Holy Land - 11.17 (Part 2)

We entered the West Bank and made our way into the crowded, dirty streets of Jericho. It was quite a change in scenery and a drastic contrast from the Dead Sea. The West Bank is under Palestinian control, with a dominant Arab population. The Arabic food (chicken) was wonderful and there were many other dishes to sample. The staple at EVERY meal was pita bread and hummus.

At this one location, there was a fresh market with souvenirs, produce, and Pomegranate juice. In addition, it was the first of several places to ride a camel, Elisha's well/spring was in the parking lot, and there was a rooftop patio on top of the restaurant that offered a great view overlooking the old city of Jericho.

The remains of the old city of Jericho offered another shock to our system. In reading the Bible story, I've always pictured a large city with massive walls. The city was actually rather small. While it was unexpected, it also made perfect sense that the city could not have been too big, if the people marched around it seven times! The remains proved that the walls indeed fell outward and pots were discovered that were still full of grain, proving that this city was not defeated through the normal method of starving the people out. From Jericho, we could see the Mount of Temptation. There is a monastery built up on the mountain, making it easy to spot the general vicinity where Jesus spent 40 days being tempted.

Next, we made our way to the Sycamore tree that is symbolic of the one that Zacchaeus climbed in this effort to see Jesus. The tree was HUGE and really looked like the Keebler elf tree. Interestingly, the tree was surrounded by a fence, I would suppose it was an attempt to keep future Zacchaeuses from climbing it. As soon as our bus stopped, we were surrounded by street vendors and they kept selling as we were trying to take a group picture. They did have some good prices and products; and we DEFINITELY had a group of shoppers! It was there that Zack got his Arab headdress called a Keffiyeh. Several of our ladies also purchased some beautiful necklaces.

We made our way to the next hotel - the Gai Beach Hotel located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The rooms were very small and very plain, but the view of the Sea of Galilee was beautiful! We enjoyed our choice of steak, liver, chicken, an Italian dish, and several other items for supper. I don't think they expected the rush for steaks, as people waited in line for more steaks to be prepared, while passing on the other items! (Let's see... steak or liver...is that really a choice?) This restaurant also had a Hummus bar in which they would prepare your personalized dish of Hummus with whichever spices you selected mixed in. The final course... the dessert bar. It was great!

We capped off the night by using Justin's iPad to Skype our daughters; followed by listening to the Jewish hotel singers "butcher" American songs. They did a beautiful job on the Jewish songs... at least we think they did. :-)