Israel trip - Day 1

Well, we've been back for a week from our trip to the Holy Land, and finally things are getting back to normal. We had such a wonderful time, saw so many things and places, and built some great memories. I will never forget my experience there, as short as it was. Since there is so much to share, I will do a little at a time. Keep checking in if you want to read all about it!

Our very first stop on the first day of our tour was Joppa - pronounced "Jaffa" over there. This is the sight Peter received the revelation that the gospel was to go to the gentiles. It's also the sight where Jonah got on a boat to Tarshish. It was a beautiful little area, with very old architecture. It's right near Tel Aviv - which is the capital of Israel.

-Our next stop was Caesarea, where (if I remember right) Paul was tried. Also we drove down the street a little to the Roman aqueducts. Pretty amazing old ruins. Some ppl stepped into the Mediterranean sea (just on the other side of the aqueducts)- just to say they'd done it.

Our next stop was in Haifa. We were supposed to get out and tour the beautiful gardens you'll kind of see here, but our tour today got started late because of flight delays the night before. So we just stopped at an overlook and a few ppl jumped out to take pictures. Haifa is probably the cleanest city in Israel and really pretty. A year ago, Hezbollah was firing rockets on Haifa during the short war that went on. And last Sunday, a couple days after we got home, it was in the news that a couple rockets had been fired on this town again.

For lunch we had falafels (sp?). A pita filled with a ground chickpea "ball" (which I believe has been deep fried), and several veggies and things. It was pretty good.

Our next stop was at Muhraka, the traditional site of Elijah's confrontation with the priests of Baal, and where he killed them (I believe 300-400 of them). There is a church built there (as in most of the spots we visitied) and the view from the top is of the Jezreel valley.

After that we drove to Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus, and visited the Nazareth Village ( a site developed to show life as it was at the time of Jesus).

After that we drove past the Church of the Annunciation (another site we didn't have time to visit), the traditional site where Gabriel announced to Mary she would bear the Son of God.

Finally, we drove over to the Galilee area where we were going to stay for 2 nights. We stayed at a beautiful resort : Ein Gev. We had large apartment-style rooms close to the beach.