Israel Day 2 Part 1
Posted by Meg on January 19th, 2012. Filed under: israel, pictures, travel.
The following post was written when I was in Israel. I didn’t have internet access at the time, so I couldn’t publish the post immediately. I’m back in the States and have nearly unlimited internet, so if you have any questions or comments, please leave them in a comment below the post and I will reply as quickly as possible.
Why hello there!
Our second day in the Holy Land was absolutely beautiful! Though I must admit, it got off to a rough start. My roommate Lydia and I were awoken quite early by our neighbors in the room next door. They were chanting and praying at the top of their lungs. It sounded like there wasn’t even a wall between us! Lydia woke up at 1am (meaning she only got 2 hours of sleep!) but I didn’t hear them until 4am. I generally sleep like a champ—in college I even slept through a fire alarm once. But these guys from Nigeria gave me a run for my money. They finally stopped around 6am, but our wakeup call was at 6:30.
Nonetheless, we had a great breakfast of Mediterranean deliciousness before we went started to explore. But before we get started, here’s some background on the Holy Land:
The Holy Land (presently Israel & Palestine) is about the size of Delaware. 51% of the land is desert, and the remaining 49% would be desert as well if people didn’t care for the land. It’s the “land of milk and honey,” meaning it’s incredibly fertile. And it’s the only land connection between Asia and Africa.
Our first stop for the day was Caesarea!
Fun fact: All of the statues are head-less because back in the day, they would keep the bodies and just replace the heads every time there was a new emperor/god/important dude.
We hung out in this ancient amphitheater,
saw some gorgeous views of the Mediterranean Sea,
checked out the remains of King Herod’s temple,
and walked along ruins that were discovered less than 10 years ago!
We then traveled to Mt. Carmel, one of 5 really famous mountains in the Holy Land. Others include Mt. Moriah (where Isaac was sacrificed) and Mt. Sinai (where Moses received the 10 commandments). The name Carmel means “garden of God” (El means God and Car means garden). 1 Kings 18 tells us that Mt. Carmel was where Elijah confronts the false prophets and all of the people declare that the Lord is God.
You can almost see all of Israel and parts of Palestine from the top of Mt. Carmel. It was hazy and cloudy out, but everything was still beautiful!
There’s even a sanctuary and monastery at the top of the mountain.
On the roof of the monastery, there is a compass telling you everything that you can see from Mt. Carmel. I couldn’t fit it all in the picture!
Check back soon for part 2 of our first full day in Israel!
