Bahai and Caesarea Maritima

I'm back! I finally am back at the center! It has been a long couple of weeks. I'm so glad not to be living out of a suitcase anymore and I'm so glad to have clean clothing! (Right - Our tiny hotel room with our cramped space). But that is a different story. So, before I tell about my day today, I wanted to let you know that I have posts for the days since Easter, but it will probably take me awhile to get them posted because of adding pictures, but I will try to be faster about that than I have been.
Anyway, today was a pretty good day. I have to admit that I was pretty beat the entire day. 11 days of travel really begins to wear on you after awhile. (Left - The Baha'u'llah. I'm not really sure what these buildings are, though I think the one on the right is the place where the leader lived and the one on the right is the tomb). It didn't help that we didn't have the nicest accommodations. It definitely could have been worse, but our room was tiny and rather cramped with four girls stuffed into a room made for two. (Right - I am sitting in front of the Bahai chapel, I believe it is called the Hall of Reason). They squeezed an extra bed in and then set up a cot for the fourth girl. Our room actually got cold last night so we didn't sleep as well. (Left - The Bahai Gardens in Haifa). But, despite that, it was nice to be able to sleep in until 7:00. Breakfast was actually pretty good, too, so that was also nice.
We got out on the road and headed first for Baha'u'llah. That is a garden set up by the Bahai people. I don't know how much you know about that group of people, but it is a religion that is basically an offshoot of Islam. They claim to be the fulfillment of all religions and they accept almost all prophets of other religions. (Right - Roman Aqueduct near the Mediterranean Sea). There are a couple of exceptions (including Joseph Smith). Anyway, they preach peace and reason. I'd never heard of them before, so it was interesting to learn about them. They have about 18 million members world wide. The gardens were beautiful and very peaceful. We were going to go to the Bahai Gardens in Haifa, but it didn't work out. (Left - Caesarea Maritima). Instead, on our way down the coast, we stopped and took pictures from the outside. It was very beautiful and I wish we could have gone in, but at least we got to go to the Baha'u'llah.
Our next stop was supposed to be the Templar Cemetery, but our bus driver got lost and so we missed it. Instead we stopped on the beach and ate lunch. (Right - Mediterranean Sea). It was nice to play in the Mediterranean Sea. We also saw some ancient Roman aqueducts.
Our final stop of the day was Caesarea Maritima. That is a city built by Herod the Great in honor of Augustus Caesar. He built a large artificial port, a theater, an amphitheater, a hippodrome, and a palace. The city plays a prominant role in the history of Christianity. Pontius Pilate lived there. It is very likely that Paul passed through the port. It was really cool. We had a nice relaxing time there before we got on the bus and headed back to the center.