.jpg)
We drove past landscape that varied from very rocky to lush green fields to beautiful fields of red wildflowers that were peppered with people picking them, a truly beautiful sight. After about 45 minutes we got a glimpse of the Sea of Galilee with the Golan Heights in the distance. This reinforced the feeling that Israel is a very small country surrounded by enemies as in 1967 they took the Heights from Syria and, to this day, it is governed under Israeli law.
The Sea of Galilee, is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately 64 sq. miles with a maximum depth of approximately 141 feet. At 702 ft. below sea level, it is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth and the second-lowest lake (after the Dead Sea, a saltwater lake). The lake is fed partly by underground springs although its main source is the Jordan River, which flows through it from north to south.
Our first stop was at a touristy place called Yardenit which is said to be the site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. The Jordan River is apparently filled with silt because it is a slow moving brown river about 30 feet across. Fairly large, but apparently friendly river rats were plying there way along the shore and in the river, within 30 feet of where a group of body-length T-shirt-clad tourists were receiving full submersion baptisms. They were very emotional about it and I captured a few pictures that really told that story. The rats sort of scared me off from trying to take part in the baptism euphoria. That, and the fact that I didn’t want to get all covered in nasty brown water for the rest of our bus ride.
Much of the ministry of Jesus occurred on the shores of Lake Galilee. In those days, there was a continuous ribbon development of settlements and villages around the lake and plenty of trade and ferrying by boat. The gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke describe how Jesus recruited four of his apostles from the shores of Lake Galilee: the fishermen Simon and his brother Andrew and the brothers John and James.
Leaving Yardenit we drove along the shore and past the city ancient Roman city of Tiberias which is now peppered with large resort hotels, high rise condos and seaside campers in little pop-up tents. Quite a site. While all the surprised people on the bus gawked at all the campers I managed to get some pretty good shots of the campers and even a nice shot of beautiful yellow and white umbrellas setup near the Hotel Leonardo. Turns out, Israelis really know how to have a good time and relax!
Leaving the shore we then drove past more green and yellow fields and even some banana trees! Seems that, while agriculture is only about 6% of Israel’s GDP they have become fairly water efficient at becoming a major citrus grower and even bananas. One of Jesus’ famous teaching episodes, the Sermon on the Mount, is supposed to have been given on a hill overlooking the lake and it has been celebrated as being such for over 1600 years. Good enough for me. Many of his miracles are also said to have occurred here including his walking on water, calming the storm, the disciples and the boatload of fish, and his feeding five thousand. We arrived at the location where this is said to take place at the Mt of Beatitudes.
Pope Paul VI visited this site in 1964 and it is well advertised around the site. Remains of a cistern and monastery circa 4th-7th century are on the site as is a Roman Catholic Franciscan chapel where Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass on March 2000. It was a lovely setting with many interesting mosaics and stained glass windows.
Next we traveled a short distance to the city of Capernaum. I remembered this name from our bible studies as being a place where Jesus spent quite a bit of time with Peter. There are ruins of what is supposed to be Peter’s house where the rock was located on which he built the church. There is also the ruins of an ancient church called The White Synagogue which has beautiful columns with lots of carvings and on which site was previously the Synagogue of Jesus.
Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Nazareth is known as “the Arab capital of Israel” and the population is made up predominantly of Arab citizens, the majority of whom are Muslim. In the New Testament, the city is described as the childhood home of Jesus, and as such is a center of Christian pilgrimage, with many shrines commemorating biblical events.
We went to the place where Jesus is said to have grown up after his parents returned from his birth in Bethlehem and their escape from Herod’s baby killing spree to Egypt. It is said that Joseph was a carpenter in Nazareth and one of the pictures shows the place where Jesus lived and where he would have learned the trade from his father. Like most things here there is a lot of confusion, conjecture and research being done based on excavations that have taken place over many years. But, it’s a good story nonetheless and inspiring to visualize what might have taken place here.
The group took a tour of a beautiful church called The Church of St. Joseph. In the courtyard outside there were about 50 beautiful mosaics representing important parts of the Gospel and each was created and donated by a different country. I have pictures of most of them in the complete Gallery. There were also some great statues around the property. People watching in Nazareth was very interesting and they were more than happy for me to take their picture. We also had some time to have a snack from the local vendors and restaurants including having a nice cold beer.
One thing’s for sure. There has been a lot of change over the last few thousand years in this area as one group after another came in, destroyed and killed, set up their government only to be overtaken a couple hundred years later by another group. Hopefully, things have calmed down but don’t talk to the Iranians about that.
The Gallery for Top Pictures for Sea of Galilee:
The Gallery for Top Pictures for Capernaum:
The Gallery for Top Pictures for Nazareth:
Click here to view the entire day’s Picture Gallery.