Urfa Style Dinner Party Anyone?

As we left Mardin, I realized that Tekin’s pattern was to feel hungry and duck into the first restaurant he encountered. It didn’t seem to matter what was on the menu or what the atmosphere was. I guess it was a fast food mentality although the restaurants were certainly not party of any chain. I read through the restaurant section of the tour book for Mardin and noticed the experience we could have had and then searched for restaurants in Urfa which was our next destination. I noticed that there was a restaurant that “occupies a wonderful old Urfa house where you dine on floor cushions in a series of rooms set around a courtyard.” I have vivid memories of eating in such a room in the home of a Druze family in the village of Majd al-Shams in the northern Golan Heights and in a restaurant in Jerusalem and would like to create such a room someday so I recommended to the companions that we go there. I also determined that paying 2 or 3 dollars more for better food would help me as I scout out dishes that I would like to learn for a chapter on Turkish food in the next edition of my next dinner party cookbook.

Finding the restaurant in Urfa required a little of extra effort but the wandering paid off in that it lead us to a CD shop that had traditional Urfa style music CDs for 4 dollars each. I bought two and sensed that the Turkish dinner parties I will throw will be done Urfa style. When we reached the restaurant, we were initially disappointed. Rather than food served nearly instantaneously in the cheap restaurants on the corner, we had to wait for food to be prepared—and this after we found that various menu items were unavailable because the main cook was not there. It may have been because it was well after normal lunch time (two in the afternoon) and he was home taking a nap. But the wait was worth it. The food was excellent and I noted the name of the dishes to later search for the recipes—Bostan and Et Sote. I took some pictures of the rooms with pads around the walls and in a niche in the wall—I imagine stick some pillows and pads in a closet and set up the room for dinner parties and then clear it our for other uses.

Back in Istanbul, it finally sunk in that one of my favorite restaurants here features Urfa’s cuisine. It is even called Halil Ibraham—Halil means friend as Abraham is known in the middle east as the friend of God—I think that’s Biblical. Anyways, Hebron is also called Al-Khalil, which makes sense since it has the Tomb of Machpaleh where Abraham was buried. The restaurant had paintings of scenes from Urfa on the walls. I then noticed that other restaurants in the area mentioned Urfa and Tekin confirmed that this little corner of the Aksaray section of the old city of Istanbul, for some reason, features a concentration of restaurants from Urfa. I returned in search of Et Sote a few more times--once to the Aksaray neighborhood when I had some time alone as well as with the group in restaurants in other sections of the city, including one featuring cuisine from Hatay, which is near Urfa in southern Turkey. There, a sojourner had et sote with mushrooms which I liked even better. If anyone wants to get a taste of it before I refine the recipes and invite you all over, http://www.turkish-cuisine.org/english/ seems to have a good collection of turkish recipes.

Second Oasis: Ihlara Valley

My second oasis was exactly what the doctor ordered. I think the doctor in this case was a psychiatrist. I used to half go crazy on long road trips and then learned that if I take hikes along the way I can manage just fine. So when I planned on a trip across Turkey and scheduled in a number of hikes. Unfortunately, the first couple of these, which were both to have happened around Lake Van, didn’t happen. By the time we left Urfa, I was in serious need of some added variety to the routine.

So I split off from Tekin and David at Belichek and took an overnight bus to Aksaray—a modern city of around 100,000 people on the west end of the Cappadocia region. It was a bit after 4:00 a.m. and I was at the new central bus station and needed to get to the new one. So I started walking the few kilometers figuring that I had plenty of time before the mini-bus would leave from the old central bus station to Ihlara Village. After a minute or two of walking someone pulled over and offered me a ride. My knowing no Turkish eliminated the possibility of a conversation with that man and another who, at the old central bus station, invited me in to a café where I couldn’t explain why I was refusing his offer of coffee or tea. I left the café after a while and happened upon a young man who spoke English and the remainder of the wait passed comfortably. After a bit of grocery shopping the mini-bus to Ihlara Village finally arrived and I was off towards my long awaited first hike in Turkey.

I arrived at the hostel at mid-morning expecting to find numerous tourists sitting around exchanging tips and making arrangements for day trips. Instead, I found the place a ghost town—perhaps all the hikers all hit the trail earlier. I read a bit and took a nap to supplement the negligible amount of sleep I caught on the bus. I awoke again around 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. and decided to get to the valley for some hiking.

