Day 2 - Thursday 23rd October. Late.
 What a day! We have been following the footsteps of the Patriachs in the Negev Desert starting with the Tel at Beersheba. Beer means "well" and Sheeva means "seven". A Tel is a hill with layer upon layer of different civilisations. So here we are looking at the civilisations as dug up by the archeologists of the Place of the seven wells. One of them could just be Abraham's well. There again maybe it isn't but I, for one, prefer to think it is! We have also visited Tel Arad, the oldest urbanisation in Israel: 5,000 years old, the site of an Israelite fortress. Even better than the Roman Villa on Ashtead Common......or Hadrian's Wall.
The area we have travelled through encompasses modern cities like Tel Aviv and Beersheeba and Bedouin villages just one step up from the nomads tent. In fact we did visit a Bedouin Museum and were entertained to tea in a Bedouin Tent. We have seen sheep following their shepherd as they did in biblical times, men on donkeys and camels.
It seems the camel is the pride of the Bedouin. He treats it all the time with love and respect. Jamal is the Arab word for beauty and elegance and is the word most commonly used when referring to the camel!
A good meal in our hotel, an expensive glass of wine, (just one), and a time of worship together....now it is time to sleep. Breakfast is at 5.00 tomorrow morning!!
Have a happy Ashtead weekend.
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