My OneWorld Around The World Trip: Israel, Day 4, Nazareth, Jordan River, Sea of Galilee

It was a bit sad for us to check out in the morning from American Colony, by far the hotel with the most character where we stayed, although we got to see some other really nice ones along the way. But since the drive up to the Sea of Galilee is 2-3 hours, and we were heading even further north from there after that, it did not make sense to try to come all the way back down to Jerusalem tonight. So, we packed up again, and Sam picked us up after breakfast.

The drive up to Nazareth was uneventful but beautiful. Along the way there were some notable spots. We passed the spot where Jesus broke bread with two of the disciples after his resurrection, after he joined them on their way from Jerusalem, and where they realized who it was that had been walking with them. This is along the same road between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, but just as we exit the road to head north toward Galilee.

For the rest of this day, I will let the pictures tell the story much better than I. They do pretty much capture everything we did, except in the evening, I didn't take the still camera with us, so I will tell about that. Sam took us out to a great restaurant, again serving the traditional Arab style "Tapas" (although they call it something else, I unfortunately forgot). The food was delicious, and I had lamb for the main course. We left fully satiated, as every other night for dinner in Israel! They do not skimp on portions.

After dinner, Sam took us to the waterfront in Tiberius where they put on a light show with light projected onto fountains along the shore, very pretty. Some nights they have a Christian theme, but this night, it was a Jewish and Israeli theme, with pictures from Israeli history, both ancient and modern, and Hebrew words. While it may not have been as meaningful as it might have been had it been the theme more along the lines of our traditions, it was still a beautiful spectacle, and a nice after-dinner entertainment. After the show, we walked along through the many open air shops and stands that are there, and enjoyed the crowd of merry-makers. Someone had stopped us at the YMCA and invited us to a party at some dance club there in town later that evening, but we were tired, and not really into dance parties too much at our very advanced age anyway (hahaha), so we skipped that, and headed home to get to bed by midnight. I considered going for a midnight swim, thinking there was a light on the pools, but unfortunately, there was not, so I skipped swimming in the pitch dark!

And without further ado... the pictures!

The site where Jesus broke bread with 2 disciples after his resurrection - unfortunately, I mistakenly turned auto-focus off and didn't discover until later this day...

Megiddo, the valley where a the battle before judgement day is to take place. Actually, there have been several great battles there since then, during the Muslim invasions and Crusades, and also later.

Coming into Nazareth, an interesting sign! The story is that local Muslims wanted to build a mosque directly in front of the site of the church at the original Nazareth village. This is understandably objectionable to Christians who revere the site as the location where Jesus grew up. The city council disapproved based on zoning laws, but free speech is obviously alive and well in Israel, because the Muslims were still able to buy this billboard to display yards away... I think in the end, a fair compromise.

Door on the modern church at the site of the old village of Nazareth depicting scenes from Jesus' life

The basilica of the church at Nazareth, beautiful. I think this may also be one of the famed Antonio Barluzzi designs.

Spiral staircase leading to upper level in the church, cool.

Interesting painting over the alter. Seems like a lot of masonic symbolism throughout the whole church actually - I'm not sure of the origin though.

Many countries contributed works of art in the church. This one is from Mexico.

Stairs down into the ancient carptenters workshop in excavated Nazareth. As an extremely small village, this is very likely to have been the place where Jesus actually trained in carpentry under his earthly father Joseph. It was set in the ground to keep things cool and secure.

A beautiful stained glass window in the church.

Nice shot of the church at Nazareth

Just beside the church, excavations of the original village of Nazareth

Up the hill, the original spring of Nazareth still flows. It is not so pretty, lots of change and bills thrown down as offerings I guess. But it is cool that this same spring was the source of water in the ancient town also, and Jesus would definitely have bathed in its waters and drunk from this very spring.

Crossing the ridge east of Nazareth, looking down into the Jordan Valley, really the far northern end of the Great Rift Valley which stretches all the way down to southern Africa. Very beautiful escarpment...

First site of the Sea of Galilee, where it feeds into the Jordan River, a beautiful panorama

Another panorama of Sea of Galillee, with me!

Inscription from the gospel of Mark, at the Jordan River where it begins to flow from the Sea of Galilee - interestingly, NOT anywhere close to the spot where Jesus was actually baptized, but I guess because it is right by the Sea of Galilee, the most popular place now for people to be baptized.