I started the hike and determined that I would hike now and catch the featured cave-churches later. I walked and walked and walked along the flat riverside trail. It was scenic but I wasn’t in the mood to take many pictures. This was a break from being a tourist. When I arrived at the Selime Monestary—a point where I felt okay with turning back—I decided to take in the site. Perhaps the cone shaped hills I saw across from a village I walked through piqued my interest. I then headed back towards the valleys entrance at Ihlara Valley. At the end of the hike I looked at a few of the cave churches. The frescoes of the snake church seemed most interesting.

I returned to the hostel to find out that I was the only client of the hostel. I found that out at 10:00 p.m. after having gone to sleep at least an hour before. The manager hadn’t asked for my passport which always happens at hotels and hostels in Turkey—some registration requirement for the police—and his replacement knocked on the door dispite there obviously being no light on inside. I told the stranger that I wasn’t going to give him my passport as he could be any Joe and that I’d deal with it in the morning unless he was willing to bring the manager who I had met before. He accepted my reasoning and waking up the manager evidently wouldn’t have been as pleasant an experience as waking up a guest so he tried another tactic to keep me from sleep—he brought the cook by asking what time I wanted my free breakfast in the morning. I told him whatever I thought was going to get him out of there so I could go back to sleep but he brought the cook by and they insisted that I needed to tell him a time so he knew when the cook had to go to work. I then realized that I was the only one in the hostel and I told the cook that he could take tomorrow off as far as I’m concerned I would eat from the food I already had (I had purchased sheep yogurt, some fruit, and wheat bread in Aksaray) and GOOD NIGHT! I doubted that I had dealt with real hostel employees (the whole conversation was through the window as I refused to open the door) until the next morning.

The next day I read until Tekin and David showed up in the mid-afternoon. They had hiked the valley before arriving at the hostel so we decided to go to the nearby town of Guzilyurt where we walked around town in the evening and then visited some more cave churches the next day. By mid-morning we were on our way back to Aksaray and then off to Konya.

Two Days in the Land Between The Two Rivers

A short trip from Batman and we were at the Tigris River. The next two days would be spent in Turkey’s Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "The land between the two rivers"—the area located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). The first day we visited Hasankayf, Midyat and Mardin.

Hasankayf overlooks the Tigris River. It was apparently avery ancient city and features cave dwellings. There are Ayubbid buildings including a mosque with a stork's nest on top of the minaret (the El Rizk Mosque). The nest has been there long enough to be mentioned in the travel guide book. There was also a mosque and castle atop the hill overlooking the river. The bridge over the Tigris looks to have been quite impressive but the spans between the pillars have collapsed.

We got off the bus in Midyat and walked straight through the small town to a Syriac or Syrian Orthodox Monestary not far out of town (this was not the famed monestary which would have required a 20 minute bus ride and which we didn't make it to). Then we climbed a few stairs of a building that provided a nice view over the city. From there I took various photos of the characteristic Syrian steeples. There are 9 Syrian Orthodox churches in the town.

Mardin has a castle on top of the hill and features a view over the Turkey Syria border. We visited a few monques and madrasas, mostly from the 14th century, from an Seljuk empire—one of the successors to the main Seljuk empire. I stopped at couple of soap shops and bought a bar each of olive oil, pistacio and almond soap. That’s all they had—it seemed Mediterranean. The trip out of town took us along the Syria border. Tekin pointed out the the two countries were clearing a mine field on the border and would allow some folks to grow an organic garden there.

After dark at the end of the first day between the two rivers, we arrived in Urfa. I could tell from the size of the street that we were in a bigger city than where we had been before. The city name is known in history and until very recently as Urfa. The theme for the tourist in Urfa is Abraham as apparently he spent some time in the city. We first went to the citadel overlooking the city and then went to a monument commemorating Abraham's birth (claiming to be his birthplace) and then place spent the remainder of the day visiting mosques and the Urfa museum.

