I'm having so much fun writing these posts and re-living the adventures we had in Israel!
On the Monday morning of our trip, we took the
City of David tour. This the original site of the City of David, the capital of the tribes of Israel, over 3,000 years old. They are doing excavations there, and have found what they believe to be David's home/castle, and much, much more.
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| City of David Tour |
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| Oren was our tour guide |
The tour took us underground to the Gihon Spring, where we then had the option to go through Hezekiah's Tunnel. This is King Hezekiah's 2,700 year old water tunnel that leads to the Pool of Shiloah. We walked through it, in the dark (with little flashlights) in knee to thigh deep water. It took about 25 minutes. We felt like Indiana Jones! Some of the tunnel was pretty low and a tight squeeze, and I bumped my head a few times, but it was SO much fun!
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| Map of Hezekiah's Tunnel |
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| Inside the tunnel (lit by the camera flash) It was completely dark. |
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| Yay! We made it through! |
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| You can see how high the water was on our jeans! |
After that exciting tour, we had some lunch at a cute little restaurant while we dried off. Then we went to Zedekiah's Cave. This is a place that is not very widely known to tourists, but I did my research and found out about it online before we left. Legend says that this is where Zedekiah, (the last king of Judah) hid from the Babylonians who were sent by Nebuchadnezzar to besiege Jerusalem. It is also known as "Solomon's Quarries", and it is believed to be the place from where the huge stones to build the second temple were taken. This place is huge, and it goes under at least a 5 block area of the old city, and it is just a "remnant" of what it used to be! You can actually see the chisel marks where they carved out the stones. The cave is also rumored to be part of the route that Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant to its hiding place!
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| Entrance to Zedekiah's Cave |
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| This place is huge! |
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| Deep inside the cave |
While we were deep inside the cave, we were able to see a special family gathering that a Jewish family was having there. The music of the violin and guitar echoed through the cave chambers, and it felt very special to be there.
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| Jewish family inside Zedekiah's Cave |
Coming up next...Climbing to Masada and Floating in the Dead Sea!
What a special trip to take! How cool to walk where Jesus walked. The sea of Galilee looks so peaceful.
ReplyDeleteHow cool! I did the same thing about my trip to Israel in 2012. I'm now writing a book and nearly complete. Today, I'm finishing up on Zedekiah's cave and found your post. It's has been very rewarding writing about it all. I've learned so much more about what I experienced there. Thanks for sharing! Bless you and your family.
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