The Second Weekend

Ok! Now that the dig and my rigorous schedule is over, I have a little time to update! I’m going to go ahead and collapse the second weekend of the dig into one post and the final week of digging into a post tomorrow. Just to make it easier to read.
Last weekend’s adventures started on Thursday after the dig when we headed to Akko, a city that is most famous for its time during the Crusades. Here we visited the citadel, the mosque, and traversed the underground tunnels built by the Knights Templar. This tunnels date to the 11/12th centuries, but remained undiscovered until 1996 when a women complained about plumbing problems and the city workers stumbled across them. Sort of funny how we stumble across these ancient things. The architecture was very impressive, and I heard a rumor that invading forces had to outnumber the city’s guards 10 to 1 in order for the city to finally fall. We also got to chill on the beach by the Mediterranean Sea and enjoyed a very nice dinner right on the sea. It was actually a pretty relaxing trip, unlike the next two days to come.
On Friday, we awoke at 6 a.m. (sleeping in a little) to take a bus provided by the Expedition to Ashkelon and Gezer, two other important Israeli archaeological sites. Gezer was more my favorite, as it has a six-chambered gate (just like Megiddo) that supposedly ties the sites together as being chariot cities fortified by King Solomon (this may not actually be the case due to dating problems, but that’s another story). In reality, however, going to these two sites made us very thankful to dig at Megiddo. Ashkelon was right on the sea, but incredibly humid, while Gezer was even hotter than Megiddo and much more a hike to the top of the tel.

Following the field trip, we were dropped off at the Tel Aviv airport where we caught a taxi to Jerusalem. The Old City of Jerusalem was absolutely impressive. The streets were tiny and packed with street vendors, but the whole are was so alive. It was a pain to navigate, but I loved it nonetheless. During the afternoon, we followed the Via Dolorosa which was supposedly the route Jesus took from his sentencing to death on the Cross. It was a very somber journey, but very cool to do. This ended at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which apparently is the most holy site for Christians (which I actually didn’t know). The church itself was huge, and was beautiful to explore. I wasn’t allowed to go into the tomb they had build (according to legend it is built on the same site) as I had shorts, but the rest of the church was amazing. As night fell, we made our way to the Wailing (Western) Wall. This was one of the highlights of the trip, especially since it was at the start of Shabbat. The wall was packed with Orthodox Jews dressed in suits and celebrating the Shabbat. Ben and I managed to make it all the way to the front and actually touch the wall. The people there were very friendly, and we talking with quite a number of them. The wall itself was impressive, but seeing the Dome of the Rock right behind it made us ponder a bit about the political implications of this wall. Jerusalem is such a diverse city with all three major religions existing together, and one can only wondering how they manage to live so close but have so many problems. On a lighter note, we stayed on the roof of a hostel (for only about $10) had had an amazing view of both the Church and the Dome of the Rock. I actually fell asleep starring at my feet and the Dome.
On Saturday, Ben and I woke up at 3 a.m. (after going to sleep at 1) to catch a taxi tour of the Dead Sea region. After going through two Israeli military check points, we arrive at Masada around 5 a.m. This is the site where supposedly 700 Jewish rebels killed themselves rather than surrender to the invading Romans in the first century AD. We wanted to hike up the Snake Path (2 km long going up 250 meters) to see the sunrise over the Dead Sea. I made it up 3/4 of the hill before the sun rose, but I got some great views. We then explored the archaeological ruins up top before making our way down the path. Boy was that exhausting, even with all the physical activity I had been doing. From Masada, we made our way to swim in the Dead Sea. This was also once of the major highlights of the trip. Everyone has seen the pictures of people reading newspapers and floating, but it’s really hard to describe. According to my travel book, the Dead Sea is only 70% water and 30% solid salt/bromine/iodine/ect. It is nearly impossible to go under the surface, and you really just float on the surface. We also found some mud and coated ourselves in it (it is supposedly very good for the skin). I really feel that’s the closest I’ll get to weightlessness, as you just float right along. We then stopped by En Gedi (a beautiful nature preserve) and Qumran (the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found). Both were really great, especially En Gedi, which really seems like Eden compared to the surrounding desert. We then got dropped back off at Jerusalem, where we caught a bus back to the Kibbutz.

Overall, it was an amazing, but exhausting weekend. I’m so glad that I got to see all of

 those sites, but the schedule didn’t make the next week of digging any easier, but more on that tomorrow.
Happy Fourth of July to Everyone! It’s a bit different over here in Haifa, as I don’t see any fireworks or BBQs. I’ll write more tomorrow!