Wednesday, Ashdod and Jerusalem

On Wednesday, March 11 we arrived in Ashdod. Our handout says this Mediterranean port city was a major Philistine city in ancient times, the archeological remains here have uncovered no fewer than 23 cities since the Bronze Age. Modern Ashdod was founded in 1956 and during the recent past it has had many new immigrants--70,000--mainly from the former Soviet Union, swelling the city's population to 190,000, becoming the 5th largest city in Israel. I found the port area very impressive.

From Ashdod we started out for Jerusalem, a 5000 year old city revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims. I'm not sure how many buses we had (we were bus 5), but we had different routes so that we weren't all jammed up in one place. Some of us saw the Western Wall on Wednesday, some on Thursday, same with Bethlehem.


Here we are at the Western Wall (also called Wailing Wall), the holiest of Jewish sites, a remnant of the Herodian retaining wall that once supported the Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. In 1967 after the Six Day War, Israelis leveled the neighboring Arab district to create the Western Wall Plaza and made the wall higher by digging down to expose two more tiers of stones buried over the centuries.

The men and women pray in separate sections (women need to be modestly covered); some sitting and rocking back and forth reciting the Psalms or Lamentations. This photo is of tiny pieces of paper with prayers put into the cracks in the walls. Every years thousands of people insert these prayers for peace and health, or give thanks and praise for answered prayer. If you're in my family, your name was placed there with a prayer for peace.

According to tradition, The Via Dolorosa (Path of Sorrow or "Way of the Cross") is the route the Lord Jesus walked, from his trial by the Romans to his crucifixion and burial. It begins near Lions Gate (St. Stephen's Gate), in the Muslim Quarter, and ends within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in the heart of the Christian Quarter. This route is marked by the 14 Stations of the Cross.

"As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. (Luke 23:26-28).

Eighth station of the cross where Jesus spoke to the women.

Capernaum and River Jordon

The city of Capernaum was built on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, about two miles west of the Jordan River. This ancient town is not mentioned by name in the Old Testament, but is referred to as our Lord's own city, where it became the center of His Galilean work and ministry. Jesus traveled there from Nazareth, to the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, and called his first disciples, Andrew, Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee (Matt 4:13-22). He taught in their synagogue (Jn 6:24-59), and it was here that Peter found the coin from the mouth of the fish, upon the command of Jesus, to pay the tax-gatherers (Matt 17:24-27). He resided for a time at Peters house in Capernaum, teaching and healing the sick (Lk 4:31-41). Once He had left, He rebuked the city for their unbelief (Lk 10:15).

Recently there have been excavations that have uncovered the 2-story synagogue. Today, near the synagogue, there is an octagonal Byzantine church with a mosaic floor built upon the site believed to be the house of Peter.

This seems to be the only photo we have that shows "bus five," the group we traveled with up to Cairo. I think we're sitting in the ruins of the synagogue.

Recent excavations beneath the church has revealed houses dating back to the first century. Some believe that one of these houses could very well be the house of Peter.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, after having heard about the River Jordan all my life, but it looks like any little stream in the Midwest. This is the spot where I dipped my hand into the water, made a sign of the cross on my forehead, and prayed. Lutherans don't rebaptize, but many in our group did go into the water and prayed with our pastor. People who do wish to be baptized can rent a gown--not sure if they also rent clergy.

I think this group was Chinese and they were singing beautiful hymns by the water.

It was nearing dusk after a time in the gift shop, so we boarded the bus after a busy day and returned to the ship and the moon over the Sea of Galilee was the prettiest sight I've ever seen--but the bus was moving to fast to get a good photo. When we docked on Wednesday, we were in Ashdod, ready to go to Jerusalem.

Haifa, Sea of Galilee, Mount of Beatitudes

Tuesday was an exciting day--we are in Israel! Haifa is Israel's third largest city (250,000 people, 5 religions) and our gateway to Israel. In Roman times, the country was divided into Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, which comprised the whole northern section of the country, and was the largest of the three regions. Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, ruled Galilee as tetrarch. The Galilee area was the home of Jesus during at least 30 years of his life. The first three Gospels of the New Testament are mainly an account of Jesus' public ministry in this province, particularly in the towns of Nazareth and Capernaum. Galilee is also cited as the place where Jesus cured a blind man.



