Today was another fantastic day! However, I'm running out of steam and therefore will only be posting pictures with little or no writings. Hopefully at a later date I can add more information. We started the day at 8:30am and crossed over into the West Bank again to Herodium.
Herodium was a fortress built by Herod the Great. The artificial mound is 758 meters above sea level making it the highest peak in the Judean desert. On this high mound Herod built a palace with bathhouse theater and synagogue.
Herod wanted to be able to see Jerusalem from his palace but the hill was not high enough so he had the hill on the left excavated and moved on top of the hill on the right! You can see in this picture how the hill on the left has been cut. When you see the size of this place you cannot imagine how all that earth was moved!
(Note to view any of the pictures up close and larger you can double click on them.)
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| pathway leading up to the top |
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| view at the top of Herodian |
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| tunnels leading down to the cisterns |
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| view inside a tunnel/cistern |
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| standing in front of what is believed to be Herod's Mausoleum which was just recently discovered |
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| exterior view of the Shrine of the Book museum displaying the Dead Sea scroll fragments |
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| overlooking a scale model of Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple (at the Museum) |
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| this evening we came to visit the Western Wall - this picture shows the Muslim Dome on the Rock |
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| Golani Brigade swearing in ceremony/graduation from basic training |
As we approached the Western Wall area there was a very large crowd gathered. This explained why the traffic was so heavy coming to visit this site!
What was taking place is the swearing in of the Golani Brigade which is an elite brigade. All Israeli citizens over the age of 18 years are conscripted into the Defense Forces and men must serve 3 years and women serve 2 years.
Read more here:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golani_Brigade
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Each soldier at this ceremony receives his Tavor Assault Rifle and Bible!
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The whole family comes to this event. It was very loud and electrifying. You could feel the pride and excitement in the air. All this took place just front of the Western Wall prayer plaza.
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view of the tunnel at the base of the Western Wall which was secretly excavated in order
to help determine the precise measurements of the Western Wall |
Read more about the Western Wall tunnels here: http://english.thekotel.org/content.asp?id=116
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| view of the Western Wall plaza |
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| view of the Western Wall plaza |
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| me praying at the Western Wall |
Wow what an incredible day!
Herodium was a fortress built by Herod the Great. The artificial mound is 758 meters above sea level making it the highest peak in the Judean desert. On this high mound Herod built a palace with bathhouse theater and synagogue.
