On the Sea Coast

As I mentioned before, water is pumped from the Sea of Galilee to the desert for irrigation of farm land. Two-thirds of Israel is desert -- hard rock desert, not sand. Archeological digs are everywhere in the Holy Land.


Galilee, though, is fertile, and the vegetation is lovely in this area. Acacia trees are small, compact, with yellow flowers. Everywhere one sees red poppies and yellow wildflowers blooming in the spring. White, fuschia, and orange bouganvillas grow in large trees. Hibiscus are grown here as hedges, and ground covers included blooming cyclamens.


Olive trees are a mainstay in all of Israel. They need little care after planting, just occasional pruning. Anyone can plant a tree and let it grow. Harvesting the olives fills all one's needs; the olives are nutritious, the oil is used for fuel, cooking , and beauty products. The olive trees we saw in the Garden of Gethsamane were present during the time of Jesus. The bigger around the trunk, the older the tree. They must live forever, and are never cut down by the Israelites. It takes five years for a tree to bear olives, however.


Following lunch, we traveled along the coast to Caesarea. This is a restored Crusader city which was originally constructed by Herod in 20 BC and named for Augustus Caesar. This city is where Peter converted the first pagan to Christianity, a man named Cornelius. Paul started his journey to Tarsus from this location after being imprisoned here for a brief time. We stopped at the Mediterranean Sea and the remains of a Roman aqueduct, where we ate ice cream from a vendor and waded in the beautiful sea.