The Sea of Galilee is about 1-1.5 hour drive from Haifa. It was a beautiful spot, and we enjoyed our visit at a kibbutz for lunch.



The Sea of Galilee is fed by the Jordan River, rainfall and springs on the northern side. It's actually a lake, the Kinneret and is 13 miles long and 7 miles wide. Storms come up quickly and violently, especially from the Golan Heights to the east.

Where we ate lunch after our boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

We had the joy of seeing whole families dressed for Purim, the festival of Esther--aren't the kids adorable?

The "Sermon on the Mount" is recorded in Matt 5-7 and Luke 6, but we don't know exactly where it was. One possibility is Mt. Eremos, between Capernaum and Tabgha. Tabgha is the traditional location for the calling of the disciples. The mountain is topped by a Catholic chapel built in 1939 by the Franciscan Sisters (Antonio Barluzzi, architect). The woman in the foreground was the oldest in our group--98 years old, and planning to attend her sister's 100th birthday party later this year.



I think this is the Church of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha. A church was first built here in the 380s, was enlarged, and in 1982 was replaced by the modern building.

Museums in Greece and Turkey

We visited a museum in Corinth, Greece on Friday and one in Turkey on Monday. The antiquities and ruins in both countries are so rich and so layered, a quick tour can't do them justice. The museum in Corinth "contains collections of prehistoric finds, various items ranging from the Geometric to the Hellenistic period, Roman and Byzantine finds, excavation finds from the Asklepieion of Corinth, and a collection of sculptures and inscriptions." I have to admit, after awhile, I can't tell a Roman statue from a Greek statue from an Egyptian statue. And as much as I admire the artistic talent in the mosaics, I wonder about the unnamed thousands who must have toiled over them, regardless of the culture. In Corinth I mainly remember it started to rain and I went in the museum to get warm.




They didn't want us to use flash in the Corinth museum, so these were our two best.



Our pastor, Paul Ulring, in the Turkish Archeological Museum admiring a mosaic.

These cats were not strays.



You need to keep your head when traveling.

On to Antioch and Tarsus, birthplace of Paul

On Monday March 9th we docked at Mersin, Turkey, around 7 a.m., boarded our buses with box lunches, and then reboarded the ship at Iskenderun, Turkey. For this visit, see Acts 11:19-26, Acts 13-18, and Acts 22:3.


Here I am at St. Paul's house in Tarsus, which is under glass. Tarsus was the most important commercial port in Cilicia, and according to an internet site a few decades before Christ, the Romans granted it the status of a free city with certain privileges. How clever of God to chose a Jew and a Roman citizen to spread the faith. We gathered in a public square near by for another performance by our Greek actor playing Paul.


Here's my husband at St. Paul's Well, in a courtyard believed to be the site of his house (these are approximate, but how far could we be?) And now we've walked where millions of Christians have come over the years.


Tradition says that these caves were the homes of early Christians. Our guide (a Muslim) told us The Cave Church of St. Peter is the very first Christian church, and this is where Christians were first called by this name (Acts 11:26). It is located just outside Antioch (modern Antakya) Turkey, the base of many of Paul's missionary journeys and probably where the Gospel of Matthew was written.




Worship services are still held here on certain holy days.

Continuing through Turkey, Aspendos Theatre and Perga

On Sunday March 8 we docked at Antalya, a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey and the capital of the province. It's a blend of Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman cultures and architecture. This area corresponds to the Biblical lands of ancient Pamphylia to the east and Lycia to the west. Here we boarded our buses and drove to the Aspendos Theatre, where we enjoyed an actor performing as Paul, and the beautiful ruins of Perga.

The Book of Acts in the New Testament really comes alive after a visit to Turkey.

