What I Saw In The Holy Land 4.4
These people aren't with our group (by the way, it's verboten in the Holy Land to wear shorts. No one will let you enter any of the holy places unless your legs are decently covered, so don't try this), but I wanted to show you a sycamore tree. The Palestinian Authority has been trying to build up Jericho as a tourist site, so it claims this tree is the very one Zaccheus mounted to see Christ. That's a bit doubtful, since it's not on the main road Christ would have used, but it's nice to get a sense of what a sycamore looks like. I wish you could see the fences across the street and just to the left in this photo; they're covered with blooming vines in tropical colors: orange, fuschia, pink. And every home seems to have its own date palm, banana and citrus trees. The citrus trees weren't there of course in Christ's time --they're a Muslim import-- but they certainly make everything smell wonderful.
Also in Jericho are some sites I didn't see and wish we'd had time for, including an ancient synagogue and an Herodian palace. Next stop: Nazareth.