Belichek is on the Euphrates River. We arrived on a bus and I walked over from the bus stop a few minutes before sunset to take some pictures of the river. I was soon on an overnight bus to Aksaray and then to Ihlara Valley where I spent some time reading a chapter about Turkeys dam building in the region. It gave the impression that Turkeys use of the two rivers water would transform the region with irrigation allowing agriculture in the region to flourish not to mention the hydroelectric power. Turkeys use of the water would also inhibit similar development in Syria and Iraq where agriculture is also needed. My time in Mesopotamia and the benefit of my meager Arabic language skills had come to an end.

First Oasis: Batman

FIRST OASIS: BATMAN

After the descent through the Bitlis Pass, we encountered flatlands that were to continue through the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and beyond. Our first stop was the city of Batman. Tekin’s mother and sister live in this modern town and our agenda was rest. I spent much of the time putting captions on photos as I expect my memory would fade and sights would lose meaning if I didn’t get to them quickly.

We arrived at what appears to be the most recent addition to the northern end of the city and spent a day and a half secluded there before my impression of Batman as po-dunk was corrected. It turns out that Batman is quite a large oil industry boom town. Turkey produces very little of its own oil but oil exported from Iraq through Turkey is refined in Batman.

Our time in Batman was also about spending time with a wonderful family and enjoying great food. Tekin’s brother in law is a true Turk. He talked of his hunting adventures and taught us to barbaque. The dinner was incredible—lamb kabab well balanced with eggplants and hot peppers cooked directly on the coals before being peeled.

Nobody in the family speaks a English aside from Tekin but they spoke Arabic so I was able to communicate—I realized in Palestine that a little Arabic goes a long way but I didn’t realize the extent to which this would be the case in certain sections of Turkey. I continued to benefit from this through the next three cities until we left the Mesopotamia region. Unfortunately the 80-some year old aunt didn’t seem to understand that I am a novice Arabic speaker so many times she lost me. When we were able to communicate we mostly talked about family history and I floated the idea of Tekin writing down a short biography of some of his aging relatives’ fascinating life stories. Tekin liked the idea so I’ll have to follow up with him later.

The Highland Country around Lake Van

Tekin and I had talked about the idea of flying to southeastern Turkey and visiting various sites on a long trek back to Istanbul over the past few years. He was born in Mardin and has family nearby in Diyarbakir and Batman, but it is more common for his family to visit Istanbul than for him to go east. He prefers the big city and logs travel to Europe and the United States for academic conferences. By February of this year when I stopped by Istanbul (having visited once before) it was clear that the scheme was going to become reality and my exposure to Turkey would finally extend beyond Istanbul.

David and I flew out of Tel Aviv in the afternoon and crashed at Tekin’s place overnight before getting on an early morning flight to Van—a city on the Lake with the same name. We quickly went from the airport to downtown and found a bus to the other side of the lake. Although the bus ride into the city and walking through the main drag for around 15 minutes provided some impressions, I immediately realized that there would be many places we would miss on what could have easily been a journey of four or more times as long. While still on the east side of the lake road signs and glances at a map helped us realize how close we were to Iran.

After a short bus ride we were on a boat to Akdamar Island. The boat trip to Akdamar Island was extremely short as far as boat trips go but the small island is far from land in terms of a place for a church. I wondered what was the purpose of constructing such a church on an island where few if any people could have ever lived? The church is noted for carvings of Biblical and Christian scenes on its exterior. Scenes depicting Adam and Eve and David and Goliath were easy to identify and conveyed their meaning most clearly to me. There are other Armenian Armenian churches in the area and after abandoning Van without so much as absorbing a site this was a mere token nod to eastern Turkey’s Armenian past. But the interest Tekin, who is a practicing Moslem, and I could find in common led us to focus our attention on the Seljuks and their sites are concentrated on the Lake’s western shore.

Our first stop was the small city of Adilcevaz. This was to be the base camp for a hike of Mt. Suphan. However practicalities, elevation and travel weary energy levels sapped interest among the less avid hikers in the group and we merely hiked up a small hill to the town’s Seljuk castle (the Kef Kalesi). From there we descended to the mosque that was next to our hotel but which we had paid no attention to. Lonely Planet only mentions it as the nice little Ulu Camii, built in the 13th century and still used for daily prayer. However the sign on the building indicated that it was designed by Sinan—the masterful architect for Suleiman the Magnificent whose collossal mosques in Istanbul should be near the top of the A list for those visiting that city.

