Day 2: Nazareth and Megiddo

Keren's Log: Stardate 3 April 20:47 

Welcome back everyone! 

Today, I spent some time in the Nazareth YMCA village. This was created by a Scottish organisation "The Nazareth Trust" who run a hospital in the town. The village is an open-air museum and a miniature replica of what the village
Jesus grew up in may have looked like. The synagogue, houses and olive press were built by referencing historical texts for accuracy. I was in history-student heaven! Volunteers from the organisation dress in costume and perform certain everyday tasks of common trades at the time. During my time in the village, I watched a potter at work, a woman using a weaving loom to make cloaks from wool, a carpenter, a shepherd and a farmer. It was truly a privilege to visit and leave with a much clearer picture of what life looked like between 2AD and 35AD. To the team of tour guides and volunteers at Nazareth YMCA, I applaud your hard work and dedication to preserving historical sites and spreading the gospel; thank you for an amazing experience. 

The second site I visited was Megiddo National Park. This is a world heritage site which holds the ruins of stables, temples, palaces and water systems which date as far back as 300BC. Our tour group walked through a tunnel leading to the main water supply of Megiddo during the time of the Assyrian kings. 


Our tour bus also stopped at Mount Precipice which provides a stunning view over the Jezreel Plain.

Further points which you may find interesting:

1. I have been doing some research about why there are so many stray cats in Israel. For context, there are about twelve hanging around our hotel and at virtually any site you visit, there are bound to be at least three cats. All the signs have warnings such as "No shorts, no guns and no dogs", but the cats seem welcome even on holy sites. Knowing cats though, they probably don't read the signs and just assume they are welcome. Many of them pose as though they are the main attraction and not the important piece of land they are sitting on 😄 However, I digress. The most popular theory is that this is once again the fault of the British (I can say that well-meaningly because I am myself 1/4 Brit). It seems that during their occupation here they brought across large numbers of cats to deal with a rat problem and the feline population has expanded ever increasingly. There is an estimate of 2 million stray cats in the country and 240 000 in Jerusalem alone. 

2. The British people on the tour found another thing they had never seen before which held their attention for longer than I thought. Shongololos... or millipedes if you prefer. It was rather amusing.

Here are the pictures from the day. 

Hannah the weaver


Entering Nazareth


My new friend the potter's wife



Inside the carpenter's home



The ruins at Tel Megiddo



Candid shot of the potter's wife
(She did not give me her name, but I think she looks like an Abigail?)



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