Looking down to the Jordan River, a very small river in fact. I considered getting baptized, since you can buy a robe and do it right there. But since I have already been, and I don't think it confers any special properties other than for sentimental purposes, I decided not to get wet and have to dry off and change again. We did see some people getting baptized themselves, but I thought not to photograph them since not sure if they would appreciate it.

A large rodent, like a cross between a beaver and a mouse - not sure what it is called. They were enjoying the cool water. No doubt my mom would NOT want to get baptized there though! hahaha

Not sure how clear it is, but there were some really huge catfish just by the steps

And a cute little bird getting a drink of water on the steps where they meet the river

After Jordan River, we went on to a famous spot along the Sea of Galilee, from which Jesus divided the 12 loaves of bread and 5 fishes, providing food for 10,000 who had gathered to hear him teach. There was enough to feed everybody, with 12 baskets of fish left over. This was the pool there, with some pretty goldfish.

Here is the rock where Jesus broke the bread and fish.

The chandelier above the alter on the rock where Jesus broke the bread and fish was pretty cool, so I got a wider angle photo of it.

Beautiful alabaster shaved very thin, providing window glass

A chapel at a spot from where Jesus commonly taught, right on the shore of Galilee. These stones are the ancient peer moorings, when the water level was a bit higher. They are dated to over 2000 years ago, and Jesus and the disciples would have used the pier built on them to go down to the water to fish. This is also the spot from where the resurrected but not yet recognized Jesus shouted back to the disciples to cast their net on the other side of their boat, after a failed expedition, and their nets were so full the boat nearly sank.

Just beside the ancient pier, a chapel, with a rock on which Jesus sat to teach

I took a breather on one of the ancient pier moorings

The steps that would have come down into the water in ancient times, just beside the pier and chapel

At the gate to the well preserved ancient town of Capharnaum, one of the most frequent places where Jesus taught, and the location of the home of Peter, where one famous miracle occurred, when the men lowered a cripple through the roof because the house was too crowded with people listening to Jesus for them to get him in through the door, and he was healed.

A beautiful garden maintained by the Franciscan custodians of Capharnaum.

The excavation of the very tiny town. The large structure is the ancient Jewish Synagogue, where Jesus taught frequently, and the tiny structures are homes, similar to condos, sharing walls between one another. Such narrow little streets!

A very modern Antonio Barluzzi chapel built above Peter's house in a circular structure that looks like a spaceship, and allows visitors to look directly down into the excavation from above.

Relief carving illustrating the famous miracle where the crippled man was lowered into Peter's house through the roof, and Jesus healed him

A local, paying absolutely no respect to the rules, lounging on the excavation

Peter's House from below. Why didn't I take a picture of the cool spaceship looking chapel?! Anyway, trust me, it is there. You can look it up on BING I am sure... Actually, here you go...

The well preserved synagogue. The lower stones are from Jesus' days in first century. Later rebuilding was done by Helena and later Templars.

Beautiful door frame remains intact

Note the ancient grooves for the hinges of the doors to the synagogue.

One of the kind Franciscan custodians of the site, Father Gérard, from France, happily talked to us while sharing some shade.

Ancient olive press. Baskets would be piled on the pillar and ropes tied over them, weighted with heavy weights, so the oil would press out and drain down, into the groove, and finally down into the receptacle in the earth.

Beautiful bougainvillea maintained by the Franciscans

An ancient boat housed now in Tiberius, discovered along the shore of Galilee very recently, and salvaged ultimately by covering it with foam, and then floating it to shore from the muddy flats where it was discovered by passers by during a period of low water level in the lake. It was so fragile, it had to be treated very carefully, and now preserved with resins that prevent it from falling apart. This is very similar to the kind of craft that were commonly used for fishing in the first century.

Just a fun picture, the lighted glass under the boat was pretty

View from our balcony at the YMCA where we stayed - a great value in Tiberius and really pleasant place to stay, suggested to save money by Sam. The YMCA in Israel is more commonly a budget bed and breakfast accommodation than a gym, as I have commonly known it in the US.

Best part about the YMCA, and Sam's main reason to suggest it is better than other options in Tiberius on Sea of Galilee, is the cool spring fed natural pools, just down the hill from our room, with perfectly clear and pleasantly warm water. We also dipped in the actual Sea of Galilee, but it is much colder, so spent most of the evening swimming and relaxing in this picturesque spot, before dinner!