Our first stop of the day, and one of my highlights was Megiddo. Built, destroyed and rebuilt more than 20 times over 6000 years, Megiddo is the battlefield of history. Many significant battles have been fought on the plain of Megiddo, also known as the valley of Jezreel and plain of Esdraelon. Napoleon called it the finest battlefield ever. Above are some of the remains of a Canaanite altar, granary, and a water tunnel.
The Hebrew Har-Magedon (hill of Megiddo) is the basis for the New Testament Armageddon. This is the place all the armies of the world will gather for the final confrontation between good and evil.
After a nice lunch at Megiddo, we boarded our bus on our way to the Galilee region. On our way we stopped at the now modern city of Nazareth (top right photo) Then continued on our way to the Sea of Galilee. Above the lake is a tree-lined hill known as the Mount of the Beatitudes. This is the spot Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Theses teachings included Jesus showing his disciples how to pray, many lessons in the form of parables for them and the multitudes, and the eight verses known as the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-14). On the summit overlooking the Sea of Galilee, a domed octagonal church (pictured bottom right) are eight stained glass windows that remind visitors of Jesus' eight Beatitudes.
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