After exploring Jordan, Steve and Sally flew to Tel Aviv, Israel and spent the next five days touring with Isramworld, a company that specializes in Israel.    They stayed at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem,    While in Jerusalem they visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, toured the Jewish Quarter, explored the excavated Cardo, once a main street of Byzantine Jerusalem and visited the Wohl Archeological Museum.  They went to the Temple Mount, saw the remaining Western "Wailing" Wall which is the holiest site in Judaism.   They went to the Dome of the Rock, visited the Crusader Church of St. Anne, the Pool of Bethesda (were Jesus healed the lame man), Pilate's Judgment Hall and the Chapel of Flagellation.  They drove to the Mount of Olives, visited the Hadassah Medical Center, drove to Yad Vashem a memorial to the Holocaust and visited Mount Herzl where Israel's military heroes are laid to rest.  They also visited Bethlehem's historic sites and drove to Caesarea.

The Western Wall is also known as the Wailing Wall (above and to the right) and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is the section of the supporting wall of the Temple Mount which has remained intact since the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple.   It is a very sacred spot in Jewish history.   

Steve and Sally in the Church of the Nativity Bethlehem.

The Wailng Wall.

The Church of the Nativity where the manger was located and Jesus was born.  The church faces Manger Square and is the oldest church in Israel.  It was originally built in 325 A.D. over the spot where the early Christians thought Christ was born.   Two hundreds years later the church was rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Justinian.  

Sally in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.  The church was originally built by the mother of Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D. and commemorates the hill of crucifixion and the tomb of Christ's burial.   

Steve and Sally visited Caesaria which is midway between Haifa and Tel Aviv on the Israeli Mediterrean coast and is on the outskirts of Caesarea Maritima, the ancient port city.  The city of Caesarea was founded by Herod the Great with the intention of creating the largest harbor in the Mediterrean to compete with Jerusalem.  He named the city in honor of his patron Julius Caesar, the emperor of the Roman Empire.  Herod built an aqueduct,  a hippodrome and an amphitheater.   Sally is looking at the Caesarea Maritima beach aqueduct. A little bit of Rome in Israel!    

Masada is located on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea.   The top by being flat forms a natural fortification.   It was used by King Herod, the Romans and then by Jewish fugitives who ended up commiting suicide when they were attacked by troops of the Roman Empire.  

Our thanks to Steve for sharing his amazing photos with us.

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