Ancient coins.
The Temple Mount, 2000 years ago, was home to the Second Temple. Here's an illustration of how it would have looked.
The giant staircase no longer exists, but the arch that supported it can still be seen, partially anyways. You can see the remnant of the arch high on the wall in this picture.
Here, some of the arches (now filled in) and the stairways leading up to them.
Architecture isn't the only thing that has survived. These jugs, still whole, have been unearthed as well.
This is the remains of a ritual bath near the Second Temple. You go in one side, bathe, and emerge on the other side, cleansed.
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During our road trip, we head to the Caesarea, we pass sand dunes. It looked like parts of New Mexico!
We got a little lost, but we just started following the ruins, and eventually found our way.
Flying over the ruins.
A bit from Caesarea, we see the massive aquaducts that line the beach.
More evidence of New Mexico/Israel.
Caesarea was a massive harbor city built by Herod.
These deep caves were built for storage, and were used throughout the years (even for a pagan ritual site!)
Of course, no ancient Roman city is complete without chariot racing. Bram really got into it.
Caesarea, with the sea in the background.
As you can see, some of the mosaics survived to this day.
The tracks used for chariot racing!
As the collesium is unearthed. To the left, you can see the stands, while to the right is what it used to look like, with the stands still under many layers of dirt.
The ruins of Herod's palace in Caesarea.
This stone is the only piece of historical evidence that Pontius Pilate was a real person.
Walking along the beach in Caesarea, Bram tries to get as close as possible to the crashing waves. Jessa, on the other hand, gets as far as possible, in the dry zone.
Continuing on our road trip, we head to the Crusader town of Acre.
Horses may be present.
Remnants of the city wall.
Jessa and Rodolfo from the walls of the city.
Overlooking the port of Acre, with the city in the background.
We wandered through the old city, and through the markets.
Coke - in Arabic!
Bram is definitely taller than these Crusader tunnels!
People standing on the water to fish! Actually, they are standing on the manmade ancient wall, that helped to create the port.
Walking through the streets.
Some teenagers jumping from the city walls into the ocean below. And for a point: how did this teenager, jumping into the water, cause me to be very bruised and sore more than a month later halfway across the world?
An ancient hotel. Camels were put up here as their caravans stopped for the night.
Interesting potted plants.
Acre has a nice mosque that we were able to tour.
Inside the mosque.
And of course, what visit to a mosque would be complete without dressing appropriately!
Next, we toured some of the ruins from the Crusader time period. This was a great hall.
The Crusader latrines.
And the sewers! As Jessa said, "Try not to think about it."
The old market of Acre.
