Beit Lehi / Beit Loya: A night on the site - Exploring Beit Lehi/Loya

Members of the archeological team that wanted, could camp on the site.  

The evening camp

This gave Dallin and I the opportunity to do some late night exploring. As of yet, I hadn't taken him to the main Beit Lehi site we'd visited in 2012.  We took the afternoon and explored this site. 

The Idumean temple walls

A sacred mikvah (ritual bath)

Massive oil presses

There's something about this room...

The outer room...

The inner room...

There's just something about it.  I want to go back and explore further.

 THE BYZANTINE CHAPEL

To my surprise, as I led Dallin to the beautiful Byzantine church, with its mosaic floors,  I sensed him stop.  I turned to see him staring at the floors.  He was clearly having a surreal experience.  I walked away to let him have this moment.  I have a video of the event, but it's too personal to share.  It wasn't until later when I found him sitting in a stairwell, that I realized he was overwhelmed (positively) with the experience.  

We climbed through the mikvahs and olive presses. Such an amazing place:  

Note the chisel marks with which the creators formed these tunnels

Dove cotes

The sunset of Beit Lehi