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Biblelands and Greece trip

September - October 2019
A 36-day adventure by susie Read more
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  • TravelerBiblelands and Greece trip
    Day 9

    Day 6 Biblelands tour

    September 19, 2019 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Day 6
    Bet She'an. Archaeological site mentioned in Joshua 17, Judges 1:27-28,1 Kings 4:12,1 Chronicles 7:29
    Drove for an hour, at times only metres from the border of Jordan. Quite bizarre for an Australian in an island nation without this type of border.. It felt like we could just about pole vault into another country..if it wasn't so heavily patrolled. Also driving through the West Bank, Judea and Samaria, so often reported about on the news, and the often incongruous biblical scenes like shepherds on donkeys with their flocks
    Shiloh.. Where Joshua divided the land after the wilderness wandering. It was one of the main centres of Israelite worship by virtue of the presence of the tabernacle and the Ark of the covenant, until it was moved in battle, the place Samuel grew up.
    Our first glimpse of Jerusalem, as our bus belted out an emotional rendition of The Holy City. A stop at the Mt of Olives looking across the Kidron Valley to the old city of Jerusalem. Another moving moment as our group sang 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem' Then onto our hotel inside the walls of the Old City.. Very special ❤️    Read more

  • TravelerBiblelands and Greece trip
    Day 10

    Day 7 Biblelands tour

    September 20, 2019 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Day 7 started at the Jaffa Gate where our hotel is .. We noticed the bullet marks from the 1967 war when the Jews managed to take back the old city.. From here we started the Ramparts walk along the wall.. Couldn't help singing "Walk about Zion and go round about her.. mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces.."🎶. On to the Zion gate with bullet marks from the 1948 fighting..Jews firing on the Jordanians inside unsuccessfully. Next we headed to the Jewish quarter.. inside of which was the Burnt House and the Herodian quarter destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans.. rediscovered after the 1967 liberation including the excavated priestly precinct including highly likely the very house of Caiaphas and the room where Jesus would've appeared before the Sanhedrin.. we stood in the courtyard where Peter was warming his hands by the fire when Jesus turned and made eye contact after Peter had denied him thrice.. Mind blown again 😮
    Fascinating that 36,000 people are living in 1 square km in the Old City across the Jewish/Christian/Armenian and Moslem quarters, all trying to get along.. mostly!
    Walked through the Cardo (lit meaning Hinge.. The mall/main street that every Roman City hinged around) 2000 years old!
    We saw the part of the wall that Hezekiah built 8m high 6m wide. That's quite a wall!!😮
    Then headed back down to the Western Wall.. Sabbath tonight so it was much more chaotic and crowded..a unique experience.
    Another fabulous day wandering the narrow cobblestone streets of Jerusalem ❤️    Read more

  • TravelerBiblelands and Greece trip
    Day 11

    Day 8 Biblelands tour

    September 21, 2019 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Day 8 started with a visit to Golgotha, the place of the skull and a breaking of bread at the Garden tomb.. Another very emotional moment.Then back to the reality of present day Israel as we drove through the West Bank in Palestinian occupied territory
    Herodian..a palace fortress built by Herod on a man-made hill which became his burial place.
    Next stop Bethlehem.. Not the serene relaxing visit to Jesus birthplace you may expect. After a lengthy stand off when our bus driver was refusing to drive into the Palestinian held city, a rather stressful game of chicken between buses, cars and people on grotty narrow streets in a huge filthy city, all the time feeling uneasy. All I can say is now I've been to Bethlehem and don't feel the need to do that again! All part of the adventure in a bit of a roller coaster of emotions day. A fabulous end with a spectacular sound and light show in the Citadel of David.    Read more

