Day 3: Nazareth and the Dead Sea Region

​I woke up at 5:30 without an alarm clock, jogged and hiked to the top of a nearby mountain peak and finished with a refreshing swim in the sea of Galilee.  

Now, there are several parts of that sentence that are highly abnormal.  But that is the nature of such an unusual trip in an extraordinary place.  Today we headed South from Galilee, visited Nazareth, the ruins of a 1st century Roman city, Qumran (the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls), and concluded with a swim (bob) in the Dead Sea.   


In the morning we visited Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus.  This was one of the highlights of the trip for me as we toured a recreated 1st century village staffed mostly by a group of local Arab Christians.  It is like "Old Bedford Village" for the Ancient Near East.  They had recreated aspects of village life from the 1st century on a plot of land in modern day Nazareth.  The location is about a 5 minute walk from where it is believed Jesus lived.  I enjoyed watching the recreations of ancient work and living spaces.  Here are some pictures: 

(top left) Shepherd in front of a sheep pen. 
(top middle)  Builder (carpenter) working with wood. 
​(top right) Weaver spinning wool into yarn. 
(bottom left) Inside a recreated synagogue.  
(bottom middle) Wheel for crushing olives, followed by a three state process of presses.  
​(bottom right) Inside a recreated home.  ​