Journal of my trip to Israel – Day 13 & 14

Day 13 Today we spent the day visiting the towns around the north western side of the Sea of Galilee where Biblical events happened. We started the day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee from Tiberias to Ginosar. The ‘Sea’ is quite large and would be...

Journal of my trip to Israel – Day 11 & 12

Day 11First up today we went to the mount in Nazareth where they tried to throw Jesus off (Luke 4:29). Whether it was the actual site is debatable but there was a great view! In Jesus’ time Nazareth was only a small village of maybe 400-800 people. We visited a...

Journal of my trip to Israel – Day 9 & 10

Day 9 Brief history of the Temple Mount (visited yesterday and today): Abraham came here (Mount Moriah) to sacrifice his son Isaac. Solomon built the Temple on this land which his father King David purchased from Aravnah, the Jebusite. That Temple, destroyed by the...

Journal of my trip to Israel – Day 7 & 8

Day 7 Today we went to the temple mount. Given that it was closed a couple of weeks ago it was great to be there despite the fact that it was raining. The Temple Mount is a large area. It is dominated by the Dome of the Rock but there is much space around it and much...

Journal of my trip to Israel – Day 5 & 6

Day 5 This morning we visited three museums. First the Israeli Museum which had an enormous model of the Old City which was very helpful in understanding where things were in Jesus’ time. Second the Shrine of the Book where they keep the Dead Sea Scrolls. The...

Journal of my trip to Israel – Day 3 & 4

Day 3 Today we travelled to Tel Arad where there is an archaeological site with six levels of settlement dating from the period of the Judean Kingdom – 900 to 600 BC. The fortress area contained a temple with a Holy of Holies which is surprising since the only Holy of...