Square Peg and a Round Hole:
This odd view is of the center of an old oilpress, a shaft would go through the hole, a square nut would provide the turning as the shaft would be attached to an animal turning the grindwheel.
Mostly, this photo is an excuse to use that title. :-D
Full of Light:
The church at the location of the Beautitudes had lovely and extensive gardens… I could have wandered around for a long time.
Sorry I’ve been not posting pics… my laptop died again, and I have just finally gotten it fixed. So I’m going to try and catch up, and I should be back in business, sharing and commenting. Look forward to seeing your work!
Working on a linux box while my laptop is in repair again… got a really nice minimal theme going though. :)
Up to the Sky:
This church is on the Mount of Beatitudes, overlooking the traditional location of the Sermon on the Mount. Nearly all of the churches we visited on the trip were built by the same Italian architect in the mid 20s. Antonio Barluzzi designed many of the churches down here, and many of them are very lovely, like this one.
Every Rose Has Its Thorns:
But this is no rose. I’m not sure what it is about the Middle East, but I’m pretty sure I never saw a plant that wasn’t all ready to destroy your feet.
This particular plant I found on the site of the Sermon on the Mount. It was a beautiful morning, and there were all these plants flowing in the breeze. Being a photographer, I was slightly behind the group. I decided to take a shortcut through these gentle plants at a full sprint to catch up. Fortunately I was wearing some tough Carhartts, but it still was a reasonably bad/painful experience. Look before you leap, I guess.
Not Quite the Golden Arches:
What is almost more amazing the the preciseness of this arch, or the fact it is still standing, is just how long it is. We ran into this one again later on in the day, just running throught the mountains. Amazing feat of engineering.
Roman Engineering:
This is me standing on top of a 2000 year old double aqueduct that carried water to Herod’s pleasure palace on the sea. As you can see, the ancient Romans had this whole “build something quite straight” thing down to a science. The structure is solid, and is quite amazing in person.
The Entrance of Champions:
This is the entrance to the hippodrome at Caesarea Maritima. A hippodrome is the place where the chariot races were, like in Ben Hur. You can still see the outline of the racetrack in the sand.
Standing in the middle of the track, I could easily imagine the horses pulling the chariots around, people cheering, flags flying in the ocean breeze… it must have been quite a show. Afterwards, the hippodrome was cut in half and this side was used as a theatre for gladiatorial competitions.
This is of course an HDR, as it would have been impossible to get the lovely sky and sand combined with the grit of the rocks without it.
Field of the Last Days:
HDR from the top of the tel at Har Megiddo, looking out over the “battlefield.” I love how it brings out the sunrays.
Tar Megiddo:
This is the view from the top of Tar Megiddo, which means the “Hill of Megiddo.” Tar Megiddo is the phrase which has become garbled into Armageddon. Megiddo was a strategic point in ancient times, as it controlled a valuable trade route between Egypt and the kingdoms that then existed to the north east like Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. Many battles were fought here, and the hill has twenty-seven layers of civilization built one on top of another as one group or another attempted to hold the pass. Many battles have been fought on this plain, and I’m sure it’s not quite over. :-P
