Thursday, August 18, 2011

Israel Part II

Our journey outside of Jerusalem began in the absolute north end of the country and standing on Mount Tabor at the north end of the Jezereel Valley we can see Syria on the east and Lebanon on the west. We are squeezed between those two hostile neighbors where the Golan Heights is a launching site for Syrian rockets onto Israelic Kibitzeem in the entire area.
I just found a shot of our transportation for the huge Turkish Air with great food. Itinerary worked out by Jame:  L.A. - Istanbul - Tel Aviv - Istanbul - Chicago leg of the trip. This photo of our plane should been at the beginningof my last blog. Oh well.




Mount Tabor above is the site of that greatly important event when the Savior took Peter, James and John to this mount, Jesus was transfigured, the voice of the Lord acknowledged that "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Then came  Old Testament prophets Moses and Elijah who gave their priesthood keys to the leaders of the dispensation of the meridian of time. Look carefully at the top and you can barely make out the Franciscan Monastery . Get ready for an exciting ride to the monastery!



Many switchbacks will give you an idea about how steep the road was. . .and narrow.





We had to leave our bus in a small distinctly Arabic town at the foot of Mount Tabor. This village was Israeli and a citizenbove who has driven a small bus to the top for 40 years. He smiled when I took his picture said, "that will be one dollar." I think is was worth the price.


                             




                                                              
This area has had a church or a fort (Crusaders) of some kind since early AD




             The monastery was surrounded by beautifully tended grounds




.
          How about the famous Transfiguration painting by Carraccio                      
           in the chapel and one of several beautiful mosiacs?

                                    



                    


A few miles to the south we visitd the area about where the Sermon on the Mount was delivered. The usual beautiful Cathedral was there, of course.
                       

We sat on the grass below the cathedral and reread the Sermon with the view of Galilee above.

'































No comments:

Post a Comment