Wed - 4/22/09

4/22/09
The day started at 0830 again, with checking out and piling the luggage in the Mini Van and off to Tiberias.

We drove along the West Bank on one side and the Jordanian Border on the other. They have a good friend in Jordon, and they share their agriculture knowledge with them. We passed more Bedouin Shepherds, and farmers along the way, and orchards of Bananas, citrus, and fields of tomatoes and egg plants just to name a few, and the flowers, you cannot imagine! The Israeli’s can grow anything in the desert! Oh we did pass a rather large prison for terrorist. We saw more soldiers on this route, but never felt uneasy or unsafe.

Our first stop was in Nazareth, at the Church of the Annunciation. This is the location where Gabriel came to Mary and told her she was going to be with child. It’s a magnificent church, beautiful stain glass, and a mosaic tile picture from every country portraying Mary. Underneath a building you could see Mary’s well. The home of Joseph was next door, and again underneath his home was found. To get to this church you walked up narrow streets with vendors. On the way back we stopped and had fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. (Which is a tree that I had already said we are planting next year)

Our next stop Tabgha the traditional site of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. Next was a restaurant overlooking the Sea of Galilee to have St. Peters’ Fish, fish caught in the Sea of Galilee daily. Looking across the Sea (really a lake) you look at the Golan Heights.

We then went to the town Jesus lived and preformed most of his miracles, Capernaum. This was a site with the largest limestone synagogue ever found, St. Peter’s house (his mother-in-laws), and a Byzantine Octagonal church. You would be amazed at what has made it through the centuries.

Our last stop for the day was the Mount of the Beatitudes, it is the site where Jesus gave his sermon on the mount. Atop a very large hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee you could visualize his followers covering the hill side.

Dinner was great, at a restaurant named “Decks” that sat out over the Sea of Galilee, the food was local, natural, and cook over open fires. The salads in this country are the freshest that you will eat anywhere.