No Bruce Willis at this Armageddon

This will be a shorter blog - I am falling SO far behind in updating you on our adventures. So let me get you caught up on our Wednesday.

Two years ago when we spent two weeks in Obidos Portugal, Jim looked at the map and realized we were a short drive from Fatima, a place he had heard so much about during his years in Catholic School and Seminary. He had a similar reaction when he saw a sign for Megiddo (Armageddon) - we are so close to the end of the world, we need to go see it.

So, on Wednesday, that was our destination. We easily found our way (we seem to be getting better at this) to another National Park with an empty parking lot. We have been shocked at the lack of tour buses/tourist we have encountered over the past week and a half. Although I suspect that will be quite different once we get to Jerusalem. But no complaints - nice to have these places pretty much to ourselves. Megiddo is a mound (Tel), so after going up a short, steep path we arrived at the entrance you see above. And then to another amazing archeological wonder, with a spectacular view.

Megiddo was originally built to control the trade route that linked Egypt and Mesopotamia - so a very strategic location as well as springs and fertile soil that made it ideal for agriculture - so a constant site of conflict. Repeatedly conquered, destroyed and rebuilt, the archeological layers account for about 25 different "cities" built on top of the ruins of the previous one and dating back to the neolithic period, as well as a testimony to the existence of Canaanite cities of the Bronze Age and biblical cities of the Iron Age (don't credit my memory - the brochures are kept to remind us about what we learned). In the photo below you can see some of the "layers." And just to put it into perspective, Ceasarea that we went to last week was either 6 or 8 layers of rule. So it makes sense that Megiddo became the metaphor for the end of days (and the beginning of new ones as well).

In addition to shade being a treat in this warm weather (although nothing yet has been as hot as Sea of Galilee), we were treated to nice breezes.

Most photos of Megiddo will be arial photos that focus on this mound of rocks - the most sacred of places on the cities.

Here you can see us enjoying the treasures as well a the breeze.

This was the grain silo.

But the most fascinating part of Megiddo was the story of its water system. The city needed to be built on top of the hill for strategic reasons, but that meant that the spring that was the source of water would be outside of the city walls. So, built during the period of the Israelite Kings, a 36 meter shaft, from which a 70 meter long horizontal tunnel (cut on an incline) was created to channel the water into the village from the spring. The outer entrance to the spring was sealed with a stone wall, so that any enemies attacking the city could not discover it.

And while the silo did not allow for visitor access, the water system was open to explore. Here you can see the stairs leading down to the tunnel

And down we went.

And kept going.

And going, until we arrived at the tunnel

That brought us to the water source, still a little spring.

Going through this water system was actually the exit out of the park - very clever.

Promise to update you soon on our very special Thursday trip! Hmm...Laurie just emailed me that Miles returned from the beach and there were NO jelly fish...so maybe tomorrow will be a beach day instead of a blog day....or maybe both.