Day 2: Sites around Galilee, Hula Valley, Golan Heights, Views of Syria

On Thursday, we got up and it was SO windy on the Sea of Galilee. Despite the wind, it was still so beautiful and such a site to see. Rachel was not feeling well in the morning so she stay at the kibbutz with Sam for the morning while Eric, Elaine, Nana, and I went to Capernaum, Mount of Beatitudes, and the Ginosaur museum. Here is a map of the day...:

And a close up of how close we got to Syria that day...

At Capernaum, we read Matthew 4 and Luke 5 before walking around the site about when Jesus called fishermen as his disciples. Then we walked through the site and saw the white synagogue that was built on top of a first century synagogue made of basalt believed to be where Jesus taught. 

millstone at Capernaum

After Capernaum we went up the hill to Mount of Beatitudes...

Sea of Galilee from Mount of Beatitudes

We went in and around the small church on the site and then we walked around the gardens outside. It was such a beautiful day and the views were gorgeous, I just never didn't want to leave! Inside the church were all of the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-10. We then drove back down the hill and over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to Ginosaur where the 2000 year old boat is held. The boat was found under water and is believed to be the same type that Peter, Andrew, James, and John would have used at their time. It also would have been one of the boats used at the time. 

This is a picture of how boats were constructed on the Sea of Galilee 2000 years ago with all the different types of wood. 

The 2000 year old boat!

The museum where the boat is held

Then we went back and picked up Rachel and Sam and started heading North through the Hula Valley toward Lebanon to find lunch and on our way to Caesarea Philippi. We found a place in a mall in the city of Qiryat Shemona, which is the second most northern city in Israel, right up next to Lebanon! Oh what an interesting experience lunch was! This mall was strange and EVERYTHING was in Hebrew! We finally were able to find a small English menu with basics on it to order, but the people who worked there didn't really speak English so it was difficult to order. We finally got our food and Nana wanted salt, so I went up to the counter and tried to ask for salt and they had no clue what I was asking for so instead they just gave me Thousand Island salad dressing. And this is what our our lunch looked like...

Mystery Meat hot dogs! 

Oh what an experience this trip is...

We then headed to Banias, Caesarea Philippi, but they were closed when we got there so we just looked at it from outside the gate and read some scriptures. It was here that Peter declared that Jesus what the Christ. Then we drove through the Golan Heights along the North of the country. 

Driving through the Golan Heights we passed some Druze communities and then went to the lookout to look over Syria. We saw Eric's Druze friend who sells delicious apples and dips and we looked over just 1/2 a kilometer at Syria! 

Druze community

Wall at the boarder of Syria

Eric's blog has more detailed and historical information about the different places we visited this day as well. 

Caesarea and Nazareth

On day one of our trip north to Galilee, we made a few stops along the way. We first drove a little over an hour up through Tel Aviv to Caesarea. This was really fun because it is literally on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was the capitol of Herod the Great and then later used by the Roman governor which is where Paul had his trial before Felix and Festus. We started at the theater and then went through the archaeological garden and the area where Herod's palace was. Then we went over to the hippodrome or stadium which was filled with sand and had access to the ocean. At the end, we drove over about 10 minutes to where the old aqueduct was from the Roman era that took water over to Caesarea. 

This is a map of the first day of our trip

Cute little Sam man loves the ocean

Roman era aqueduct

We then got back in the car and drove another hour or so to Nazareth. We were driving and Eric spotted a KFC on the side of the road! So we pulled off to see if we could find it but it was no longer there. So we started driving again and about 90 seconds later we saw another KFC in the mall! It was perfect because it was right next to where we were going to the Basilica of the Annunciation. 

After lunch we went to the Basilica of the Annunciation. This is where the angel came to Mary to tell her she would be having a baby that was to be the Son of God. 

love this boy

After the church, we went and picked Rachel up from her youth conference trip and then headed up the rest of the way to the Sea of Galilee. We drove through Nazareth as the sun was setting and the whole drive was just fun. Eric and I got very good at getting Nana's wheelchair in and out of the car with all the luggage as well. We went to dinner that night at St. Peter's restaurant where the main dish is fish (blech!) and since Rachel and I do not like fish, we opted for spaghetti, which was only fair. 

Then it was off to bed after a very busy, busy day!