Think we need a break from all that History & Archeology

Thought the family might like a change & a chance to see how much Zebadiah ( pronounced Zevadeeah in Hebrew we've been told ) has grown in a few weeks.

He has an expensive taste now folks since he's sampled the mangoes & pomegranates of the Med.

Jane & Zeb leave tonight on a jet plane and we know one aunty who is going to miss them both heaps. We've all had a lot of fun despite the heat, discovering Israel together.

Caesarea continued.

Whew ! After all those hot stone walls etc, we need a cool sea break. Sue & Jane checking out part of the ancient harbour & docks. Huge stone anchors lie on the dock.





Another section of the harbour. The actual sea walls were constructed on piles made by huge wooden crates filled with scoria which hardened into a sort of cement when the sea water worked on it. And for all you engineers...a lot of it is still there!!
Herod got an A from the local council for that effort.




Another view of the hippodrome from the other end. Dimensions 450mts by 90mts, & could seat 30,000 spectators. The races usually consisted of 4 pairs of horses pulling the chariot plus driver. Apparently many got killed if they fell off & got the chop from those following. At a later date many Christians & criminals & I guess any one who disagreed with the boss had to slug it out with various wild animals, in front of a blood thirsty crowd. Think I'll stick to watching the rugby...

Caesarea continued.

The Crusader gate constructed by that same group

Some of the store houses for Herods royal palace.

Hey guys just another little bit of biblical history confirmed here as well. Paul the apostle was imprisoned here before being sent on to Rome for his trial round AD.57 Hope he had a wardrobe of cool clothes because it would have been flaming hot in the prison.

More stone walls with the 19th century Bosnian minaret in the background.

Caesarea continued.

The Hippodrome, spectator stands on right sea on left.

Sue is waiting patiently for her favourite chariot driver.

Incredible mosaic work, in the houses of the wealthy, from a distance it looked like carpet.

A close up revealed that they are made with thousands of squares of marble stone chips ranging from about 1 cm sq.

The tile layers must have put in some overtime huh !

Caesarea Pics

Lets begin with the aquaduct that had to be constructed over a distance of many miles from a freshwater spring inland to provide running water to Caesarea which was done on a grandscale for the wealthy being piped underground once inside the city. The water also flushed the loos!!

A mighty engineering feat

A moslem family enjoying a picnic under one of the arches...shaded from the heat.

The beaut swimming beach on the Med is just a few metres away....

Shelley & Isaac, taking another opportunity to search for more artefacts.

Caesarea . Herod's Show Home (s) !! and Harbour

This is an amazing place & well worth a visit when you come to Israel. But be prepared to spend some hours as this archeological site covers a vast area & is still being uncovered

Herod put the place on the map 2000 odd years ago by building in 12 years an elaborate luxury city and port, along with a reef palace, amphiteatre, large hippodrome, theatre luxury houses, bath houses, temples etc. Archeology has uncovered elaborate mosaic 'carpets.'

The city has changed rule by each conquering nation from Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Turkish and Crusaders.

Whereafter it fell into ruin and was then used by Bosnian refugees in the late 1800's.

It is impossible to really do this area justice with a few pics and it was another blistering hot day....

More ruins ...Bet Shean

Bet Shean fresh water springs. One of three natural pools.

More excavations in the same area, ruins from the early Greek era then developed by Rome. This was apparently the largest of the decapolis cities in Israel, more than 2000 years back.

Now just a rather run down small town. The crew having a break in the shade of the arena walls. Apparently many people met a gruesome death in these arenas.... a bit chilling!!!

Shelley, our avid archeologist and treasure hunter loves fossicking in any ruins & has a great collection of old pottery shards, pieces of mosaic & a few Roman glass treasures....broken of course.

Relief from relentless heat

Drove east for a couple of hours to the Bet Shean National Park.This little oasis is a popular picnic spot for all. Fascinating to see the mix of cultures, mostly family groups enjoying the cool clear natural springs in the hot dry landscapes.

Had a great chat with an Israeli Arab family who invited us to visit them..... would love to do this if we can make it.

Ahh........how blissfully cooling on our hot sticky bods !!

Lots of evidence that this was a popular bathing spot for ancient cultures....

Information

For those who may not already be aware , if you click on the pics once or twice you can enlarge it to enable you to view it easier !!

Majdal Shams, Druse border village.

Looking across a high ( approx 4000ft) fertile valley to Majdal Shams a Druze village. Previously Syrian and now a border outpost with the Mt Hebron Ski field nearby

Shades of Mongolia where horses are also a major mode of transport in the rural areas. This young 'boy racer,' challenged us to a race up the mountain on his horse..we had a ball and he won as the roads were quite precarious, Jane had white knuckles & made me slow down. Carmen you would have freaked out, jumped out and walked.!!

A picnic at the end of the road above the village under the eye of the Israeli machine gunner above Shelleys head. Can you spot him?

We were unaware that the previous day there had been a riot and the arrest of a local lad accused of spying for Syria.

