My Pilgrimage: June 10

Today was a fairly easy day: only 2.5 stops.  After Mass and breakfast, we drove south and east.

Our first stop was unexpectedly amazing.  We stopped at Beit She’an, one of the cities of the Decapolis.  It was huge!  There was an ancient Tel on the top of a mountain, but we did not hike up there.  Instead, we focused on the remains of the Roman polis.  We first went through the sprawling bathhouse complex.  Then we made our way through the streets which would have been lined by shops.  A number of columns still lay as they did when an earthquake struck, damaging the streets.  There also remains a large theatre.  Just before the theatre is the highlight of the trip: public toilets.  We of course all had to have our pictures taken “using” them.  They were pretty ingenious: you sat on two stones and water rushed in a trough below them to push away the waste.

Dramatic earthquake damage

Toilets along wall

Enjoying myself

A take on my favorite shirt I've seen in Israel

The second stop today was “my” stop: the Crusader fortress of Belvoir.  It is the most intact Crusader fortress in Israel.  It was strategically placed on the road from Syria to Jerusalem so that it would stand in the way of any invading Muslim army.  It did its job, withstanding a siege by Saladin in 1182.  He learned his lesson and five years later the defenders could only watch as his 12,000 mounted archers rode by one their way to destroy the Crusader army at the Horns of Hattin.  After Saladin wrestled away Jerusalem, he turned once again on Belvoir.  They held on for nearly two years, but eventually retreated in 1191.  It was destroyed and abandoned by the Muslims shortly thereafter.

View north toward Sea of Galilee (hazy today)

Dining room

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at a “baptism” site on the Jordan River so that those of us who wanted to could stand in the river.  I did, and it was disgusting.  The water was an almost fake green, and very dirty.  We then all piled back in to the hotel for lunch. 

This is a good time to mention how amazing it is to see an entire city, and almost an entire country, shut down once a week on the Sabbath.  I can imagine it is similar to the old Blue Laws when America closed down on Sundays.  While it can be inconvenient for travelers (finding a place for lunch was annoying), and sometimes the streets feel like creepy ghost towns, I think it’s a beautiful testament to the power of faith.  I honestly wish we in America could return to an honoring of the (Sunday) Sabbath instead of scheduling more events, sports, shopping, etc.