13Then Paul and his men set sail from Paphos and arrived in Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and went back to Jerusalem. 14They left Perga and arrived in Antioch in Pisidia. On the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders asked them, “Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people, you may speak.”

16Then Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and said:

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen! 17The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made them a great people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with a public display of power he led them out of there. 18After he had put up with them for 40 years in the wilderness, 19he destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan. Then God gave their land to the Israelites as an inheritance 20for about 450 years.

“After that, he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. 21When they demanded a king, God gave them Kish’s son Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. 22Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, ‘I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ 23It was from this man's descendants that God, as he promised, brought to Israel a Savior, who is Jesus. 24Before Jesus’ appearance, John had already preached a baptism of repentance to all the people in Israel. 25When John was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the Messiah. No, but he is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.’

26“My brothers, descendants of Abraham's family, and those among you who fear God, it is to us[l] that the message of this salvation has been sent. 27For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders, not knowing who Jesus[m] was, condemned him and so fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28Although they found no reason to sentence him to death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29When they had finished doing everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb. 30But God raised him from the dead, 31and for many days he appeared to those who had come with him to Jerusalem from Galilee. These are now his witnesses to the people. 32We are telling you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33he has fulfilled for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.’ 34God raised him from the dead, never to experience decay, as he said, ‘I will give you the holy promises made to David.’ 35In another Psalm he says, ‘You will not let your Holy One experience decay.’ 36For David, after he had served God's purpose in his own generation, died and was buried with his ancestors, and so he experienced decay. 37However, the man whom God raised did not experience decay.

Aspendos on the river Eurymedon could be reached by ship and is famous for its theater with magnificent accoustics.

The actor who played Paul performed monologues based on his writings at various places along our tour.
Perga was apparently on the sea in ancient times, but is now inland. It had been under control of the Persians, then Alexander, then later Rome. Artemis was an important goddess (Pergaia) there appearing on coins. Paul journeyed to Perga from Cyprus continuing on to Antioch, returning later. During the reign of Constantine, Perga became an important center of Christianity.



Although I don't have a photo of her, that's our Muslim guide, Tuba, with the white umbrella. She was outstanding--excellent English and great sensitivity for our faith and always holding to the Biblical text for her script.

Perga has been under excavation by Turkish archaelogists since 1946--at least I think that's where this was taken. Hmm--almost as long as me.

Trash and the Environment

Back in the 1970s when the USA really got serious about cleaning up the environment we worried about things like the tons of diapers in landfills, junk cars and dead fish in Lake Erie. That was before the day of the ubiquitous water bottle and tons of plastic packaging for every imaginable food item. Now all we hear is "eco-friendly," energy saving light bulbs, global responsibility, ethanol, and "cap and trade" or "carbon tax." Stop! Before you guys put one more business-ugly, recession-causing regulation in place, please take a trip to Turkey, Israel and Egypt and get a peek at the mounds and mounds of trash everywhere. Turkey and Egypt I can almost understand--they are developing countries, but Israel is only 60 years old and was settled and controlled in the early and mid-20th century by Europeans, not middle easterners. With all the knowledge and technology we have available today, this is completely NOT eco-friendly. We saw trash in poor neighborhoods and rich neighborhoods alike. Mounds and mounds of plastic bags and bottles; construction materials; old appliances; toilets; clothing. On road sides. In trees. In culverts. On sand dunes. In ruins. Only our ship and the docks seemed free of trash. Obviously, socialist governments and planned economies don't pick up trash, or if they do, they have no plan to bury, recycle or burn it. It's probably an "extra" like a decent teacher-to-student ratio classrooms or timely operations for health.

This is the roof of a home seen in Israel, Arab I think. The lower part of the roof is stacked with trash--including broken furniture and pieces of a toilet. The upper part is just bedding and clothing airing. The father and son are raking dirt over rocks and trash, maybe to plant something. The hillside was littered also. We're looking down, but the same view was curb side, especially where there was construction. In Egypt, they are enclosing the canals because the people used them to throw trash.

Meanwhile, American business has a gun pointed at the head to clean up or else. If this really is just a big marble in space where we're all in it together, what going on in the middle east?

