Wailing Wall, Roman ruins, Sea of Galilee

November 16th

The day began at 5 am - again.  I suppose the call to prayer woke the multitude sleeping on the hostel roof and they decided to start showering and clanking around in the kitchen.  And sleep had come late the prior night as a lady was scrubbing the floors outside our room with a bristly brush at 10:30pm. 

We arrived at the Temple Mount at 7:15 am, got a couple photos of the Wailing Wall.  It's all that's left of the temple destroyed in 66 AD.

The goal was to enter the Dome of the Rock area, but it's closed today!  We know a 4 day muslim holiday starts tomorrow, maybe they have an eve festival with that as well.  too bad for us.  on to the bus station, happy to head towards the north, maybe it won't be 30+ degrees anymore.  (no such luck, smoking hot again today.  our clothes are stained with sweat, my daypack is wet with sweat)

We had a great visit with a girl named Ayana, an Israeli in the military.  Women must complete 2 years, men 3.  She told us how to recognize the different epaulets on their uniforms and we exchanged all sorts of questions.

The security in Israel is something else.  How often have we complained about the heightened security since 9-11.  Well, imagine every time you want to go to worship or to the bus station or to a museum, etc, you have to have your bags checked, scanned and walk through the scanner yourself.  This is every day life in Israel.

The bus was full on the ride to Beit She'an.  The driver was a total jerk, yelling at people every time he opened his mouth, a nasty bugger.  After I got on the bus, he came over to the woman I'd sat next to and was yelling at her and making gestures (which happened to be in front of my face as he shock his hands at her).  She seemed to be defending herself and was in tears.  Would love to know what that was all about.  When we got off the bus two hours later, he was still a great big grouch.

Got to Beit She'an at 12:15 to see the Roman ruins and theatre, the woman behind the desk was kind enough to let us leave our very full and heavy packs there while we toured around.

Beit Shean, in the Northern Jordan Valley, was initially built in 5000-4000 BCE. The Egyptians ruled Beit Shean from the 16th -12th centuries BCE.

the Roman Theatre

I wonder how many people died here as the crowds cheered on.

 On the bus ride here, we drove along the Jordan River.  This seems to be where the food is produced for the country, acre upon acre of green houses with veggies.

18 successive cities have been found at this site.

 400 acres of excavations from the 1st century

The Philistines hung the bodies of King Saul and his sons from the ramparts of the Beit Shean.

King Davidconquered Bet Shean, and it was under Jewish control until 731 BCE, when the Assyrians destroyed the city. Alexander the Greatreestablished the city in the 4th century BCE as a Greek polis.

Jordan River Valley

The hills on the other side of the Jordan River in this photo belong to Jordan.

Another bus and we're in Tiberias.  What a fantastic city on the Sea of Galilee!  The falafel is delicious, they sell slurpees and it's beautiful.  A breath of fresh air after the horrendous smells in the old city.  There were times in the Old City where I abandoned politeness and simply held my nose as I walked along, yes it was that bad smelling.

Our Hostel in Tiberias is called Hagallile, and after some of the places we've stayed, we both walked into our room and said, "wow, this is great!"  and this is not sarcasm.  Here's a few pics of our room:

this room is easily 3x the size of our last hostel room.

they've built a little wooden box around the toilet in our room.

It's not posh, but when you're backpacking, it's fantastic!

Tomorrow we hope to have a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee plus visit Capernum and Nazareth.