Hi All!

Yesterday, I arrived in Tel Aviv just an hour or so before Bishop Schneider and the rest of the group arrived from Paris. We set out together heading first to Joppa/Jaffe/Tel Aviv (all are really the same place), and managed to see a little bit there before the sun set. Then, we headed to Netanya for our first overnight.

Today, we got an early start and had a full day of biblical sightseeing. We started at Caesarea Maritima (not to be confused with Casearea Philipi), which is the first artificial port on the Mediterranean. It was built by Herod the Great at the end of the first century BC, and named in honor of Caesar (because Herod was very polticially astute). Caearea Maritima was really the political Capital of Judea during Roman times. It was here that Herod the Great lived most of the time, and where Pontius Pilate and other Roman Governors were headquartered. Later, Paul was tried here before the Roman Governor before being sent to Rome.

After Caesarea, we headed to Meggido, an ancient ruin with more than 25 layers of civilization. Meggido was an important strategic point in the trade route between east and west, and many monumental battles were fought here. Joshua conqured Meggido from the Caananites when Israel came into the land, and later Solomon made Meggido one of his three chariot cities. Although the site was abandoned around 600 BC, it continued to be thought of as the site of epic battles, which is probably one of the reasons it was the image of the final battle between good and evil in the book of Revelation -- which is why we often know it as "Armaggedon" (the Greek transliteration of "Har Meggido").

After Meggido, we headed to Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus. It was getting late, but we did see one of the sites which was potentially the precipice from which angry people in the synagogue tried to throw Jesus from. And, we got to see Mary's Well and the area which would have been ancient Nazareth.

Tonight, we're in Tiberius (another city named for a Roman Emporer, and built by Herod Antipas). We'll be touring around the Sea of Galilee (also known as the Sea of Genesseret and the Sea of Tiberius) tomorrow. I'll try to post new photos every couple of days.