Capernaum - I guess its a good thing we came back. I always remembered the excavation at Capernaum as Nazareth. One of the most memorable pieces they had was a mantle with the Ark of the Covenant pulled by 2 winged creatures (I think they look like butterflies). They also have a good reproduction of a first century synagogue. This is the town Peter was from, and the Catholics have a church over the place attributed as his house. We stood in for the beginning of a mass for a Chinese tour group. I did get a few nice pictures of the Sea of Galilee from the shore line.
Mt of Beatitudes - This location has changed a lot too, but not necessarily for the best. Although I'm sure there is a good reason for it, the iron fences around the outside of the site took away from my memories of sitting on the low wall and hearing the reading of the scriptures of Jesus' sermon on the mount. I think I'll stick with my earlier version of these memories.
Bet shean - Dad was horribly disappointed. We went to the place he calls his favorite restaurant in the world. But we got there too early. Being a Friday, it turns out they weren't opening until much later in the day. After lunch at another place we found, we explored the Bet Shean excavations which was a huge Roman city (in the decapolis, the ten cities-a place Jesus preached the gospel--charlene)
- This is a very large complex. Absolutely fascinating. Its amazing how much you can picture about a civilization from the layout of the streets and the buildings. All of the stone walls makes one wonder how our own time would be remembered. Then we found a place that I felt very comfortable in until I dropped my phone. (Mark and Randy were sitting on stone Roman toilets when he dropped his phone into the ancient latrine.)
Jordan Valley headed towards Dead Sea - I had no memory of this stretch of land. I was probably sleeping in the bus the last time through. As we got closer to the Dead Sea, I was surprised at home many palm trees are being farmed for dates. There had to be over a hundred individual farms for just the palms. Irrigation can do wonders.
Mark
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