Day Nine (Friday): Nazareth, Haifa, Caesarea, Joppa

Back on the bus at 7:14 am with our luggage since we would be winding our way down the west side of the country and headed up back in our same Jerusalem hotel.

Sunrise at the hotel

Nazareth was our first stop.  But this isn't the quiet place of Jesus's time.  It is a large modern city.

I loved this plant with its puffy flowers and green buds.

Sister Winn enjoying the view to Mt. Tabor (I think).

Our group--listening and picture taking at a view area in Nazareth.

We headed to a local grocery store for a bathroom and treat break.

bathroom sign

We then headed to the portside town of Haifa--

Jena posing for someone else..

A sailing school in the bay at Haifa

Interesting Churches of all kind throughout the cities in Israel.

Baha i Gardens is one of the famous areas with a big church and lush gardens in Haifa.

Next we drove down the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to Caesarea 

Megan, Jena and Landi and the Sea

Jena copying others with this pose

When the wind is blowing off the ocean, you don't have to worry about your hair!

This whole aqueduct was built by Herod the Great when he founded the city of Caesarea because there was no source of fresh water nearby.  It is about 5 kilometers long (3.1 miles) and about 1.5 meters across.  It transported water to the city for over 1200 years.

It ended up covered with mountains of beach sand and was uncovered and preserved in a national park.

We had yummy pizza in an outdoor plaza and then headed to a Roman amphitheater.

They do outside concerts and things in this place.  I think they said it was set up for a fashion show in the evening.  This place was built in such a way on the coast that it captured the breezes off the coast and through the tunnels around and under the seats to provide cooling during events.

Elder Rona talking about the aspects of this place and others like it that were built by the Romans.

The view out of the bus as we drove along the coast through Tel Avia to Joppa (Jaffa).

Driving through the modern part of Tel Avia with the city on one side and the Mediterranean Sea on the other.

Lots of cranes and building along the whole area---reminded us of Salt Lake City

Mostly hotels along the coastline

But always a mix of the old (or made to look old) and the new

The houses seemed mostly the same colors but sometimes the shutters and doors were painted with bright colors.

Coming to the old port city of Joppa (Jaffa) where Jonah came to catch a ship and flee to Tarshish (modern-day Spain).

An odd collection of "beasts" in this fountain area in Joppa

We walked out to a small look out area.....

to see the area of the ancient seaport of Joppa

A bell tower of a nearby Church

Here we spent some time sitting in the plaza and talking about the story of Peter and his vision of the clean and unclean beast and the story of Cornelius's conversion recorded in Acts 10.  I have always loved this scripture story because I know that the gospel is meant for all of God's children.  And Peter has long been one of my favorite ancient Apostles.  You have to love a person who reached out to walk on the water to Jesus and then wanted to wash the Lord's feet during the Last Supper!

This place is near where Peter was staying "with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea side" when he received the vision and then the servants of Cornelius found him and took him up to Caesarea about 35 miles north on the coast.

I think it is called the St. Andrew's Church with the St. Peters Monastery as part of the complex.  This is a "working" church and was not open to the public for many many years.

For some reason after reading the scriptures together and thinking about the Apostle Peter, I began to weep the moment I stepped into this place and as long as I stayed there. (For some reason, it seemed appropriate to say weep rather than cry--must be an Israeli thing!)  It was very very quiet which was nice compared to most other sites. Perhaps because I am serving currently as a called missionary and part of the force that is seeking for all of God's children throughout the world even though that is not my current assignment and in fact we couldn't wear our tags while on this trip.  But whatever the reason this was the place of all of the sites we saw that I felt my testimony of Peter and the ancient Apostles grew.  They faced so much as well as they sought to spread the gospel.

Valerie

How blessed to be in this place for a brief time and to be able to reflect back on the things that we have seen and learned for the rest of our lives and into eternity.