Tuesday - Evan

Today we woke up at The Rosery Sisters Convent in Jerusalem and after breakfast we packed our bags into the bus around eight, because we were going to Nazareth. We made several stops along our way, we stopped at the ruins of Ceasarea , the Stella Maris, and a church on top of Mt. Caramel.

Ceasarea was a city built by King Herod in honor of Augustus Caesar. The city was built right on the beach of the Mediterranean and functioned as a sea port for ships traveling to the holy land from Europe. The city featured a theater, a hippodrome for chariot racing, a palace for King Herod with a private swimming pool, and a temple for Augustus Caesar which was later turned into a church. Later, Pontius Pilot ruled Judea from Caesarea, the city was captured by Arabs--who blocked the port, and then was inhabited by crusaders. The city was literally built right up to the the sea. As I looked at the stones from which the city was made I could see why the city appealed to so many people, even today. People seemed much more interested by the stray cat that came up to them than the old city. Although I was amazed by the fact that the part of the city was still there even after more than 2000 years.

After we finished at Ceasarea and ate lunch, we went to Haifa where we looked at Stella Maris which we had seen before, it was still as beautiful as before. Then we went to the spot on Mount Carmel where Elijah competed with Ba'al over which god is the real god. there was a church that we where able to climb the roof of, which gave us a beautiful view of the Holy Land. from the roof of that church I was really able to appreciate the world that God made.

After that we went to the Sisters of Nazareth Convent, which is where I am writing this now.
- Evan