicting life during the first century in Nazareth. Farming, olive pressing, carpentry and textiles all had demonstration exhibits. We also visited a reconstructed synagogue. I got to read the scripture taking about the appearance of Jesus in the Nazareth synagogue while standing with a scroll just as Jesus would have.

After leaving the Nazareth Village we made our way to Tiberias. Along the way we drove by Gath Hepher and Cana of Galilee. Who can tell me what prophet was from Gath Hepher?

After arriving at our hotel in Tiberias, I had a chance to get a few pictures of the Sea of Galilee.

I was able to capture a picture of a boat that is similar to the one we will be sailing on tomorrow as we explore the Sea of Galilee region.

I have passed on the hello messages that have been left in my comments. I have really enjoyed getting to know the members of the group and our tour is off to a great start. We have a lot to look forward to.

I hope everyone enjoys this glimpse into history.

Steven