6 - 7- 8

6-7-8 - The numbers we lived by: wake up call at 6 a.m., breakfast and bags by the door at 7, bus departs hotel at 8.  Tours are not for sissies or slackers...if you don't heed the numbers, you miss out!

The truth is, you don't want to miss anything including the fellowship of your tour mates at breakfast or dinner.  Every minute is packed with excitement, wonder and inspiration.  As we scrambled onto the big purple bus and took our seats, Misha (who is known by everyone else as Micky) announced our first stop for the day would be Caesarea by the Sea.  Now I've read this name in scripture many times but I had no concept of what or where Caesarea was and my jet lagged brain was working hard just to keep up with the stream of information Misha was giving us.

We arrived at the ancient, Roman city of Caesarea built by Herod the Great and were promptly taken in to an auditorium for a video presentation. The folks preceding us were Russian speakers.  As they cleared the benches in the auditorium, my extraverted husband yelled out "dus veedanya" which means good bye in Russian.  I wanted to crawl under the bench as the Eastern Europeans glared in our direction but I smiled politely in hopes they would understand.

Herod the Great was considered one of the greatest builders of the ancient world.  He dreamed about an artificial harbor on the coast of Israel which would become the capital of Judaea.  Herod built a luxurious palace there where he lived on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea amongst many buildings of great splendor, a market place and residential area.

Like every Roman city, Caesarea had a glorious theater in which much of the seating and stage are still in tact. As we entered the theater, we were asked to be seated and were introduced to the Apostle Paul.......well not the real Apostle but an actor who has memorized many passages of scripture and performs them live in front of audiences. We were blessed to have "Paul" with us for the entire trip and as we went from city to city, he would share more of his incredible repertoire of memorized passages.  The Bible came alive as we listened to him and learned about the historical sights in Israel.  The real Apostle was imprisoned here for 2 years before his journey to Rome.

Caesarea also had a "race track" (hippodrome)  where they held chariot races, gladiator fights and eventually fed Christians to wild beasts.  As I stood on the sand track and closed my eyes, I could almost feel the pounding of hoof beats and hear chariot wheels whining as the crowd roared with excitement.  My mind quickly went to another scene where my brothers and sisters in Christ were cruelly sent into the same arena as wild animals viciously tore them to shreds.  My throat tightened up and tears splashed down my cheeks as our guide pointed out the cave where the "beasts" were kept.  Not only were lions were kept there but alligators and bears as well.

Above is the Hippodrome; right - wild beast's cave.  
My mind was suck on all the drama of the Hippodrome as we walked through the rest of Caesarea.
After spending a few minutes purchasing postcards, the bus was ready to depart for our next adventures:
Megiddo, Mount Carmel and Nazareth...but that is another story!