Tidy twosome

Kathy Boyett and friend playing in the mud.

Muddy waters cannot quench...

The Dead Sea.

This ain't Motel 6

Somebody pass the avocado body balm.

Hotel at last!

Some snaps of Jerash

A wonderful Jordanian buffet

Entering Jordan

... with a Druze religious leader.

Getting started

... with Bill Schneider, and children
Will and Sara Jane

Lining up at Pan's

Helen and Joe Allen with Doris Bass

Last stop

We ended this eventful day at the Mount of Beatitudes--from war to peace, so to speak.

At Kfar Blum

Excellent luncheon at this historic kibbutz.

At Kfar Blum

Excellent luncheon at this historic kibbutz.

Pedestal poser Steffanie Methvin.

With Carl Hammack: Priest or sacrifice?

Down from the Heights

Our next stop was at the Temple of Pan at Hermon Stream, Banias Nature Preserve, one of the sources of the Jordan River.

War zone

Five mortar shells hit the town while we were looking.

At the Quneitra Vista point

There were news cameras where we were. Evidently, the Austrian UN troop departed from the white buildings on the right.

The Octagonal House

Beneath this interesting octagonal church, is the remnant of an octagonal house--said to have belonged to St. Peter.

On the Sea of Galilee

Friday morning we took a short boat trip across the Sea of Galilee, from Tiberius to near the ruins of Capernaum, appropriately flagged, of course.

From Ellen

Israel is referred to as the State of Israel that differentiates it from, for instance, Biblical Israel. Population is 7 million people, 75 percent Jews and 25 percent Arab and other. Interesting is that when we visited Nazareth yesterday, it is a city 80 percent Arab and 20 percent Christian, not a Jewish city as one would have thought!.

Before 1967 war, Israel  was 9 miles wide and after the war expanded to 45 miles wide making the country far more defendable. The most  important gain was the Golan Heights  which meant that the army finally had an excellent view at the top of these mountains, thus being able to give them the advantage they badly needed. 

Today we drove up to the Golan Heights quite near the border of Syria. We could in fact see it from the vista point of Quneitra. We had interesting company there because tv stations were there filming the fighting! While there, we saw that a mortar had fallen about 3 miles from where we were and we could also see a huge white cloud of smoke  indicating fighting going on the other side of the mountain. If you look at news reports, you will see verification of this story as I went online to find any report of what we saw. Quite sobering.

From Ellen

Ellen looking out on Quneitra. The smoke in the background is from mortar strikes in the neighboring Syrian town.

Good start!

Breakfast with Anabelle ...

Jordan River

At the end of the day, we stopped at the Jordan River. Rev. Greg Methvin baptized (renewed baptismal vows) those who wished it.

Some sights at Nazareth

Grapes, donkeys, a carpenter's workshop, and an ancient wine press

Interesting statue ...

... of Elijah at Mt. Carmel.

We walk...

... before the present Nazareth on the way to a replica 1-century Nazareth.

Delicious!

... with Carl & Barbara Hammack

The way we were

Traditional luncheon in Nazareth.

Alternative forms of appreciation

Here are illustrations of other ways to appreciate the springs:

At the springs

Dr. Carl Anderson gives a brief devotional on Gideon, from Judges 6-8.

Gideon's Spring

The grotto where the spring originates.

Bet She'an

We have been touring Schytopolis. a Greaco-Roman city in the Jordan Valley. Strategically important in earlier centuries, Schytopolis was destroyed in 749AD. Here we see our guide, Ronnie, talking to the group, and a couple of snaps of the ruins. The last one is particularly interesting as it appears to be a baptismal font.

Our lunch companions, Rob and Mary Jo Milbank