Flying a Kite at the End of the World

On my last full day staying in Jerusalem, I went to Tel Megiddo. The site is about an hour and forty minutes north and west of Jerusalem, and just a bit south and west of the Sea of Galilee.

In biblical times, it was known as Har-Megiddon, later truncated to Armageddon You might have heard of it.

I'd wanted to go there in the morning, and down to the Dead Sea in the afternoon. Alas, the buses stop during Shabbat, and I didn't particularly want to be stuck at the Dead Sea overnight.
So I only got to Megiddo.

Some fun facts:

• The site itself is ancient, and extensive digs in the early/middle 20th century showed several layers of ruins.
• Tel Megiddo was basically uninhabited for many centuries, since fairly ancient times. More recently, there's a sizable kibbutz nearby, and the mountain (hill?) is a national park.
• There's a prison nearby, which seems oddly appropriate.
• The scenery surrounding Megiddo is absolutely beautiful, with open plains bordered by distant mountains. I took plenty of pictures.

In addition to going up there to see such an eschatological relic, I really wanted to fly a kite there. Nay, I'd really wanted to fly a kite for a few days. The evening wind is perfect for it, and it seemed like an appropriately meditative way to pass some time.

Furthermore, how many people can say they've flown a kite where the Final Battle is prophecized to take place?

Lessons:
1: A 2-shekel (about $0.50) kite that was made in China isn't up to the winds of a desert mountain. All the kites here are gigantic for a reason, whose name is stability.
2: If you're going to do something weird, have a cover story.

Despite a sincere instability, leading to a brevity punctuated by some epic nose-dives, the kite-flying was a lot of fun.

A few tourist groups passed through- the first was a gaggle of what I took to be archaeologist academics, discussing things and taking pictures. The other groups were definitely bible tour-groups, who seemed a bit off-put or at least confused by my kite.

If they asked, I decided, I would tell them I was doing field research for my thesis on the theological significance of air-currents at sites described in the Book of Revelations.

I thought it sounded pretty neat. They didn't ask. I tried to look academic and thoughtful nonetheless, which is no easy task when drenched in sweat and flying a rainbow-colored kite that keeps crashing.

Before busting out the kite, I sat for a bit on the mountaintop, thinking about all these ancient sites in all these holy stories. It's strange and powerful, experiencing them not as abstract, far-away locations from pictures but as tangible, touchable, places.

Eventually, I discarded the kite, descended from the ruins, and then had cold lemonade and a Twix bar from the Armageddon Restaurant (it wasn't actually called this, unfortunately. For the most part, they downplayed the end-times aspect of the site)

Did I mention walking from the bus stop to there, and back? In the middle of the day? It was hot, sweaty, at least a mile if not more, and I got my boots all dusty in the best kind of way.

I got back to Jerusalem on the 2nd or 3rd to last bus before they shut down for Shabbat.