Our last touring day had us passing Bethlehem again and heading into the mouth of a old, small volcano. Once again, Herod had built another fortress/palace in this spot between Masada and Jerusalem, just in case he needed to escape from angry Jews or if the Romans turned against him. Note the huge swimming pool in the foreground.
We wandered around the ruins inside the hill and walked through the underground tunnels that were later used by Jewish rebels in 135AD.
This next picture sure looks like nothing, but imagine this: On the left is the hill the Philistines are camped on. On the right (OK just behind the hill), is another hill the Israelites under Saul are camped on. In this valley is where Goliath would stride out and taunt the Israelites each day, trying to bring them down off there defensive hill.And…this is where David wacked him.
We did a few more tunnels at a site that was mostly non-Jewish by the time they where built (lots of underground in this trip).
Finally, we stopped at a hill that once was the site of a great and important city-Lachish. It guarded the north-south road that bridged Africa to Asia and Europe. It was destroyed by the Assyrians, them 100 years later destroyed again by the Babylonians.
After this we did a couple of sites in the Old City, then everyone had some free time to get their feet wet in wandering its streets.On the way back to the hotel, our driver Hasam (Sam) brought three of his four kids to meet us. He was the best, most friendly bus driver I have ever worked with and his kids are absolutely beautiful.
Our guide Mike and driver Hasam.
