One of the stops we made yesterday was to the Castle. We are hoping to understand and appreciate this culture through learning more about it. The Museum was small but the attendant was very informative and anxious to show us his treasures.  We were able to ask questions in my next to no Italian and his next to no English. We explained we are missionaries living in the area for the next 18 months. He said yah I see your tags! He had pottery from as far back as Roman and Medieval through 1500 to 1700 centuries. The castle walls are massive, I thought they were a couple of 100 feet high, Brother B not so much. The area is huge though. The largest one we have seen, mainly because the walls go in forever. We drove outside the city and found more along a road. The map that was drawn of the ancient city plan has the evidence in plain view all around. What the map did not include are the cities built on the mountains tops. The construction is of some kind of white material because they stand out against the green around them, the scripture “a city set on a hill cannot be hid” comes to mind very quickly when can see the cities both day and night.

It is a little hard to see but the cars below give an idea of the size. That is a 8 story apartment beside the walls.

We are standing on the top of the ruins where the big guns were used to protect the city.

The dwelling places of the army.

 Lend a hand?

 We took pictures from the top and the bottom.

 People here are out on the street from 8 until 1 so you hear the noise and bustle of business and then almost all go back to their homes until 3:30. It is really rather quiet and very little traffic, then everyone is back out until 8 or 9 pm.   They are on the streets walking and going to the market and visiting. We see many, many groups with anywhere from 2- 6 older men standing on the street visiting. The women have small shopping bags for food, they shop each and every day except Sunday. There are very few shops open on Sunday. Daily Noon Mass is also part of their lives. The Church bells ring though out the city, it is such fun to hear them and be reminded of the Blessing the Gospel of Jesus Christ is in our lives.