Day 12 - Thursday October 8, 2026 - Last Day in Israel
We all managed to get packed up this morning and prepared for our airport drop off at the end of the day - but first a few more sites to see!
At an important entrance into the Jezreel Valley sits Tell Megiddo. The archeological site is large and excavations have been going on here since 1903. Solomon added fortifications and improved the gate complex here and at Gezer and Hazor… all important trade route junctions and likely a great source of wealth from taxes collected on trade passing through. Great battles were fought in the Jezreel valley below the tell and the concept of a final battle here, Armageddon, comes from Revelations.
Next we drove to Mount Carmel and the site commemorated as the place where Elijah challenges the prophets of Ba-Al and Asherah. God demonstrates his authority answering Elijah’s prayer for fire upon the sacrifice on the altar and Elijah slays the false prophets.
We drove south along the Mediterranean coast to Caesarea Maritima. Herod the great built this engineering marvel of a harbor where no harbor should really have existed. His Grandson, Herod Agrippa died at the theater here when the crowd hailed him as a god (Act 12). The prison where it is believed Paul was held while awaiting trial has been excavated and we were able to see this - Herods praetorium.
The group had dinner in Jaffa and we met with our friend Beni’s sons to have dinner and share memories. The famous Church of St Peter in Jaffa was closed but we were able to walk around the outside and get a few pictures.
Most of us were dropped at the airport for a long night of sitting and waiting for midnight and 4 am and 5 am flights. It was a fabulous 2 weeks in the land of the Bible and we learned so much - and we are all excited to go home again. See you soon! Love in Christ, PB and Marge
A portion of the arched aqueduct at Caesarea Maritima. There is a restoration project going on because a few years ago a portion of the aqueduct collapsed.
