A Very Old City

This past week has gone by FAST! What is up with that?? I haven't blogged about anything this past week, so I have a lot to recap!

O Jericho

First, I'll start with Monday: JERICHO! Did you know that Jericho is said to be the oldest city in the world? I love the story of Joshua and all the Israelites running around the walls of Jericho seven times before the "walls came a tumbling down..." (Isn't that a song or something?) Then they were able to take over the city. Jericho is a beautiful, oasis-like city about a half hour away from Jerusalem. We all took a little field trip to several historical sites. The first one was Herod's winter palace! It was so intriguing to walk through the ruins....I get really excited when I realize how incredibly OLD these places are. It's like these ancient stories and events that we are reading and learning about here at the JC almost come to life in a way. I was surprised to see a lost wild billy goat running alongside the hill by Herod's Palace. A couple guys and one of my Professors dared me to run up and grab it by the horns. I can imagine how silly I looked trying to catch up to it and get close enough to grab it's horns. I did it anyway.

In ancient Jericho there are massive mounds of dirt that cover up what was there thousands of years ago. It's called a Tel! Archeologists have uncovered a great deal, but still have a lot more to discover. We got to see some ancient city walls and different structures that existed a very long time ago. It was so interesting! Right next to the Tel is Elijah Spring where the people's main source of water came from. We got to drink from it actually. I thought it was pretty tasty water, so I filled up my water bottle in the spring and continued to drink from it throughout the day!

In front of some old old old city walls

Even the camel smiled for the picture :)

After Elijah Spring, we climbed a little mountain with a breathtaking view of the valley of Jericho -- the desert hills and valleys. The Greek Orthodox St. George Monastery sits right into the mountain. It sort of reminded me of what Petra looks like -- kind of built into the mountain. There were camels and donkeys at the top of the mountain that you could ride too. Of course, you had to pay a small price- 10 Shekels to ride the camel or the donkey. One of the Arabs talked me into getting on the camel. It was crazy!! They are huge animals. You get so high in the air! I loved it... I think I have always wanted to ride a camel, and..well, I did! It's truly remarkable the things you can do when you are in the Holy Land. Opportunities galore!

Anyway, I just want you all to know that I love history and I love Jerusalem.
That's all...

2 thumbs up for the old city