Today will cover the remainder of the third day of visiting sites.
En route from the northern part of the Holy Land to the more central part, besides the sites of Qumran and the Baptism site, we stopped at Jericho and at the Dead Sea.
Jericho has been a major city for thousands of years. Joshua came there and conquered it--it was not small even then. Jesus came there and encountered Zaccaeus, the tax collector, perched in a sycamore tree along the path. Our bus drove past the site of the sycamore tree and we viewed its descendant. Our guide told us that this is the only sycamore tree in the area. There has "always," meaning as long as anyone knows, been a sycamore on this spot, a sapling will grow there and replaces the old one over time.
The sycamore tree has a protective fence. There is a small play area inside the fence, too.
We went to the Franciscan sisters' convent for Mass. Their back patio, which is covered, is set up to be an outdoor chapel. It is in a lovely green area, and there are peafowl strolling the grass and cleaning up the bugs in the shrubs.
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| One of the peafowl |
About a half block away from the convent is the big mosque of the city.
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| View of the mosque from the sidewalk in front of the convent |
The mosque began playing a sermon (?) in Arabic on the loudspeakers of the minaret while we were having Mass on the patio of the convent.
I can just imagine how pleasant it is to be quietly offering morning prayers, or midnight prayers, or vespers, and having the loudspeaker kick off and try to drown out every other sound in its vicinity.
There was an Orthodox church nearby as well, but we didn't get a good photo of it.
Jericho has a number of shops that are like shops we commonly see in Mexico. This is a produce market. (Other photos were too blurry.)
Jericho has an ancient palace that is being excavated.
We ate lunch at the Dead Sea, at a resort restaurant. After we ate there was some time to experience the famous salt water. Which is kind of in the "have a little water with your salt" range of concentration.
The supervised area of this resort. They marked the lifeguard's area of responsibility with the float line out in the water.
The bottom varied between squishy, slippery mud, to a latex like surface, to gritty sandy precipitates. Yes, you will float in the water. I went out into it and tried to squat down on my heels in the warm water, but I couldn't. The water floated my rear end before it touched my heels.
The resort had both water spigots near the shore (to rinse your face if needed and your feet) and also showers with rental lockers and rental towels. In addition to the restaurant, which seemed to be set up for groups mostly, they had shops and a bar. There was a nice path down from the shops area to the waterside.
The Dead Sea is a lot smaller than it used to be. As there is no outlet, and the losses there are from evaporation, I think that a decrease in water arriving is the reason. The only source, as far as I know, for water into the Dead Sea is the Jordan River. Which also supplies drinking water and irrigation water to many, many people before reaching its end here.
After visiting the Dead Sea we drove to Bethlehem to our new hotel. It was about two doors down from a dental lab.
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| We don't think we would want any dental work there! |
A statue of the Archangel Gabriel in front of the St. Gabriel Hotel in Bethlehem. (Link goes to Tripadvisor, has capsule information and pictures of the hotel.) The lobby has an upper level that includes the bar and seating areas. In the evenings, we sampled the red Israeli wine they had and it was good.
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