Trip Day 15 - driving to Jerusalem

Official itinerary:

Visit churches at Capernaum & Mount of the Beatitudes • cross the sea of galilee

This morning, we leave the Golan Heights, making our first stop at Capernaum (formerly Kfar Nahum), an ancient Roman fishing village whose church was founded on the traditional site of St. Peter’s home. While there, we’ll also visit the modern Church of the Beatitudes—which was built near the site of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount—before boarding a boat to sail across Lake Kinneret, better known as the Sea of Galilee.

First, we’ll cruise to Kibbutz Genosar to view the “Jesus Boat,” the restored skeletal remains of a fishing vessel discovered on the muddy shores of Lake Kinneret in 1986 that dates back to the first century AD—the time of Jesus’ ministry. We’ll then stop for lunch at a local restaurant by the sea. Afterwards, some travelers may wish to join the Christian pilgrims who gather here to renew their baptism vows by immersing themselves in the same waters where Jesus was baptized.

In addition to its historical importance, Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilae)is the only sweetwater lake in Israel, and it is considered by many to be a national asset. Visitors take the history and religious importance to heart, but to modern Israelis, the lake’s ability to store and supply scarce water for drinking, for agriculture, and for industry is nearly as important.

From here, we travel to Jerusalem. We arrive in the early evening, settle into our hotel, and enjoy dinner on our own tonight.

Note: We swapped visit to Mount of the Beatitudes to visit Magdala. Some had also visited the baptism site the day before when James and I opted not to.

*  *  *  *  *

Friday September 15

We have to leave this lovely place today. Same routine. Breakfast comes to the cabin at 7:30 am.  I think we left at 8:30 am. 

Before breakfast we even saw a hyrex. Cute little fellow. 

In the bus. James is having fun checking our altitude. We went from about 3000 feet to about minus 700 feet at the Sea of Galilee which is the lowest freshwater lake in the world. 

 

First stop: Capernaum

This is where Peter's home was and Jesus spent a lot of time. Yael is brilliant. She asks the most interesting questions and then answers them herself. Like: why didn't Jesus spent more of his three years of ministry in Nazareth, home of his parents and where he grew up?

Yael's great knowledge about history also includes architectory and archeology. For example these pieces came from some roman building and were repurposed for a synagogue. You can see that on the added menorah. 

Right next door was Peter's house, underneath the big modern church. 

 

It was quite well done. You could look down into the ruins. The church had lots of light and 8 columns with carved wood reliefs. 

Many of the important religious places were owned and maintained by Franciscans. 

Next stop - where the ancient boat was found. Actually, it could very well be from Jesus' time. 

A model

We saw a documentary where and how they found it, how they recovered it so it would not disintegrate and how they preserved it. 

Another model. 

The ancient boat. 

And there were plaques. 

Of course we can't come to the Sea of Galilee and not go out on a boat. 

We also had a demonstration how they would have done the fishing. Minor detail ... back then the net would not have been nylon. 

He didn't catch anything. Yael asked "why"? James answered "because Jesus told Peter to try on the other side". The crewman did that but still didn't catch anything. 

The official answer: the lake was too deep at this spot. This type net works in shallow water. 

VIDEO!     (0:36)

At one point Yael had made a suggestion and asked us to choose ... she said that the Mount of the Beatitudes was good and important but that there was a new discovery/excavation etc in Magdala she highly recommended instead. It's not on many tour itineraries yet but she is sure will be. We went with her recommendation. 

Magdala is the town (or village) were Mary Magdalene came from, one of several women traveling with Jesus, witnessing his crucifixion and was the first eyewitness of the risen Christ. 

Yael reminds us that the people who knew Jesus personally, were Jews who told other people and their following generations became the "Jesus movement". Things were not written down immediately but people kept remembering it and telling it because of course they were so excited. That's why Yael thinks it is pretty accurate when Helen, mother of Constantine (considered the first Christian) tried to find these important places and asked people what they knew. 

This synagogue was discovered in 2009 and is from Jesus' time. They are pretty sure that He has taught here. 

This unique Magdala Stone was discovered inside the synagogue. This one here is actually a duplicate. The original is in a museum actually but they hope it will soon come back. 

It is thought that the intricate three-dimensional design represents the Second Temple of Jerusalem and includes the world's oldest carved menorah. 

The excavating is still in progress and we were told that there are many beautiful decorations of mosaics and frescos. 

Right next to the synagogue were the shops and houses. Here Yael pointed out that there were tanks where the fish shops kept the fish alive. 

Gosh, there was a lot to see (and talk about ... like everywhere).

But then we walked to the new church. 

The way was lined with date palms. We happen to walk with Yael and she picked some up from the floor (she called them organic but just dusty) and they were delicious. Almost every tree had a bag over the bunches now so the fruit would not fall down. 

I don't know how to say it. 

The church was breathtaking. Awesome!

First you enter the atrium which has 8 columns. Seven columns have each a name of an important New Testament woman inscribed. The 8th one is blank representing all of us (women).

In the middle was the baptism font. 

From the atrium you can look into four chapels with beautiful mosaics. 

 

      

The main chapel with the (mosaic) pictures of the 12 Apostles with their names. 11 have halos. The one without is Judas

The altar is in the form of a boat. Incredible. 

The altar stands on blue stone ((or tile) like water and on the other side of the window was a pool to continue the illusion. Beyond that is the Sea of Galilee. 

Downstairs was another chapel designated to be used by ALL faiths. 

If you look closely at the painting you seethe woman's hand touching Jesus' garment and being healed. 

And then we went to lunch in Tiberius in a restaurant at the lake. 

First all those different little dishes again where you pile things on your plate. 

Then comes the main course. We had a choice. Chicken for James. Fish fillet for me. 

See the cat on the left? Quite vocal!

Dessert

Several trees were incorporated in the architecture. 

Yup, somewhere across there is the Kibbutz where we spent the last two nights. 

More driving. I like looking out of the bus window and marvel at the landscape. Nothing green at all. 

And then we are in Jerusalem at our hotel. 

Our street actually has umbrellas. 

From our room. 

And since Shabbat is starting when the sun goes down we have a little group ceremony in the lobby. Yael explains. 

There is also happy hour and we don't need supper.