I put my fingers in the Mediterranean at Caesarea

Roman aqueduct

I finally get to see a Roman aqueduct. This one brought water 5 miles to the city of Caesarea on the Mediterranean coast of modern Israel. Herod the Great had his palace there. He also built a deep-water port, a 3,500-4,000 seat theater, and a hippodrome (horse-racing stadium). Plus, the beach is great. Archeologists figure that 35,000 to 40,000 people lived there. How do they figure that? They multiply the capacity of the theater by ten.

Inside Jerusalem

This photo shows a street inside the Old City of Jerusalem in the Arab Quarter. This is a sharp contrast to the scenes of glorious buildings we usually see. Notice the timbers shoring up the arch--this is common in the Arab Quarter. The city is ruled by Israelis who routinely neglect maintenance in Arab areas.
Jerusalem is a 3-dimensional city where many people live and share the space with tourists and religious authorities. The streets are negotiated by people on foot and by small carts. The many steps are only minor impediments. Shops line the main streets which are not much wider than this one.

Field near Bethlehem

The shepherds could have been tending their sheep in a field like this. (The olive trees are a later addition.) See how stoney the ground is. Every part of Israel we saw was stoney like this. In most areas the stones had been gathered up into walls or to terrace the hilly lands.