The last day of the Israel portion of the tour I took in 2010 to Israel & Jordan was spent taking our time to return to Tel Aviv by visiting some additional interesting locations. The first one was Latrun (Latroun), which is on a hilltop in the Valley of Ayalon, where Joshua commanded the sun to be still so they could complete the battle against the Amorites before dark. Samson was also born in the area. Our visit was to the 1890 Trappist Monastery, set in a beautiful garden.
I would have loved to have purchased a bottle of the wine they produce at the monastery, but I was going to be picked up at 4:30am the next day to catch the flight to Jordan. No time to drink it all and couldn’t take it on the plane. Too bad we didn’t stop off there when we started the trip.
Our next stop was Emmaus. We visited the remains of a 2nd century basilica that had been built on what was assumed to be the site where Jesus manifested himself to a couple of the disciples after He arose following the crucifixion. This basilica was rebuilt first by the Byzantines and later by the Crusaders. Near the basilica are a few 1st century tombs. It was great to see one “in the wild”.
The Valley of Elah was where the story of David and Goliath took place. Tol pointed out the one hill where the Israelites were hanging out and the other hill where the Phillistines were encamped. Not much imagination was needed here as the two hills and the area between them didn’t seem to be much altered. Tol then described how Goliath came down from the hill to our right and challenged the Israelites. David then came down from the hill to our left to face him.
A couple of posts ago, I described how I tripped and fell at David’s tomb, smacked against the gate separating the women’s section from the tomb itself and the dollar bill in my hand flew into the tomb area, landing in front of the sarcophagus. Tol had been teasing me about it for the remainder of the trip. So, when he described David facing Goliath and asked what we might say to David at that moment, I responded, “you owe me a dollar.” It was a laugh that was well worth the two-day wait.
We went into Tel Aviv for lunch and then back-tracked to Jaffa for some sightseeing in Old Jaffa. Archeological evidence shows that Jaffa has been in existence at least as far back as 7500 BC. Whenever anything is excavated, they find evidence of nearly every period of history all mixed together. I really enjoyed Jaffa with its narrow cobbled streets and thousands of years of history.
When we got to Tel Aviv, those of us who were headed to Jordan (16 out of 26), would have preferred to dine fairly early to get some rest before our flight to Amman. Since we weren’t dining until 8:00pm, I got everything ready to go so I didn’t have much to do when I returned to my room. It was a farewell dinner for everyone who was leaving the tour that night, but the group going to Jordan all bailed a little past 9:00pm.
Next time – arriving bleary-eyed but excited for new adventures in Jordan.
Latroun Monastery 
Latroun Monastery Interior 
Emmaus Basilica Ruins 
1st Century Tomb at Emmaus 
Valley of Elah 
Tel Aviv 
Jaffa 
Old Jaffa Harbor 
Jaffa Street 
Old Jaffa 
Old Jaffa Street