Not long afterward, we could hear raindrops splashing on the street nine floors below, as the thunder and lightning rolled in from the sea. By eight we were all on the bus with our luggage stowed underneath, and it pulled away from the hotel as the light morning sprinkle turned into a downpour.
Gila, our Israeli guide, told us that the deluge was a blessing – the first rain they had had in a long time – and with all of us prepared with rain gear, not one person was heard to complain! Not out loud anyway!
Our first stop was at Caeserea, the site where the apostle Paul was called before King Agrippa to explain his conversion to Christianity, appealing eventually to Caesar for a hearing. A large Roman theatre, carved in a semi-circle into the hillside, still gets used today for plays and concerts. A few years ago, while digging some adjacent land for a larger parking area, they discovered a hippodrome nearby where citizens watched horse races centuries ago.
Ruins of a palace, which Herod had occupied, overlooked the Mediterranean Sea. He had a breakwater and artificial harbour built there to protect the area from the strong undertow, and archeologists say this is the earliest use of hydraulic concrete – a substance that hardens under water. We watched the waves crash up against the remnants of the Roman palace, and dodged puddles to have a look at Herod’s fresh water swimming pool next to its mosaic patio.
We got back on the bus to stop by the Roman aqueduct not far from the port area, and Val had a chance to finally walk to the water’s edge and put his hand in the Mediterranean on the sandy shore. Moments later the rain pelted down in earnest, so we didn’t linger there for long. The aqueduct was built to carry drinking water from a spring in Mount Carmel to Caeserea, making it possible for the city to become a major centre in its day.
Mount Carmel was our next destination, where Gila told us the story of the prophet Elijah, who held a contest with 400 prophets of pagan gods to prove whose god was real. The prophets prayed all day for their gods to bring fire down on an altar, without success, but Elijah upped the ante by dousing his altar with water three times before praying to the God of Isaac, Abraham and Israel to bring down fire. The flames consumed everything, after which Elijah put all the prophets to death. A large statue of Elijah wielding a sword over one of the 400 stands in the church yard there.
Our esteem for Rafik, our bus driver, grew considerably as he threaded his big rig between other tour buses to get off Mount Carmel and on to the restaurant where we stopped for lunch. We were ahead of the other groups, so we got served our falafel or chicken pita sandwiches in good time.
The highlight of today was our visit to Megiddo, an ancient fort built on a tel, which is the name for mounds in Israel that are good strategic spots for forts or castles. This spot was chosen by one civilization after another, so ruins were discovered upon ruins dating back to the Bronze Age. The great blocks of stone in the Bronze Age walls were rounded, but Gila showed us the walls built in the time of Solomon, when tools were more sophisticated, which have clean right angles and straight lines even today.
We climbed down a long flight of stairs that led to the water source for the fortification, and through a tunnel hewn into the rock that was meant to protect that source from invading armies. The view from the top was breathtaking, overlooking the wide sweep of the valley of Jezreel, with Mount Tabor in the distance, and fields of date palms and other crops like patchwork below.
Megiddo is the place, according to the Revelations of John, where the great battle between Good and Evil will take place. That’s where the term Armageddon comes from.
Our final destination today was a kibbutz called Maagan, where we will be spending the next four nights. Rafik stopped the bus at a lay-by on the road next to a sign that said “Sea Level” so we could look down at the town before we actually got there. In addition to great tracts of farmland, we could see the Sea of Galilee dotted with little sailboats, and beyond it, the tall brown slopes of the Golan Heights, and, to the south, the hills of Jordan.
Huge thunderclouds puffed up overhead, catching the last rays of the sun. It was a spectacular sight! We glimpsed the Jordan River as it flowed southward out of the Sea of Galilee on our way to the kibbutz. Lucky for us, the rain that began the day only came down a few times, with plenty of sunny bits in between, so it was a very full and relatively dry day of touring.
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