Jericho

I  absolutely loved Jericho.  Driving into town I saw several green houses and lots of bougainvillea.  This was nice, I could live here.  We also saw two big correctional type facilities a reminder that we aren't in Kansas.   The nice homes have beautiful stone walls around them.  I saw several beautiful stone homes that were unfinished and appeared to be abandoned.  A potentially new project. 

 A fruit stand, lots of dates.  They have orchards of date palms and I also saw a pomegranate grove.

This is the Quruntul Monastery.  Here, according to tradition, the Devil tempted Jesus following the Savior's forty-day fast.  During the Byzantine period, monasteries were built in this area to commemorate this event as well as other scriptural events.  You can ride a tram up to see it for about $8.

 If you look up to the top of the mountain you will see this herodian fortress.  It was built by none other than Herod the great builder and very evil human being.  But we shall talk more of him later.

The good old life.  A local rancher on his donkey herding his sheep.

Ahh, home sweet home.

Jericho is located on the Jordan River flood plain next to a Spring.  Jericho has good soil, water and a warm climate that makes it ideal for agriculture to flourish thus you can see why it claims to be one of the oldest cities found.  The following pictures are of archaeological digs.  They have found at least 20 layers of civilizations.  When one group of people were conquered or destroyed they would level the place and build new.

 The above picture is of a tower that dates back to 8000 BC.  The iron grate is of course modern and blocks the way into this fortification tower.  The stairs inside and the tower itself is considered the oldest man-made structure in the world. This structure belongs to the lowest and oldest strata.

 Some very old pottery.  Wouldn't they be fun to make!  The below picture is actually a picture of the movie they showed us.  There was no one on site digging when we were there.

 Beautiful, ancient art!

 The waters of Jericho.

 An ancient family tomb.

 A date palm loaded with fruit.