Trip down south to Eilat

First stop was Masada. Masada is located at the top of a plateau next to the Dead Sea. The Top of Masada is about 1,300 feet above sea level As far as we know Herod the Great fortified Masada around 37BC. A lot of the area has been restored enough to understand its content; you will be able to see from the pictures above that there is a black line indicating what was restored (above). There is still existing plaster on the walls dating back to Herod the Great - which is pretty inpressive. :)

Then we made it to the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea is about 1,378 feet under sea level, it is the lowest shore on earth. So, we stayed here for 2+- hours and got the chance to float on the water. The water is so rich and it has soo much salt that no fish/animals can live in it nor can boats sail. Because of the amount of salt in the water and all of the minerals, the water has a unique texture - slimy, thick, saltie of course. All of the minerals and salt that it contains make it possible for anyone to float without even wanting to - I got into the water and layed on my back and just began floating without any effort (keeping in mind that i do not know how to swim very much).

This was one of the most unusual and unique experience ever. While walking in the water you can feel chunks of salt balls in the water, they range from very small to golf size balls. If you are ever in Israel i would highly recommend taking a trip to the Dead Sea to experience the water.

(Pictures will be arriving soon)

The Big Dig at Bet Guvtin-Masesha

So, here is the day when we make History (yes, History with a capital H). We head to a archeological Dig at Bet Guvtin-Masesha where we get a bucket and a pick to dig up some dirt and see if we can find some remains or any artifacts. Well David, Patrick and Myself start digging on the side of the wall and we just started finding some ancient pottery from the Hellenistic time. There is this huge rock under me and I am trying to get it out of the way with David and it turns out to be some large old bricks. David says there is some space here without any dirt so he tries to take some rocks out of the space and while is is doing this I am removing the mountain of dirt that was accumulating. And all I hear is OMG!!!!!!!!! and what do you know - not in a million years would we have known that digging that that exact location we would find an intact, one entire piece of pottery. A Pot that was mostly used for water, intact, Had not been broken. Amazing an incredible find, we were just too excited, happy, nervous and completly blown out of our minds. Here is the cave we cralled into.....

This is David's and Patrick's unbelievable moment.
Here we are holding on to dear life that this pot does not fall and break. Showing everyone around us what we (the Catholic University School of Architecture Student) found.

And Again here we are admiring our find!

This is by far one of the best experiences being able to find some ancient pottery. Unfortunetly, we were not able to keep it, everything in the dig belonged to Israel but, if we wanted in about 3 months we can find out exactly in what time period the pot was from and if we wanted the school to have it, we can request it. (well, i am not sure if they would give it to the school or just let us borrow it for a couple of months and keep it on display). But, indeed an experience like no other.

As I mentioned before in a previous blog. We always seem to find ourselves getting into tiny holes.

Mount of Olives and surroundings.....

On Sunday morning, we (Theresa, Davidal, Julius and myself) got ready and went to Mount of Olives. From here we were able to see the entire Old City and beyond. Mount of Olives below is known as the Jewish Cemetery where many Jews have been buried waiting for the Messiah to come. Since, it is said that the Messiah will come or return from the East and will resurrect the dead. There are said to be at least 150,00o graves here.
Below is The Church of all Nations as known as the Church or Basilica of the Agony that is next to Gethsemane which is believed to be the place where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before the crucifixion.
These Olives trees at Gethsemane are at least 2000 years old or more.


The Mosaic painting below of La Inmaculada conception (Mary) is located at a church up in Mount Zion that is said to be the place where Mary fell asleep and Angels took her up to the heavens.

Mt. of the Beatitudes, Capharnaum and the Ancient Boat

The Church of the Beatitudes is the place where Jesus Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. A small church located at a magnificent spot where you can see the Sea of Galilee. Quite a peaceful place to be.

At Capharnaum known as the town of Jesus and the home of Peter. As usually we sit under a tree that can cast a shade on us while Dividal tells us the story of each place. Our shade was under this tree where the pilgrims and anyone who visits this area have carved the tress with names, wishes, hopes and more.

Here we also find the oldest Menorah carved on the top of the Ancient Corinthian Column. This is a sign that this mosque that once stood here was a Jewish mosque.

The small cave under this structure is said to be the home of Peter.

So, below you can see a photo the the Ancient boat of the Sea of Galilee or also known as the Jesus boat which was discovered in 1986. The boat dates back to the time of Jesus but of course we would never really know who used it.

Nayarria, Caesarea and more...

Nahaiya is the furthest city to the north west of Israel, it is actually right on the border of Lebonon and Israel. Here we took a cable car down to the bottom of the mountain where the old Grottos (a natural or man-made cave) are. An amazing place, just incredible. The water you see below is the Mediterranean sea and the waves in the morning are very strong and dangerous. Once we got into the grotto you can hear the water banging on the cave walls and splashing everywhere.

As you can see some of the waves were ready to attack David.

The views from up here were just incredible.

Above are two amazing people that have made the trip more than perfect. Davidal, the best tour guide in Israel and Julius on the right, the one that pushes all of the buttons to make this this trip one of the best.

Next to the border of Lebonon and Israel we found this.

Here we are in Akko south of Nahariyya, where we walked through one of the oldest inhabited city dating back to 1504-1450 BCE. But, we stared in a large open area and......... For some reason we always found ourselfs walking in these narrow openings......... :)

Here we are in Caesarea and anciet port city, that has an amphitheater (below) and a Hippodrome (above). At the time that we got here there was a band practicing and getting ready for a concert at night; the acoustics were amazing, once you entered the amphitheater you can feel the bass from the drums and no matter where you are seated you will always have a great view of the sea and the performers.

I managed to find a nice foot to rest on.