JC Was Here
Bulldozers in Jerusalem made a strange discovery this year. What road workers took to be random rock lying beneath the bitumen was actually a carved step. Two steps. A few more shovel scrapes unearthed an entire banked terrace, dating back 2000 years ago.
To the Messiah’s heyday in fact, the stonework the seating belonging to the missing Pool of Siloam, a meeting place for Jewish pilgrims, and a healing pond for the sick and lame. Jesus had not only dipped there, according to John, but had made a blind man see.
Now you can clap eyes on the Pool of Siloam, without leaving Australian shores. The homegrown version, fed by underground springs, lies on the fringes of Bridgeport, on SA’s Limestone Coast.
Immune from the tidal action of the nearby Pacific, our own Pool of Siloam is said to be as therapeutic as the original, though don’t expect any miracles. The water’s so salty, roughly seven times tangier than brine, you can’t hope to duck-dive, at least not for long. Better off floating on your back, and reading Dan Brown’s latest Biblical conspiracy.
[http://www.beachportholidayunits.com/images/beachport.pdf offers a map, with the pool down the end of McCourt Street, above the the Salmon Hole.]