If you know of any unusual landmarks in your part of the world, show us what you've got. You can list landmarks that are political or religious in nature, or just landmarks that you find interesting. This is a strange one, it's called Carhenge in Nebraska. It's a replica of Stonehenge, except it's made out of cars. Carhenge
eh eh... time to show off! I start with the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, where according to the (catholic) Christian faith the Annunciation took place. That's about 1 mile from my doorstep. This is bottommost floor of the church, where Jesus lived with Mary. The whole church site is a huge excavation area to reveal the biblical Nazareth. The grotto of Jesus (behind the people, enclosed with a fence) is holy: it is entered only by the local priests and the pope (Johl Paul II in 2000, Benedict XVI couple of months ago). What is special about this church is that couple of years ago, since they have more donations and money than they need, they asked the catholic communities that instead of bringing money, to bring a piece of art: this piece must be a mosaic, depicting mary holding jesus in her hands. In the church's walls and yard there are about 200 such mosaics, where jesus looks Asian (in the Japanese one), black (in the african ones), and latino (in the s. american ones) Here is part of the japanese one: For the orthodox greek church, they believe that the annunciation took place about half a mile from there, and they have erected another church, the greek-orthodox church of annunciation, where Mary's well the ancient water source of biblical Nazareth is located, and it springs from the middle of the church. Next, Walking upwards from the church of annunciation, we have the tiny synagogue church (to my amazement no English wiki! - watch the pics), where according to Luke 4, 16-30, jesus preached to the people of Nazareth. It is a really small and intimate one, right on the old market.
Further up, we have the white mosque, constructed in 1785 by the Ottomans. (This picture was probably taken during Ramadan, and this is what the sign on top of the entrance gate reads) The white mosque, which is the 2nd largest, oldest mosque of Nazareth offers place for 1500 people during the weekend prayers. The mosque is currently administered by the waqf of Atif al'Fahoum, a friend of mine, and descendant Abdullah al-Fahoum, the deputy of the ottoman governour of Palestine in the 18th century. Abdullah al-Fahoum's grave is located within the mosque behind which there is a family tree which relates him all the way back to prophet mohammed's cousin. Atif never lets anybody get near the tomb or the family tree unless escorted by him. In Israel's war of independence, the surrender (capitulation) agreement between the city of Nazareth and the newly born Israeli forces was signed between Haim Laskov and Atif's grandfather, at that time the mayor of the city. in 1948, Nazareth was 75% Christian and there was huge pressure from the vatican on both sides to refrain from hostilities and sign an agreement. Nazareth capitulated and is today the biggest Arab city in Israel. The original agreement is in the guest book of the mosque, under the supervision of Atif - who is also my Arabic teacher. Anyway, today Nazareth is a predominantly muslim (75%), maybe some other time I will tell the story of the Christian-Muslim relations and struggles among the Palestinians of Nazareth... really interesting stuff. There is much more to see in Nazareth, but lets move on. About 10km from my home is the marvelous mount of tabor, which looks like a half ball At the top of the mountain we have the Church of the Transfiguration, where according to the Christian belief the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ took place. At the place there is an enchanting 1000 year old monastery, and the scenary of the lower-galilee is breath taking, as well as the mountain itself.
Again only 10km from my place, but this time in the other direction, we have the ancient city of Zippori (=Hebrew. Roman: Sepphoris, Arabic: Saphuriyeh) This place has the most beautiful mosaics ever discovered, including the famous one commonly known as "The Mona Lisa of the Galilee" Another lovely mosaic among the tons of archaeological treasures found on site is part of the floor of the synagogue dating from the 7th century, which depicts the wheel of fortunates - and ever zodiac sign is inscribed in Hebrew (and also its corresponding jewish calendar month) - using the same Hebrew that we use today, so that every Israeli 2nd grader can read it. (watch the human feet to get impression of the size of it). The jews who lived and propered in Zippori were traitors during all of the Jewish-Roman Wars they sided with the romans and did not take part in the rebellions, and the Roman rewarded them with a lot of plenty. The splendor and life quality of the people lived there can still be seen by the tons of mosaics, ritual baths, and the gigantic engineering project of the Zippori water reservoir (sorry...no wiki page...), where people can walk underground from the fountains nearby to the city. http://www.webb.org/CMSWebb/assets/0/18/492/494/thumb_1f278137-c78b-44e8-ae09-d86694ad4123.jpg But then, you know, the jews, ask polite teen, you can't trust them. in the 4th century (351 AD) they decided to rebell against the romans. After they were defeated by Ursicinus. But at least you can say that these guys have good timing: anyway in 363 AD an earthquake destroyed the city. In zippori we have also a roman amphitheatre, and a crusader citadel from the 13th century.
Anyway, I got a bit tired. Northern Israel is only 65 km wide and 50 km long. There is so much to see, I recommend tourists to see it in no less than 10 days. There is so much more fascinating stuff all within no more than 30 minutes drive from my place. I am a licensed tour guide in Hebrew, English, German, and Russian, and u're all welcome to come over for a free tour ! But if you have more appetite, feel free to continue this tour on wikipedia: The AMAZING Bahai temple: (This temple employs 150 gardners in full time job!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahá'í_World_Centre The German Colony: where I love tell the sex scandals of the Christian Germans who arrived at the end of the 19th century to welcome Jesus, who was expected to arrive to the holy land in 2000 and redeem and salvage humanity, if the audience is at the right age The Gigantic British cemetery where victims of the battles for occupation of Palestine from the Turks (WWI - 1917) are burried: there are a total of 7 of them across the country, each one also contain a section where hindu soldiers ashes is burried, and another section for the muslim british soldiers who participated in the battles. Today it is obvious, but at that time it was a revolutionary idea - that when a soldier dies, he dies for his country, and he deserves to be honored by his country for that. Anyway, I have a lot of stories to tell on the British campaign to occupy Palsetine from the turks..... The old city of Acre, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acre,_Israel . These walls that you see in the picture are 5000 years old. The ancient roman city of Beit Shean (Scythopolis), destroyed in an earthquake at the peek of the roman period and restored 2000 years later. I took part in the excavations and it was just amazing to see how we can sense the moment of disaster in the archaeology. One more place is the Qafzeh Cave, where human remains were discovered, most recent estimates are at 125,000 years old. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qafzeh And of course, I conclude it with the end of the world: Ar Megiddo, Hebrew for: "Mountain of Megiddo", which was twisted (Chinese whispers) in 2000 years of European Christianity to become "Armageddon".
That's really cool, I love Robin Hood. That would be fun - I can tell, you know a lot about history. Thanks for this virtual tour, how much of a tip do you get? Old synagogues with intricate mosaics, temples, mosques - thousands of years old, very nice. Though you haven't really lived until you've stood next to Salem Sue - the biggest cow statue in North Dakota! (just kidding) Salem Sue