A half day in the small city of Ahlat (population around 30000 near the south-west corner of Lake Van) was the highlight of our time in the area. Ahlat was a Seljuk city—it features impressive Seljuk tombs and a Seljuk cemetary bridge ruins of a bathhouse and a small scale Seljuk museum with finds from the city. Ahlat was the base of the Seljuk leader Alp Asplin when the Seljuks defeated the Byzantines in 1071 c.e. at the Battle of Manzegirt (unfortunately we missed out on the nearby but remote town of Malazgirt where that battle took place). The Seljuk victory in that battle opened Anatolia to Turkish settlement that eventually led to the destruction of the Byzantine Empire by the Ottomans in 1453. As interesting as the historical significance was the realization that Ahlat’s residents still identify themselves as Seljuks. The townsfolk’s friendliness and helpfulness left a lasting impression.

We spent the second night in Tatvan--a small city of Kurdish folk at the south-west corner of Lake Van. Our hotel was about 50 meters from the waterfront and the views over the water were peaceful. There are no antiquities in this modern city but a sunrise stroll yielded some interesting views of peasant houses and women out gardening.

While encountering the unexpected in Islamic architecture wasn’t so unexpected the area’s cuisine was really a surprise. The uniqueness is probably based on the fact that the small cities around Lake Van are inhabited by highland folk. Not only does Van have an elevation of elevation 1,640 meters / 5,381 feet with mountains around it reaching 4,058 meters / 13,314 feet but the inhabitants originate from various highland cultures including Kurds and Seljuks. Even the region’s former inhabitants the Armenians are highlanders. The agriculture and cuisine reflects the environment and cultural background of these traditionally pastoral peoples. There is a lot of lamb and yogurt but the selection of fruits and vegetables is sparce. I couldn’t even find an orange to maintain my citrus-first-thing-in-the-morning habit.

I decided not to insist on hiking Mt. Nemrut as I had hoped to do and we were off to the valley city of Bitlis. While we saw various types of Seljuk ruins in Ahlat we did not encounter a Seljuk mosque. We did so in Bitlis and it reminded me that my knowledge of Islamic architecture has large holes. The minaret is across a small courtyard from the mosque which I believe is exceptional as the minaret is usually attached to the mosque. Why was it built this way? On the inside of the mosque there was a domed ceiling but from the outside there was no dome but rather a cylinder. Is that the way things were in early Seljuk architecture?

The city of Bitlis is on the east end of the Bitlis Pass which leads from the area of Lake Van at higher than 5,000 foot elevation to around 2,000 or 3,000 at Batman. Historically, it was strategically significant not just for the topography but for its location between empires such as between the Byzantines on the one hand and the Persians then Seljuks on the other. The bus ride was scenic—sort of a long Provo Canyon. I reflected on a few days in an area that was foreign enough to reveal various surprises and raise many new questions. I felt that my two previous visits to Turkey, which were limited to Istanbul, had not shown me the real Turkey. Now, however, I felt that I had really encountered Turkey. Unfortunately, the area is so off the beaten track that I may never return to gain much of an understanding of the region’s fascinating people with simple lives.

Wadi Qelt and Jericho

A hike down the eastern half of Wadi Qelt is enough to restore anyones enthusiasm for desert hiking. The hikes around Eilat have some interesting features and was a great escape from the snowfall a couple hundred miles away, but it doesn't compare to the beauty of the valley that heads eastward from Jerusalem to Jericho. Wadi Qelt has plants at reasonable intervals as well as some man made scenery, including a few monestaries, to go along with interesting rock formations.

At the end of the hike is Jericho. An ancient city that came under Palestinian control in the 1990s. There, the group enjoyed a typical Palestinian lunch featuring the Arab Salads that I love so much. After lunch, we walked through town to Tel Jericho--the ancient city whose wall miraculously fell down in the Bible story.

Ancient Jericho was a disappointment. I had visited the site years ago while it was still under Israeli control. Now, under Palestinian control, it has completely gone to pot. There was virtually no information and most of the fences to keep people from walking around on the ruins were laying on the ground. I imagined that the PA would have put up their own signs that omitted any mention of Israel and emphasized other eras of history but was surprised to find that there was very little signage and that which existed was run down. Still, there were a couple of noticable features such as Rahab's Tower and the city's fallen wall.

