Israel Day 13: Caesarea, Mt. Carmel, Megiddo, and the Sea of Galilee

After spending so much time in Central and South Israel, I was looking forward to see the Northern part of Israel. I was especially excited to see the Sea of Galilee. I’ll even admit that I was a little bit bummed that we would be visiting other locations first.
I was unsure of what to expect with Caesarea. I knew it was an important sea port in its day and is mentioned in the Bible some, but I didn’t really know anything about it. I’ll even admit that the prospect of yet another antiquities site with a bunch of ruins that mostly look like other ruins was not appealing to me because I’m not an archaeologist and I’ve never taken an archaeology class. Caesarea was a welcome change from the expected. Like Masada, it’s had a great deal of reconstruction work done on some sections. This allowed me to get a better idea of what it looked like back in the first century. Even better, they had some excellent marble statues as well as other architectural pieces on display. I’ve been lucky enough to see some marble statues in art museums, but it was another experience entirely to see different statues in a context that is starting to approach the context of where they would have originally been displayed. It’s still not the same, but it brings the appreciation to a whole new level.

A marble statue of a man with a lamb around his neck

The major highlight for me there was walking around the kurkar rocks that made the foundation for the lower part of the palace as well as the swimming pool. The best part of it was that the Mediterranean Sea was splashing up onto the rocks filling the remnants of the swimming pool as well as creating all sorts of tidal pools in the eroded rocks.

There were small fishes, arthropods, and even one nice size dead crab in one pool. Granted, the crab was indeed dead, but at least I got to see some Mediterranean Sea critters up close and personal. Even if one of them—the crab—won’t remember it.

Me and a dead crab

Next we mosied over to the aqueducts. This was far more exciting for me than I ever would have expected. I’ve seen lots of pictures of aqueducts, but this was my first time to experience them up close and personal. The best part was that we were even allowed to climb on top of them! As I was walking down, the thought that kept popping into my mind was that people would have constructed these by hand. They’re an impressive feat of engineering. The only down side to walking along the top of them was that at some point I had to climb back down. It didn’t occur to me that I’d probably have to jump down the last six feet since down climbing them would seem pretty difficult. In retrospect, down climbing probably would have been the better option. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

First thing in the morning on the way to Caesarea, we had a worship service on the bus with Dr. Stone leading us in some songs. After the music, several of the students did a dramatic reading of 1 Kings 18 which is the story of Elijah having a showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. After the reading, Dr. Richter shared a few thoughts on the passage. The reason for picking this passage is that our next stop after the aqueducts was the Muraqa Sanctuary and Monastery.

A view of the Jezreel Valley as seen from the top of Mt. Carmel

This monastery is located at the top of Mount Carmel and is located at the traditional place of Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal. The first thing I noticed is that Mount Camel isn’t as tall in real life as it is in my mind. If we had not been able to take the bus up there but rather walk it instead, I’m sure I would have a slightly different opinion of this. But still, I expected it to be much taller than it is. The second thing I noticed is that you can see most of the Jezreel valley from up there. The topographical maps I have show this, but it’s far more dramatic in real life. It was quite impressive. Seeing the location of this even really makes it more real to me. The story just seemed to come alive to me when I was up there. Other sites have helped me have a better appreciation for the events that took place on or near there, but this one was really dramatic for me. Having read the full Biblical account ahead of time probably didn’t hurt either.

Driving down the road, we stopped for a moment so Dr. Rasmussen could point out to us a well preserved rolling stone grave. We didn't get out of a bus, but here's a picture I took



We visited Megiddo. The main highlight there for me was seeing an actual manger that would be similar to what Mary would have laid Jesus in. I've included a picture for those who are curious...


After a failed attempt to visit Arbel (the park had already closed by the time we got there) we went ahead and drove over to Tiberius. Tiberius is one of the cities located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They have a nice overlook that gives a great view of most of the Sea and it also happens to be almost directly across the Sea of Galilee from where we’re staying at night. This allowed us to get a brief preview of the resort at En Gev at which we would be staying. The first thing that really struck me about the Sea of Galilee is just how small it is. I knew it wasn’t huge, but it’s still smaller than I had anticipated. A more appropriate name for it is probably the Lake of Galilee, but I’m no expert on that.

The Sea of Galilee as seen from an overlook at Tiberius

The resort we are staying at in En Gev was the biggest surprise of the day for me. Dr. Rasmussen had told us that it was a nice location on the Sea of Galilee, but his brief description did not do it justice. The bungalow Jeremy, Sam, and I are staying in is as close to the shore as you can get here.

My bungalow at En Gev. Good old number 104!

It’s a 30 second walk from our door to the water. Even better, the resort faces west which means we saw the sun setting over the Sea of Galilee. To top it off, towards the end of the sunset, some of us went swimming so we we’re swimming in the Sea of Galilee watching the sun slowly drop below the mountains on the other side. It was the most amazing sight I’ve seen yet in Israel. As I sit here writing this, I’m sitting just above the beach listening to the waves lap at the shore staring off into the lights of Tiberius on the other side. I feel like I could stay here forever. I’m so glad we get to spend three nights here!

Sunset over the Sea of Galilee