  • TravelerBiblelands and Greece trip
    Day 12

    Day 9 Biblelands trip

    September 22, 2019 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Day 9 saw an early start to beat the crowds at the Temple Mount. Pictures here include a pile of rocks (!) significant because they are believed to be the rocks thrown off by the Romans when they destroyed the Temple.(since been excavated and left where they fell). As was foretold 'not one stone shall remain upon another that will not be thrown down' (Matt 24:2).. the Golden gate which was opened on the Day of Atonement to let the red heifer out as a scapegoat into the wilderness and killed. Now bricked up which I found quite appropriate...Solomon's porch mentioned quite a few times in scripture...Dome of the Rock.. Now a Moslem shrine believed to be built on the site of the Most Holy Place on Mt Moriah...The site where it's believed the Gate Beautiful was..a gate that Jesus would've used many times.
    Then we walked down through the Dung Gate to the Old city of David..still an active archaeological dig as they uncover more every day that dates back to the time of David. Awesome views of Mt of Olives the oldest active cemetery in Israel.    Read more

  • TravelerBiblelands and Greece trip
    Day 12

    Day 9 continued..

    September 22, 2019 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Next..Hezekiah's tunnel...a surreal and fantastic experience walking through cool running water, sometimes knee deep in a narrow tunnel.. Exiting at the Pool of Siloam.
    After lunch the group did a few different things.. We walked to the Garden of Gethsemane with Julie and Phil which was a lovely peaceful garden of veeeery old olive trees.. if this was the actual garden or somewhere close to here it was easy to see why Jesus came here to pray before his arrest. Made me feel equal parts calm and ridiculously excited to be here😊
    We then wandered back through the old cobblestoned streets of the Old city browsing the markets. After dinner we did a tour of the Western Tunnels.. Of interest was this 14.6mx5.3m single stone which was part of the original wall . Massive and amazing workmanship for just the fence basically..let alone the actual Temple!.. Walking through narrow tunnels on the original floor stones of the market place. Another fabulous day 😊    Read more

  • TravelerBiblelands and Greece trip
    Day 13

    Day 10 Biblelands trip

    September 23, 2019 in Palestine ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Day 10 First stop the Theodore Herzl memorial "If you will it, it is more than a dream"
    This told the story of his dream for a Jewish state which at the first Zionist congress caused great excitement. He says "there is no national existence without territory" and declared that within 50 years there would be a Jewish state. After there was no progress at the second Jewish Congress in 1898 he sailed for Israel to discuss his vision for his people, travelling several countries arranging loans and negotiating deals to obtain a piece of the Promised Land using his own money. He died in 1904 not seeing the fulfillment of his dream, but leaving a legacy to which all Jews are indebted.. Only after the Holocaust did the world recognise the need for a Jewish state 50 years after Herzl proclaimed it would happen.
    He was buried in Vienna but he was so confident of his vision that he wrote in his will to be buried in the Holy Land .In 1949 his body was interred in Israel here on Mt Herzl.
    Next stop the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum. 😢I really wanted to stay long enough to bear witness to the suffering, but found it overwhelming. Man's inhumanity to man at its worst and I can't even write about what I saw and heard there.
    It's easy to think of 6,000,000 as a statistic but this quote on the wall stuck with me ."It is not that 6 million Jews were murdered, but that there were 6 million murders and in each of them one Jew was killed." Unfathomable.
    Our last afternoon and evening in Jerusalem was spent wandering the streets soaking up the culture and enjoying a drink on the rooftop overlooking the city walls, cementing friendships old and new ❤️    Read more