The ruins of Ephesus, Turkey

Once a thriving seaport of about 250,000, the ruins are several miles from the Aegean Sea because of silt build up.


At Ephesus' spectacular ruins we got caught in some rain--badly needed in that area, so we weren't really sorry. Fortunately, I had tucked in a package of cheap rain panchos and eventually put my arms inside also. Notice the dog in the background. We saw stray dogs everywhere--quiet, calm, and mostly asleep, but undisturbed. Someone asked our guide, "Do you have a stray dog problem?" "No, we don't have a problem," she responded. "There are 175,000 stray dogs, but now a group takes care of them, neuters them, and feeds them." We noticed pretty much the same attitude about cats. Although they seemed to be feral animals, they weren't wild or frightening. Someone was looking after them.



As you can see there is a lot to be done in restoration--much is still buried--it's like a giant puzzle. Shops, homes, public buildings, beautiful frescos and mosaics, statues, etc. all jumbled.

This, with a few rain drops on the lens, is the Library of Celsus, built in 115-25 AD, and is believed to be the standard architectural form for Roman libraries, holding about 15,000 scrolls. I love to visit libraries, but in the rain on crooked marble steps, it was a tad treacherous.

Paul wrote a letter to the convert Ephesians, and his preaching was a threat for economic reasons--particularly among the silver smiths who made images for the Greek goddess, Artemis. Our guide told us he probably walked 20,000 miles in his 38 years of missionary work. No wonder he sometimes sounded a bit cranky. Tradition suggests that the apostle John and Mary, Jesus' mother, settled at Ephesus.

The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, but only the foundation and one column of the 106 remain. We had a one column photo, but I can't tell if it's the right one. According to the website, How things work, Artemis was the Eastern interpretation of the Greek goddess Diana (called Phoebe among the Romans). In Greek mythology, Diana is known as the goddess of the hunt and of fertility. She is typically portrayed as a very athletic figure. The Artemis of the Temple of Ephesus looked nothing like the goddess of the hunt. Her likeness was based on the Anatolian Earth goddess Cybele. The temple, built around 800 BC, was burned in 356 BC and rebuilt.

Theaters were built to hold about 10% of the population, our guide told us--or this one about 25,000. Designed for theatrical performances, it later held gladiatorial contests.

Traveling and Touring in Turkey

On Saturday we docked at Kusadasi, Turkey, and boarded our buses with Tuba, our lovely Turkish guide to see the ruins of Ephesus, the Agora, the Library of Celsus and the Great theatre. We didn't know much about Turkey, but everyone on the tour was pleasantly surprised. Many Europeans have purchased vacation homes in Kusadasi. Turkey was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kernal Ataturk and became a secular state in 1928. There have been bumps in the road, but civilian rule was restored to Turkey in 1983. We were there right before elections, and with a multi-party system (eleven?) there were signs and faces everywhere. Biblical peoples for this area were the ancient Hittites, Phyrygians, Assyrians, Greeks, Persians, Romans and Arabs. In the 11th century, the Turks from Central Asia set themselves in place as rulers. 99% of the population is Muslim (mostly Sunni) with a population of over 62 million; 0.1% are Christians.

The newer architecture in Turkey is quite colorful, unlike that in Israel or Cairo. Sometimes the different units in the same buildings were painted (or parged) in different colors.

Kusadasi is a holiday resort with lots of large hotels and beaches.

Here's and old and new contrast--the camel ride next to our buses. I'm not sure where this guy is stabled. The Turkish and Israeli hawkers, hustlers and sellers (10 post cards one dolla; bok one dolla) were mild compared to Cairo's--a story I'll tell you later.

All of our tours seemed to have obligatory "approved" shopping stops, and someone gets a percentage of sales, I'm sure. This one was at a rug dealer in Kusadasi who had a very interesting demonstration on how oriental rugs are made. We passed up the $1500 rugs and $4,000 diamond rings in Jerusalem and waited for Egypt to buy $15 cotton t-shirts with names embroidered in hieroglyphics.