October 30th
Our third day out Mt. Carmel, Caesaria on the Mediterranean Sea, & Orson Hyde Square

The Mediterranean Sea



Caesaria - the sea port city on the Mediterranean built more than 2000 years ago. Much to my surprise I found that Herod the Great (the one who killed the babies in Bethlehem) is considered a very gifted architect and prolific builder. He built Caesaria to win points with Caesar in Rome. Much of Caesaria is still there. Pictured below is a fantastic aqueduct they built. This is where the Roman Centurion Cornelius became the first gentile to convert to Christianity. It is from this spot that Paul relates his conversion story to King Agrippa. He leaves on his mission from this point also.





Orson Hyde Square - a memorial garden at Netanya University which commemorates his blessing Palestine for the gathering of the Jews. Along the garden wall there is a plaque for each person from our Church who has blessed Israel. I don't remember all their names but there was about seven or eight. All of the presidents of the Church are also honored in this garden with a plaque and a tree.




President Ezra Taft Benson's tree and plaque

Today we also saw the site where Elijah's battle with the priests of Baal occured on top of Mt Carmel.