  • TravelerBiblelands and Greece trip
    Day 14

    Day 11 Biblelands trip

    September 24, 2019 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Day 11 Very sad to to leave Jerusalem but every day brings a new adventure! We drove past Bet Shemesh known for being the area given to the tribe of Dan.. one of the 48 cities given to the Levites..where the Philistines brought the ark of the covenant ..the area where Samson judged Israel for 20 years.
    First stop.. Tel Azeka above the Valley of Elah first mentioned where Joshua conquered the land (Josh10) this area given to the tribe of Judah. Best known as the site where David fought Goliath.We can see the brook where David picked up the 5 stones when he fought Goliath, Israel was camped across the valley, the higher hills we are on was where the Philistines were camped(a definite strategic advantage for them and we could imagine the Philistines shouting out challenges across the valley). David carried the head of Goliath to Jerusalem (an hour and a quarter bus ride for us!!
    Then a slow perilous trip down a narrow winding road.. Our bus has a few more scratches to show for it!!
    Next stop-Tel Lachish held by King Hezekiah, conquered by Sennacherib and the Assyrian army 2800 years ago. Trev reckons he found part of a white flint arrow head(or a chicken bone 😂)and Peter found a pottery shard with writing on it 😲
    We then drove down through the Negev with extensive plantings of jojoba beans, heading to BeerSheva(Beersheba) where we visited an Air force museum and heard how the Israeli air force has thrived despite embargoes being placed against them, and their technology has leapt ahead through their own ingenuity in appropriating other nations aircraft.. We then visited the ANZAC memorial to the taking of BeerSheba from the Ottomans in 1917 by the Australian light horsemen along with the Brits. 2 days after this the Balfour Declaration was presented and 2 years after BeerSheba was taken, the Allies succeeded in taking Palestine from the Turks. Sobering seeing so many graves of boys younger than our children 😢
    BeerSheba was also mentioned many times in scripture including the place where Jacob had the dream of the ladder with angels descending and ascending(Gen28), Abraham's oath (Gen 21), Hagar wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, sons of Samuel were judges here (I Sam 8) .
    Arrived at the Dead Sea (423m below sea level.. The lowest point on the planet) in time for a swim before dinner..a unique experience!    Read more

  • TravelerBiblelands and Greece trip
    Day 15

    Day 12 Biblelands trip

    September 25, 2019 in Israel ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Day 12
    Masada-This was Herod's winter palace which at its height housed 1000 zealots. Amazing that they grew crops and had water in the middle of the desert on a huge high Rock.. They had dovecotes for food.. their droppings used as fertiliser.. They had enough food and water for 3 years with 12 cisterns and an ingenious system of redirecting floodwater, so the Romans got sick of waiting to starve them out and took 47 days to build a ramp and used a battering ram for the stone walls and archers with flaming arrows to burn the wooden reinforcements. Almost 1000 people committed suicide rather than face slavery and rape and torture. This act has become legendary and the Israeli Defence Force youth are brought here to inspire them.. 'Masada will never fall again'. is their catchcry and it has become a symbol of staunch resistance against oppression.
    (66AD was the start of the revolt,70AD destruction of the Temple and Masada was the last remaining City to be taken before the Jews were eradicated from the land in 73AD.)

    We then journeyed on and learnt that the Dead sea is today not one sea but 2 landlocked lagoons as the sea is receding at the rate of 1m a year.. as the Jordan River is only supplying 4% of its former volume into the sea due to drought and the fact that more water is being pumped out of the sea of Galilee for domestic use..plans are afoot to pump water from the Red Sea but costs are an issue at present.
    Next stop was Ein Gev(Engedi).. this region lost 30% of its date production in a sink hole in the last 20 years.. Many of these have opened up due to the drying out of the dead sea. The Engedi spring is the source of 30% of the bottled water market in Israel,a major source of income for the kibbutz here, along with date palms.
    This is the area where David fled from Saul and hid in the caves..5 waterfalls from this Spring which was a welcome refreshing stop 😊 Another amazing feeling thinking we were standing under the same waterfall that David would've done😲(1Sam 23/4) We read Ezek 47:10 when the Dead sea in this area will be full of fish.. Hard to imagine the change.
    Qumran -the site where Bedouin goatherds accidentally found some dead sea scrolls that are believed to have been hidden by the Jews living here to preserve them, once they heard Jerusalem had been taken and the Romans were heading to Masada. We saw herds of wild ibex through this area.
    Back to the resort for a relaxing afternoon at the pools and another Dead Sea swim 😁    Read more

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