Prelude to the Israel Installments

We landed in Ashdod, Israel three mornings ago and since then we have toured the entire country. We were based out of Ashdod for two nights and then we left Ashdod last night and sailed into Haifa this morning. We subsequently have toured Southern Israel from Ashdod, and Northern Israel from Haifa. Both port cities are beautiful and very modern, but we spent very little time in either of them because everything you want to see is inland from the Mediterranean. All I can say is, Israel is a place everyone must go!  Not only is this country very beautiful, but it is also a very important place for the Christian, Jewish and Islamic Faiths.

Normally the only way to deal with this would be to deal with it one day at a time, but I am going to split my Israeli blogs into three big entries. One will be entitled, “Gym’s Religious Pilgrimage”, the second will be called “Masada and the Dead Sea” and the third will be called “Gym’s Ramblings on Modern Israel”.

The first blog will be quite large. The pilgrimage was really two full days in length. In other words, I think that I can safely say that we have visited just about every site related to the New Testament and many of the places from the Old Testament. We have seen where Jesus was born and have been to  where he was crucified, died and was buried. We have also been to everywhere that Jesus lived, including: Bethlehem, Nazareth, where he grew up, Capernaum, which was his base camp when he lived with Peter on the shores of the Galilee and finally, Jerusalem. We also went to the River Jordan where he was baptized and we saw where he performed many of his miracles.  So, I need to organize and sort 400 pictures and put together some commentary for this entry and the other two entries as well.

I will enjoy writing this stuff but I am bushed after three consecutive days pounding around Israel. I will get y’all something tomorrow.

We are just about ready to leave Haifa and will be pulling out shortly. We have a full day at sea tomorrow before we put into Kusadasi, Turkey where we will spend our last full day onboard the Nautica. If I have not been able to catch up on the blog by the time we dock in Athens, I will have time in Greece after we disembark because we are staying there for several nights before starting the flight home.

Cheers!

Leaving Haifa

I had to show you this one. Look what the Palestinians are getting away with. This store is just across the street from  Church of the Nativity which is not in Israel, but in the Palestinian controlled area in and around Bethlehem.