Hezekiah's Tunnel

Since Jerusalem is on a mountain, it is naturally defensible from almost all sides, but its weakness is that its major source of fresh water, the Gihon spring, is on the side of the cliff overlooking the Kidron Valley (the valley many believe to be the Valley of the Shadow of Death). Since the spring was outside the high city walls King Hezekiah had this tunnel built around 701BC to bring water into the city. One team of men started at each end and they met somewhere in the middle of the 533 meter long tunnel. You can see a few spots in the tunnel where they started going the wrong direction and had to change course. You can also see the spot where they met in the middle because the chisel marks reverse directions. In some places the tunnel is quite tall, but in others even short little me had to duck. It made for a refreshing end to a long hot day. Our guide told us the water would maybe go up to our knees, but I guess that was just for people with regular length legs...