Golan Heights, Majdal Shams

Quneitra : This area was previously Syrian, taken at the end of the 6 day war, 1967. Then 1973 Yom Kippur war Syria unexpectedly invaded Israel. They got soundly thrashed then demanded the area back after loosing the game ! It is a beautiful fertile area now commercially producing fine wine, peaches, nectarines, olives, plums, pears etc.

Wind power, another form of energy harvested by the Israelis. This area also very close to the Syrian border and the military presence is very obvious.

Couple of old dudes having a chat. This Druze gentleman, father of 7, school teacher by profession, and sells his wifes produce 'after hours.' Delicious honey's, produced from grapes, carob and various wiild flowers. Freshly pressed olive oil and delicious goats cheese preserved in oil.

Jams and zatar made from hyssop herb and spices used like dukka.

Needless to say we sampled everything and bought a good amount, which hopefully helped towards the support of his 7 kids.

Tzfat, A quaint and arty hill town

The drive to Tzfat, olive plantations abound.

Endless steps and alleyways. The beautiful stonework really attracts the heat.

The orthodox Jewish believers mixing the old with the new..chatting on his mobile.

More from Dead Sea, Golan Heights

Hey mum, as well as being a mobile milk bar you're also a good 'lilo.'

Sue was hoping the mudpack at the Dead Sea would perform a miracle. Alas.......the wrinkles were still there after the spa!!

I just can't leave this are

I just can't leave this awesome place. And I forgot to mention that ol' Dave the son of Jesse hung out round this area. Yes the same guy that slew Goliath. In fact it was somewhere round here that he also cut the tassles off King Sauls knickers while he was sleeping. Just to show that while he could have taken his head as well, he still respected Saul as God's appointed king. And while Dave was a bit of a ratbag he feared his God more than anything and God still had a major role for him (Dave,) to take part in, which, believe me, changed the world.

I wonder if it was a cave like this one , or maybe this was the one in which those scrolls were found which authenticate so much of the 'old testament,'

Apart from the inspiring geography of the area . I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to hang out round here for any length of time. BUt then again I guess it was a good place to hide out.

Just across thats sea is Jordan...the Hashemite Kingdom of...

As a final comment...if you really want to read some very exciting stories,history , full of sex,violence, murder, betrayal, lust, love and just plain amazing miracles...get into the old testament as so many of the factual accounts recorded therein took place around here.

Ein Gedi /Masada area. The Dead or salt sea

If I didn't know better I would think you are positively enjoying that fearsome heat Jane.

Well you all know about the Dead sea & how because of the high concentration of minerals you can float in it......

Believe it or not you can.!! And to prove it I found some of the local folks just floating all round the place & took some pics to prove it. Even Zeb thought it was not too bad at all, lying back on his mums belly enjoying the very warm water,

And if you have any knowledge of Sue's prowess in the water you would know quite positively that, yes ,one can definitely float freely in this sea.

Nah I can't believe it. There's that magazine popped up again.

Now to be serious, if any of you are interested in the chemical composition of this big 'lake,' give me a buzz & I'll give you a breakdown.

Masada

MASADA. Look how it stands out as a 'massive' in the distance. I wonder wnat thoughts went through the minds of the Roman legions as they marched up to finally put down and smash the Jewish rebellion round AD 70. And remember they didn't drive up!! Those helmets must have baked their brains!!

It gets even more awesome as you get closer.

I would advise you to take a few minutes and get 'on line,' or read up about what happened here in AD70. Its a sad historical event but one which had considerable implications for mankind YOu will also learn what happened if you took a shot at Rome and brother Vespasian, who was the mastermind behind taking this last stronghold of the jewish zealots.

I'll bet the Romans would have given a lot of slaves to have a 'cable car,' to get up there. But they did manage it after a couple of years and an incredible feat of engineering

Ein Gedi /Masada area

These guys aren't a patch on those lovely Bactrians in Mongolia.

And they looked positively exhausted, and didn't appear to be enjoying the heat anymore than we were.

Can you believe with all that awesome & rather terrifying terrain round about, these beautiful, cool kibutz areas, are like sparkling jewels of peace and serenity. And no doubt they bring some cash into the area!

My girls were feeling the heat rather by this stage and this little oasis offered some respite. Although the temps were still over 40c in the shade.

Dead Sea /Ein Gedi and Masada area

Another awesome area rich in evidential history. Personally the terrain her just left me ....I can't describe it...but sort of put goose bumps up my spine. And that wasn't just the incredible heat. This is the area, the Dead Sea scrolls were found, Jericho one the oldest cities in the world is just down the road & which is recorded in one of the stories that used to enthrall me as a kid. The road down from Jerusalem drives way down below sea level & the temp was over 40 deg C in the shade while we were here. Just an awesome if somewhat hot experience.



A pic of the area just along from Masada. There is literally hundreds of square k's of similar terrain. Its hard to imagine people wanting to live here and without all the modcons, of cold showers, airconditioning etc that we can utilize today. Even the camels looked hot & exhausted.







Believe it or not there are beautiful green and cool Israeli settlements in the area, where again a lot of crops & fruits are grown.