Saturday

Friday afternoon and evening were free time. It was a little strange but I managed to fill in the time. Saturday we started at 7:30 am. We first went to Nazareth and the Church of the Annunciation (were Mary received the angel's message about being the mother of Jesus. Dr. Elizabeth knew the curator and we not only got to see the Church but a closed area where they have found early first century living areas which are rock caves, natural and carved out, which was probably the kind of home in which Jesus lived. The Church I saw last time I was here (13 yrs ago), but the extra was great. We visited a couple of other churches which are associated with Mary's life in Nazareth. Then we went to a synogogue which was probably 3rd century but would have been very similar to the one Jesus attended in Nazareth.
Next we went to Zippori which was an affluent town shown by the elaborate buildings and the many mozaics found there. It contains a mozaic called the Galilean Mona Lisa. There was much to see, a Roman fortress, a synogogue, a collumade (an ancient shopping center) and many other ruins. Next we went to Migiddo, in the Valley of Jezrel, in Revelation it is the place of the final conflict, Armaggedan. It is the place of many battles through history, it is the place where King Jehu of Israel was shot dead by an enemy arrow. No wonder they piced that place for fortresses you can see forever in every direction covering both caravan routes through Palistine.
Next we went to Ceasarea Maritime, were Herod the Great built one of his great cities. He built what we would call a modern harbor, an amplitheater seating 40,000 people, a hipadrone for chariot races, a couple of palaces and a swimming pool although it is right on the Mediteranian Sea. It is where Paul was imprisioned for two years waiting to be tried and then claimed his Roman citizenship and appealed to Ceasar. It is also the place where an inscripion to Pontius Pilot was found. We had a two hour drive home and arrived just in time for the 7:00 pm dinner.