With Melita being here, we were able to make it back to many of the same places – adding many new pictures to the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem.

The very first time we went to the Sea of Galilee, I noticed a tremendous overlook on the northern part of the Sea of Galilee with sheer cliffs on three sides. It struck me as fascinating and I wondered if perhaps this was the mountain on which the Lord spent an entire night in prayer. Coming back from that first trip, I wanted very badly to see if I could make it to the top, but Heidi and Jake had fallen asleep and I didn’t want to wake them. On our second trip up, I began our trip by attempting to make it to the top. I tried one road, and then another, but nothing led me to the top. In fact, I ended the day by attempting another trip down an old dirt road that looked promising. (Heidi was thinking I was a little crazy by this time.) Frustrated, I had to content myself with just taking pictures from the bottom, and imagining the view from the top. Guess what? On the third trip back with Melita, we finally found a road that took us to the top in time for sunset. It was worth the wait and anticipation. Sheer cliffs dropped away on each side and gave the most stunning views of the Sea of Galilee. Coming to Israel? Har Arbel is a must for the northern part of the country.

Saturday brought us back to the Dead Sea where Melita and I were able to do some hiking up to the caves (actually there were 11 of them) where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Did you know that they found multiple copies of the entire Bible (with the exception of Esther) including 34 copies of Psalms, 27 copies of Deuteronomy, 24 copies of Isaiah and 20 copies of Genesis? While the mountainside looks a little wild, the rock is actually very solid and easy to climb.

Much more to write about, but suffice to say that Melita and I made it back into Jerusalem for an entire day (covering the entire Old City) and were able to make it over to the Mount of Olives for sunset. We arrived at the Garden of Gethsemane just moments after it closed (I don’t think there was hours of operations 2000 years ago), so this is on our Jerusalem list for later in the week.

Today brought us to Caesarea where we were able to explore the most amazing Roman ruins so far. It was incredible. We actually stood in the very court of Agrippa where Paul very probably stood so long ago. The stone, tile and marble work ranged from the days of Herod to the Crusader era when Caesarea was eventually abandoned. It is little wonder they considered this the crown jewel of the Mediterranean.