Bible Tourism in Northern Israel

This week's trip to the Sea of Galilee was less well planned than I am accustomed to. It started out as other recent trips have--a trip in a local bus across Jerusalem to the central bus station and an intercity bus for a couple of hours. But we (David Sandberg, who is visiting from the states and I) only had a rough outline of where we would be going and we had a long list of what we wanted to see. We ended up hiking a lot less than expected--I don't mind hot weather but David wasn't doing too well in it--so we saw the sites on our list more quickly than anticipated.

We arrived in Tiberias Monday evening, did some shopping and walked around town. The next morning, we hopped on rented bicycles for a little less than 10 mile ride to the Christian sites on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. It turns out that the bikes, aside from being heavy mountain bikes, had some minor technical problems that made the trip a bit more of a challenge than it should have been. But we managed to get first to a church that commemorates the Beatitutes and then to one commemorating the miracle of multiplying the loaves and fishes and finally to Capernaum. At each site, we read scriptures that went along with the site.

By the time we were done seeing the sites, we were in for a ride back to Tiberias in hot weather. That afternoon we took a bus to Beit Shean--a small Israeli city around 25 kilometers south of the Sea of Galilee. We checked into a small bed and breakfast, after being told that there were no rooms available in the hostel, and relaxed--I started reading and before long was ready to sleep--it was 7:40 p.m. The next morning, we visited Beit Shean's archaeology park. It features the very interesting remains of a Roman City--the capitol of the Decapolis. The most interesting features are a Roman style theater, Roman bath house, mosaics, and a Roman bridge over a river. The city was located at a strategic point along the Jordan Valley and the Jezreel Valley so it was fought over many times and there is a tall tel with many layers. I also took note of the story of King Saul's demise at the nearby Mount Gilboa and the connection with Beit Shean noted in 1 Samuel:

Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together. And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. And they put his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

After Beit Shean, I felt like we should go to Nazareth. As we got off the bus near the Basilica of the Annunciation, I asked a young lady and her mother where they were from (I had noticed that they spoke english). They are from Logan, Utah. We visited a few churches together in Nazareth. My favorite was the simple "Church Synagogue." The current building was built in the 12th century but it was supposedly built over a synagogue where Jesus' family likely worshipped as Jesus was growing up and where Jesus first publically suggested that he is the Messiah (Luke 4:16-30):

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

We caught a sight of the cliff from which tradition claims the folks of Nazareth wanted to toss Jesus to his death as we and trekked down a long street, around a corner and up the hill to catch the bus to our next destination.

David and I then decided to backtrack a bit in preparation for visits to Mount Tabor and Megiddo the next day. Mt. Tabor is a candidate as the site of the Transfiguration. The hike was very steep--pretty much straight up (and later straight down) so we decided to hit the dirt roads and make it longer but less steep. It ended up being a reasonably long hike. Upon reaching the top, we read the account of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13):

And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afriad. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

Reading a handful of verses about a scriptural event while you're at a site where it happened, or at is commemorated, has an amazing effect. I wasn't in the mood for the church though. It was built in the 20th century over remains of a 4th century Byzantine church and a 12th century crusader church. Before descending we sat down again and read the verses more carefully.

Then we were off to Megiddo--an archaeology site of an ancient strategic outpost and the future battle of Armaggedon. The sites has a great view of the valley (but it was a dusty day so there are no good photos to show) including Nazareth and Mount Tabor to the northeast. There are remains of various buildings but I took note of the city's gate, the grain storage pit, water system and horse stables. The scriptural connection I took note of was 1 Kings 9:15-19:

And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the LORD, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon’s wife. And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

While the the mentioned tax is more important in connection with the building of the Temple, I took note of the cities for his chariots--one of which was Megiddo. We dragged ourselves down to the main intersection and waited around 10 minutes for the direct bus to Jerusalem. I took out my mini Israel map and followed along as we passed arab villages and cities, some on Israel's side of the wall and some on the other, to the east of the highway. Before long we were back in Jerusalem to rest before a few last excursions before my role as David's tour guide in Israel comes to an end.