Today marks the beginning of a brief interlude during which time I will miss about three days of the Palestine of Jesus course at St George’s College in Jerusalem.
Soon after the group left to begin their morning program exploring the archaeological sites around the Temple Mount, I headed across to the Avis office in Jerusalem to collect my rental car and head north to the Galilee.
This morning the SGC program will take the group to the excavations around the southern steps of the temple, to the Western Wall (aka, the Wailing Wall), and the Pool of Bethesda at St Ann’s Church before returning to the College for lunch.
Pictures of:
In the afternoon, the group was going to Nablus (ancient Shechem) to visit the new Orthodox Church constructed over Jacob’s Well.
While the group was occupied with these visits I collected my rental car and made my way north to Kiryat Tivon, where I have checked into a lovely little B&B that I stayed in last December after the Sabeel conference. This will be my base for a couple of nights while I meet with Ariel Berman, a leading Islamic coin specialist who lives here, as well as catching up with the outcomes from the last two weeks on the dig at Bethsaida.
Tomorrow morning I will be pulling the dusty work boots back onto my feet and heading down to the dig bright and early.
Dear Greg, I am enjoying you Palestine descriptions. I went for two weeks in 2006 on an “Israel retreat” with Sr (Professor) Carolyn (Lyn) Osiek. In the first week we stayed in a lovely kibbutz on the shores of Lake Galilee and went on day trips each day. Most of the places you name are coming back now as i picture them. Thank you for including me on your list. Blessings for tomorrow, Sue