Day 2

We started the day of with a quick breakfast and then boarded the bus to begin our long day. surprising moment number 1 of the day - all the bellhops carried 9mm pistols!



We first went to the port town of Joppa. This was an important port town, but when the british formed the port of Hoffa the town of Joppa was desolated, everyone left. Now it is just a nice touristy/wedding spot.

Acts 9-10, the healing of Tabitha by peter. The church of St. Peter, with a painting of the dream of Cornelius.

We then took a quick bus ride to Cesarea Maritima.

On the bus we heard an nteresting bit about Israel. Has 2 capitals, one in fact- jerusalem, and one in practice - Tel Aviv. The parliament, presidential palace and other governmental offices are all in Jerusalem, but all of the foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv. Most foreign governments welcomed the establishment of a Jewish state after World War Two, but would not accept Jerusalem as the capital. Most governments would see the holy city of Jerusalem as an international city.

A part of the trip will be to come to understand the current political situation here in israel. The situation of the local and foreign politics, as well as the position of the holy see. Later on in the pilgrimage we will have an audience with the Apostolic Patriarch Archbishop Franco. Meeting with him will enable us to further understand the position of the Holy See on the state of Israel. We hope to likewise have a audience with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Fwad Twal.

Caesarea Maritima was fascinating. It was at one time one of the five largest cities in the world, comparable to rome itself. It had 2 theaters and 2 circus’. We learned that a theatre is in fact only a half circle, whereas an amphitheater is a full circle. Caesarea Maritima was at one time the home of Herod and Pontius Pilate. Pilate lived here while governor and would travel to Jerusalem for the different feasts - which is why he was in Jerusalem during the passion of our Lord. This was also the place of the trial of St. Paul where he took his recourse to Caesar and was then sent to rome where Nero had him martyred.





Acco was next. Acco was crusaders town, with certain medieval structures still standing. We visited a templar building which included tunnels that went though out the structure and even the city, escape tunnels that led to the port. These very tunnels were used by the templars when the city of Acco was lost to the muslims. The gothic structures were fantastic, with many pure examples of gothic architecture still standing.

This evening we made our way up to Mt. Carmel for Holy Mass. Msgr. Swiader celebrated a beautiful Mass on the high altar of the church. After visiting the gift shop we boarded the bus and began our journey to the Mount of the Beatitudes where we will be staying for the next four days.